Paul Riser String Arrangements On Luther Vandross and Anita Baker Albums:

Giving You The Best That I Got is the third studio album by the American R&B/soul singer Anita Baker. It was Baker's first and only number one Pop album in the US, the second number one R&B Album, and was certified triple  platinum in 1989 by the RIAA  for over three million copies sold.

  

Never Too Much is the debut solo album by Luther Vandross released in 1981. It peaked at number nineteen on the Billboard 200 (then known as Pop Albums), peaked at number one  on the Billboard Soul R&B Albums Charts , and was certified  double platinum by the RIAA for two million copies sold in America.

                                         
                                                                                                                               

Larry Gold- The Man With Classical Touch.

Larry Gold- The Man With Classical Touch.

Born in Kensington,North Philadelphia, in 1948 of Jewish parents. Larry started to play professionally with the cello in this early teens as soloist for the Philadelphia Orchestra. By the mid 1960s he began to play at the supper club the Latin Casino for house band in the city of Philadelphia, where he did supported for such artist as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Sammy Davis Jr.

As the 1960s progressed , session work began to be developed at Cameo Parkway Records studios,he started play behind such acts as Chubby Checker and Dee Dee Sharp. Larry stared to work for three music visionaries: Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell who were the architect of the “Philadelphia Soul and R&B Sound.”

In the early 1970s, Gamble and Huff established Philadelphia International Records under written by CBS Records with the legendary CliveDavis as CEO at the time. From that moment on he played on almost every hit record that came out of PIR (Philadelphia International Records) from 1971 to the early 1980s. On such acts as: Teddy Pendergrass, The O 'Jays, Three Degress, Billy Paul,MFSB,Jones Girls and Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes.
For Thom Bell production activities he did session work for The Spinners The Stylistics and The Delfonics to name a few.

As we fast forward to 1990s , he opened his own full-time recording studio in 1996 to meet the needs of the of the increasing list of clients coming to his assistance for strings arrangements in the Philly classic tradition.Some of the many string arrangements that Larry has done include The Roots’ Grammy winning single “You Got Me” (featuring Erykah Badu); and Jennifer Lopez’s number one single “If You had My Love.” Larry arranged, conducted, and played cello for Jay-Zs performance on MTV Unplugged with the Roots. Since the 21st century Larry as written, conducted and arranged strings for Carvin Haggins and Ivan Barrias ,Andre Harris and Vidal Davis ,Rodney Jerkins ,Kirk Franklin,James Poyser, and ?uestlove.

Michael Jackson's the tenth and final studio album “Invincible” was recorded at Larry's studio with Rodney Jerkins, Andre Harris and Vidal Davis involved in the production end of the recording with legendary studio engineer Bruce Swedien.

Paul Riser Creative Impact with Strings and Horn Arrangements.

Paul Riser

Paul Riser, probably the most prolific arranger of hit songs of all time.
Chief architects for strings and horn arrangements at Motown.
Among Riser's biggest hits as an arranger are, "My Girl" (The Temptations),
"Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" (The Temptations), for which he won a Grammy
Award, both versions of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" (Marvin
Gaye)(Gladys Knight & The Pips), "My Cherie Amour," (Stevie Wonder),
both versions of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" (Diana Ross) (Marvin Gaye &
Tammy Terrell), "If I Were Your Woman" (Gladys Knight & The Pips) and "Tears
of A Clown" (Smokey Robinson & The Miracles). He is also composer of "What
Becomes of The Brokenhearted" (Jimmy Ruffin).

Also outside the Motown organisation he achieved hits records for such artist as
“Car Wash” (Rose Royce) Certified gold and platinum by RIAA and BPI
"Never To Much" (Luther Vandross), Certified gold and platinum by RIAA
"Two Hearts" (Phil Collins) Silver certification by BPI
“Believe I Can Fly" (R. Kelly). Certified gold and platinum by RIAA and BPI

His arrangements is also heard on recording projects for such artist as
The Carpenters,
Carly Simon,
Quincy Jones, T
The Doobie Brothers,
Tom Jones,
Natalie Cole,
Pharoah Sanders,
Kiki Dee,
Johnny Mathis,
Patti LaBelle,
Stephanie Mills,
Anita Baker,
Roberta Flack,
Michael McDonald,
Aretha Franklin,
Mary J. Blige.

As we fast forward to the 1990s and the early 21st century, we witness other great achievements by Paul Riser, callobarating with R. Kelly on the album “Chocolate Factory” which has sold 2.5 million copies in America since its release in 2003.
He was responsible for the string arrangement on Keith Washington’s R&B number one single; “Kissing You”(1991) , extracted from the gold album “Making Time For Love” on the Qwest label.He is one of few arrangers to have achieved hit records over four decades.
BPI (British Phonographic Industry) RIAA (Record Industry Association of America)

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