I Love Music (The O'Jays song)



"I Love Music" is a song by American R&B group The O'Jays from their eleventh studio album Family Reunion (1975). Written and produced by Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, the song was released in October 1975 as the lead single from Family Reunion.

The song appears on the soundtrack to the 1993 crime film Carlito's Way, starring Al Pacino and Sean Penn. The song also appears in the 2007 film Pride, starring Terrence Howard.

Covers
In 1976, a live cover version recorded at the Latin Casino by 3M Productions, also known as Major Harris, Blue Magic and Margie Joseph, appeared on their album LIVE. In 1990, Chicago house music vocalist Darryl Pandy released a version of the song on Warner Bros. Records remaining faithful to the original version. The track featured a prominent keyboard riff, brass and a driving house beat.

Rozalla version
In 1993, Zambian-born singer Rozalla covered "I Love Music" on her 1995 album Look No Further.

Chart performance
Rozalla's recording of "I Love Music" reached number-one on the US Dance Club Songs chart. It also dented the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 76 and got to number 18 on the UK Singles Chart, marking something of a comeback after various earlier singles had failed to crack the top 40 (this was still 5 places lower than the original version by The O'Jays had reached however). In the rest of the world the song made little chart impression.

Trivia
The solo bongo-drum intro to this song was performed by Bill Cosby, while the "Get-it-on" chorus was sung by actor Cleavon Little, both long-time friends and admirers of the O'Jays. "I Love Music" was the first of a series of cover versions Rozalla was to record over the years. It was also her first "new" song to be released on Sony Records, as her earlier release had all been released by British indie label Pulse 8 first.