She's the Boss



She's the Boss is the solo album debut by The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger released in 1985. When the Stones signed with CBS Records in 1983, one of the options available to them was for individual projects, and Jagger eagerly began working on She's the Boss.

Following the release of Undercover, Jagger began composing material for his first solo project, sanctioning the help of various musician friends in the studio when recording began in May 1984. Of those involved were Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, Carlos Alomar, Herbie Hancock and the Compass Point Allstars, while Jagger would share production duties with Bill Laswell and Nile Rodgers.

Keith Richards, Jagger's longtime musical partner in the Rolling Stones, was not pleased that Jagger was pursuing solo work, feeling that their band should be each other's first priority. The growing friction between both musicians would erupt publicly in 1986 before they resolved their differences a couple of years later.

She's the Boss was released in February 1985 – preceded by its lead song "Just Another Night". Both the album and its first single became worldwide hits, with "Just Another Night" reaching No. 1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart and No. 12 on the US pop chart, and She's the Boss going to No. 6 in the UK and No. 13 in the US, where it went platinum. Follow-up single "Lucky in Love" would be a Top 40 US hit.

The video for "Hard Woman" extensively utilised a Cray supercomputer for its animation, making it one of the most expensive music videos made to that point in time.

The success of the album – impacted by Jagger's solo appearance at Live Aid that July and his rush-recorded duet hit cover of "Dancing in the Street" with David Bowie — influenced Jagger to record a successor, Primitive Cool, which would be released in 1987.

Although originally released by CBS, She's the Boss was acquired and reissued by Atlantic Records in 1993 following the release of Jagger's third album, Wandering Spirit.

In 1986, Jamaican reggae singer Patrick Alley attempted to sue Jagger over the song "Just Another Night," which Alley claims he had recorded in 1979 and released on his 1982 album, A Touch of Patrick Alley. Alley claimed that Sly Dunbar (who played drums on She's the Boss) also played on his recording. The case was cleared in 1988, with Jagger stating "My reputation is really cleared. If you're well known, people stand up and take shots at you."

Personnel

 * Mick Jagger – lead and backing vocals, harmonica
 * Wally Badarou – synthesizer on "Lucky in Love" and "She's the Boss"
 * Jeff Beck – guitar
 * Paul Buckmaster – strings arrangement and conductor on "Hard Woman"
 * John "Rabbit" Bundrick – synthesizer on "Just Another Night"
 * Ray Cooper – percussion on "Lucky in Love", congas on "She's the Boss"
 * Aïyb Dieng – shaker on "Just Another Night", water drums on "Lucky in Love"
 * Sly Dunbar – drums on "Running Out of Luck", "Just Another Night", "Lucky in Love" and "She's the Boss"
 * Bernard Edwards – bass guitar on "1/2 a Loaf", "Turn the Girl Loose" and "Secrets"
 * Steve Ferrone – drums on "1/2 a Loaf"
 * Anton Fier – Simmons drums on "Just Another Night", percussion on "She's the Boss"
 * Anton Fig – drums on "Turn the Girl Loose" and "Secrets"
 * Guy Fletcher – synthesizer on "Lonely at the Top", "Lucky in Love" and "She's the Boss"
 * Bernard Fowler – backing vocals on "Lonely at the Top", "Lucky in Love" and "She's the Boss"
 * Jan Hammer – piano on "Hard Woman"
 * Herbie Hancock – organ on "Lonely at the Top", synthesizer on "Running Out of Luck", "Turn the Girl Loose" and "Lucky in Love"
 * Colin Hodgkinson – bass guitar on "Hard Woman"
 * Bill Laswell – bass guitar, synthesizer on "Just Another Night"
 * Chuck Leavell – organ on "Lucky on Love" and "She's the Boss"
 * Ron Magness – synthesizer on "Just Another Night"
 * Eddie Martinez – lead guitar on "1/2 a Loaf", guitar on "Lonely at the Top", "Running Out of Luck" and "She's the Boss"
 * Alfa Anderson – ladies rap on "Turn the Girl Loose"
 * Lenny Pickett – baritone saxophone on "Turn the Girl Loose"
 * Daniel Ponce – bata drum on "Running Out of Luck"
 * Nile Rodgers – guitar on "1/2 a Loaf" and "Secrets"
 * Robert Sabino – keyboards, piano, synthesizer on "1/2 a Loaf" and "Secrets"
 * Robbie Shakespeare – bass guitar on "Running Out of Luck", "Just Another Night", Lucky in Love" and "She's the Boss"
 * Michael Shrieve – drums on "Lonely at the Top"
 * G. E. Smith – lead guitar on "Secrets"
 * Tony Thompson – drums on "Hard Woman"
 * Fonzi Thornton – backing vocals on "1/2 a Loaf"
 * Pete Townshend – guitar on "Lonely at the Top", acoustic guitar on "Hard Woman"

Production

 * Mick Jagger - producer
 * Bill Laswell/Material - producer
 * Nile Rodgers - producer on "1/2 a Loaf", "Turn the Girl Loose" and "Secrets"
 * James Farber - engineer
 * Dave Jerden - engineer
 * Bill Scheniman - engineer
 * Peter Corriston - art direction, design
 * Erica Lennard - photography