Yarbrough & Peoples ~ Don't Stop The Music 1980 Disco Purrfection Version

Cavin Yarbrough and Alisa Peoples had a friend in Charles Wilson, who was a member of the Gap Band. Lonnie Simmons produced the Gap Band, and remembers that he went to see the Gap Band show in Dallas. Safely ensconced in his hotel room after the concert, he was awakened by Wilson pounding on his door at four in the morning. When he opened the door, Wilson rushed in and handed him a cassette tape and told Simmons that he had to listen to it right now. Cavin and Alisa were standing behind Wilson, and were invited in. Simmons listened to the demo, they traded contact information and he went back to bed. Quickly forgetting about them, he was surprised when the couple showed up at his office. Taking the meeting, he liked their humbleness and decided to team them up with producer Jonah Ellis to record some demos. "When The Music Stops" was the last of the songs presented to Yarbrough & Peoples and almost did not get recorded, since he considered it a throwaway. Ellis had written the music and recorded the rhythm tracks using a CR78 drum machine. The idea of the song was about a man who wants to "take this girl home and turn her on again". Yarbrough wanted to do the song, so Ellis set about laying down the instrumental tracks and came up with an unusual beat where the strong beat was on the up and got famed background vocalists Julia & Maxine Waters to bring their special talents to the song. The song was recorded, but while mixing the song, Simmons changed the vocals, some lyrics and the bass line. Simmons estimates that he did nearly one hundred mixes of the song before he realized that the very first mix was the keeper. Ellis came around and decided to rename the song "Don't Stop The Music" since the phrase was used repeatedly and thought that the original title "When The Music Stops" was not as catchy. There was an exciting race to #1 on the R&B charts when "Don't Stop The Music" was released at the same time as the Gap Band's "Burn Rubber". Both were produced by the same man. Neck and neck, "Burn Rubber" hit #1 for two weeks, and then "Don't Stop The Music" took over that position for five weeks. Their debut single became their first #1 and spent five weeks in the pole position. I dedicate this upload to Sonia Serrano, a fellow YouTuber who reminded me how great this song really is. Thank you Sonia!