Retro Spins: Will To Power - Will To Power

 

Bob Rosenberg grew up in a musical household. His mother, Gloria Mann, had two top forty hits of her own back in the 50's with Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine), and Teen Age Prayer. This inspiration put Rosenberg on a path related to music early on. You could often find him working events as a DJ in his late teen years.

During 1985, he landed a job mixing songs for Florida based, WHQT (Hot 100), where he created a mix, he called Miami Vice. Unfortunately, this led to a copyright claim being filed by MCA Records for infringement on the popular television series of the same name.

He continued to work with various musicians in 1986, and 1987, settling on the name, Will To Power, an homage to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It was during this time he would write and record, Dreamin', a song for his sister who recently passed away. It was picked up by local radio stations, and became an area hit, drawing the attention of Epic Records, who picked up the song, and distributed it across the country as a single.

The song would peak at number fifty on the Billboard Hot 100, reach number fifteen on the Hot Dance Club Play, and smash the number one spot Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart. This led Epic to ask Rosenberg if he had any other material, specifically, enough to fill an album. This led to the first, self-titled studio debut, released in 1988.

Follow-up single, Say It's Gonna Rain, which reached forty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100. This was followed by their biggest single, the hybrid Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley, which reached number one on the Billboard. Ironically, Epic didn't initially want to release the single. However, when Rosenberg distributed himself to local stations who picked up on it, they changed their mind fast. It would also peak internationally, reaching number six on the UK charts.

Candidly, this album is better than it should be. Everything about it screams, "generic", from the album's cover to the group's name. Yet, hidden inside this yellow and purple CD case is nothing short of hidden gems. Every track delivers high energy dance pop goodness.

The shared vocals of Ale Lorenzo, Elin Michaels, Suzi Carr, Rachel Newman, April Newman, Betty Wright, Donna Allen, Lori Miller, Harry King, Dee Dee Wilde, and Cirsten Steinhour all mix together perfectly from track to track, making it somehow difficult to even notice that there are so many contributors.

I have zero criticism to offer here. From start to finish, it's a fun, fresh, and exciting album. Tell me that's what you'd expect when looking at this photo of Bob Rosenberg.

Nay, I say!

Wanting to capitalize on its success, Will To Power released their follow-up in 1990, Journey Home. While singers were condensed to primarily feature Elin Michaels on lead, several backing vocalists contributed to the overall end result, including prior Exposé singer, Ale Lorenzo. Though it produced several hits, mostly internationally, their overall popularity faded fast, and the group would seemingly disappear overnight, not returning until 2005 for their third and final studio album to date, Spirit Warrior. He'd once again go to the Exposé well, this time recruiting Gioia Bruno, for vocals. This was followed up by the remix EP, Spirit Warrior: The Remixes in 2006. Not much has been heard from Will To Power or Bob Rosenberg to date, unless you follow his Facebook page, where he actively posts.

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