Some People's Lives

Infobox Album
Name = Some People's Lives
Type = studio
Artist = Bette Midler


Released = September 21, 1990
Recorded =
Genre = Pop
Length = 43:56
Label = Atlantic Records
Producer = Arif Mardin
Reviews = * Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gpftxqe5ldje]
*Robert Christgau Rating-Christgau|cut [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Bette+Midler]
Last album = "Beaches"
(1988)
This album = "Some People's Lives"
(1990)
Next album = "For the Boys"
(1991)

"Some People's Lives" is the seventh studio album by American singer Bette Midler, released on the Atlantic Records label in 1990. It contains one of her biggest hits, "From A Distance", which won her a Grammy for Song of the Year in 1991.

Following a series of successful Hollywood movies made throughout the 1980s, among them "Down and Out in Beverly Hills", "Ruthless People", "Outrageous Fortune" and "Big Business", Midler returned to the music scene with a proper studio album in 1990, her first since 1983's rock and new wave influenced "No Frills". "Some People's Lives" however had more in common with the preceding soundtrack "Beaches" in that it featured both interpretations of jazz standards like "Miss Otis Regrets", "Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most" and "He Was Too Good to Me" as well as more chartoriented pop and adult contemporary material with contrasting synth-driven arrangements courtesy of producer Arif Mardin, his son Joe and Robbie Buchanan. The up-tempo track "Moonlight Dancing" was written by noted hitmaker Diane Warren and "The Gift of Love" by Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, the team behind Madonna's "Like A Virgin", Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" and The Bangles' "Eternal Flame".

"Moonlight Dancing" (also released as an extended dance remix which sampled the 1973 recording "Do You Want To Dance"), "Night and Day" and "The Gift of Love" were all issued as singles, but the biggest hit that the album produced was undoubtedly Midler's interpretation of Julie Gold's anti-war anthem "From a Distance" featuring The Radio Choir of New Hope Church, paradoxally released shortly before the breakout of the first Persian Gulf War. The single reached #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, #1 on Adult Contemporary and #6 in the UK and was later certified platinum in the US, making it Midler's second millionseller within the space of two years following "Wind Beneath My Wings" from the "Beaches" soundtrack. The song has since been recorded by a large number of other artists and Midler herself included an alternate version with partly re-written lyrics on her 2006 album "Cool Yule".

The "Some People's Lives" album itself also became one of the biggest commercial successes of Midler's musical career, peaking at #6 in the US and #5 in the UK and it was later awarded double platinum by the RIAA for sales of over two million copies in the US alone.

Track listing

#"One More Round" (Jessica Harper, Danny Sembello, Allee Willis) - 2:03
#"Some People's Lives" (Rhonda Fleming, Janis Ian) - 3:29
#"Miss Otis Regrets" (Cole Porter) - 2:51
#"Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most" (Fran Landesman, Tommy Wolf) - 5:30
#"Night and Day" (Billie Hughes, Roxanne Seeman) - 5:30
#"The Girl Is on to You" (Jude Johnstone) - 4:10
#"From a Distance" (Julie Gold) - 4:37
#"Moonlight Dancing" (Diane Warren) - 4:39
#"He Was Too Good to Me" / "Since You Stayed Here" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) / (Peter Larson, Josh Rubins) - 4:12
#"All of a Sudden" (Nathalie Archangel, Scott Wilk) - 4:33
#"The Gift of Love" (Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg) - 4:02

Personnel

* Bette Midler - lead vocals, backing vocals
* Charlotte Crossley - backing vocals
* Ula Hedwig - backing vocals
* Cissy Houston - backing vocals
* Tom Kelly - backing vocals
* Jo Ann Harris - backing vocals
* David Lasley - backing vocals
* George Merrill - backing vocals
* Myrna Smith - backing vocals
* Eugene VanBuren - backing vocals
* Maria Vidal - backing vocals
* John West - backing vocals
* The Radio Choir of New Hope Church - backing vocals
* Grady Tate - drums
* Carlos Vega - drums
* Gary Coleman - percussion
* Steve Kroon - percussion
* Ron Carter - bass guitar
* Jay Leonhart - bass
* Neil Stubenhaus - bass
* Gene Bertoncini - guitar
* Andrew Gold - guitar
* Michael Landau - guitar
* John McCurry - guitar
* Dean Parks - guitar
* Bernie Layton - piano
* Marc Shaiman - piano
* Michael Boddicker - synthesizer
* Robbie Buchanan - keyboards, programming
* Joe Mardin - keyboards, programming, backing vocals
* Guy Roche - programming
* Andy Snitzer - saxophone, soprano saxophone
* Nino Tempo - tenor saxophone
* Phil Bodner - clarinet
* Bruce Dukov - concert master
* Gene Orloff - concert master
* Sid Page - concert master

Production

* Arif Mardin - record producer, musical arranger, musical conductor, orchestral arrangements
* Marc Shaiman arranger, conductor, associate producer, vocal arrangements, rhythm arrangements
* Gene Orloff - conductor
* Joe Mardin - arranger, engineer, mixing
* Robbie Buchanan - arranger
* Steve Skinner - arranger
* Billie Hughes - arranger
* Tom Kelly - vocal arrangement
* Jack Joseph Puig - engineer
* Nick Sansano - engineer, mixing
* Eddie Garcia - engineer, mixing
* Michael O'Reilly - engineer, mixing
* Jamey Staub - assistant engineer
* Anthony Saunders - assistant engineer
* Gabriel Moffat - assistant engineer
* Clif Norrell - assistant engineer
* Bob Loftus - assistant engineer
* Ed Korengo - assistant engineer
* Rob Harvey - assistant engineer
* Ken Felton - assistant engineer
* Doug Sax - mastering
* Marsha Burns - production coordination
* Lisa Maldonado - coordination
* Vicky Germaise - coordination
* Greg Gorman - photography
* Bob Defrin - art direction