I Specialize in Love

"I Specialize in Love" is a song written by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher. Mixed by Tee Scott, the song was a club hit in the early 1980s when recorded by American singer Sharon Brown, the niece of songwriter Phil Medley. Released as a single in March 1982, by Profile Records, it spent three weeks at number two on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart,[2] her only song to reach this survey. The single also charted on the UK Singles Chart, becoming an international club hit. A remixed version of the song was released in 1994, entering the UK Singles Chart for a second time.[3]

"I Specialize in Love"
Single by Sharon Brown
ReleasedMarch 1982
Recorded1981
Genre
Length4:29 (7" version)
7:15 (12" version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Eddie O'Loughlin
Sharon Brown singles chronology
"I Specialize in Love"
(1982)		 "Love Don't Hurt People"
(1982)

Brian Chin of Billboard called "I Specialize in Love" a "very skillful pastiche of a whole passel of recent street and fusion sounds, along with a simple rap."[4]

Exposé version
"I Specialize in Love"
Single by Exposé
from the album Exposé
ReleasedNovember 17, 1995
Length3:53 (album version)
LabelArista
Songwriter(s)Lotti Golden, Richard Scher
Producer(s)DNA
Exposé singles chronology
"In Walked Love"
(1993)		 "I Specialize in Love"
(1995)		 "I'll Say Good-bye for the Two of Us"
(1995)

Ten years later, the American girl group Exposé included a cover version of the song on its 1992 self-titled studio album. This version featured lead vocals by Ann Curless , Jeanette Jurado and Kelly Moneymaker. It was produced by DNA (musicians Nick Batt and Neal Slateford), which had scored a hit in 1990 for themselves and Suzanne Vega when the group remixed Vega's song "Tom's Diner." Although this version of "I Specialize in Love" was not formally released as a single from the album Exposé, it was issued as a promotional 12" single to dance clubs in 1995 when various remixes of the song by Darrin Friedman were included on the CD Maxi-single release of "I'll Say Good-bye for the Two of Us." This latter song was taken from the soundtrack of the 1995 film Free Willy 2, and although both songs failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "I Specialize in Love" became a top-ten single on the Billboard Club Play chart again, peaking at #6.[5] It also reached the top twenty on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales chart in December of that year.[6]

Track listing

Sharon Brown version
12" promo
  • US: Profile, UK: Virgin / 1982
  1. A - "I Specialize In Love" (7:16)
  2. B - "I Specialize In Love" (instrumental) (6:00)

Exposé version
12" promo
  • US: Arista / 1995
  1. A1 - "I Specialize in Love" Spike Club Mix I (7:16)
  2. A2 - "I Specialize in Love" Spike Dub (6:45)
  3. B1 - "I Specialize in Love" Spike Club Mix II (8:02)
  4. B2 - "I Specialize in Love" Spike Classic Mix (6:13)

Charts
Sharon Brown version
Chart (1982) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 2
UK Singles Chart[7] 38
U.S. BillboardHot Soul Singles[8] 51
Netherlands[9] 21
Exposé version
Chart (1995) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 6
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales 20

References
  1. "The Building Blocks of Boogie: The Origins of a Retrospective Genre". Electro Funk Roots. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  2. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003, (Record Research Inc.), page 46.
  3. "Singers Whose Surname Is Brown That Have Had Hits In The UK Chart". Music-musicians.knoji.com. 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2016-10-31.
  4. Dance Trax (with Brian Chin) (Billboard) Vol. 94 (42). Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Oct 23, 1982. p. 34
  5. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco 1974-2003, (Record Research Inc.), p. 94.
  6. Exposé 12" Sales Chart info Billboard.com. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  7. "I Specialize in Love (1982) - full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. 17 April 1982. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
  8. "Sharon Brown – HOT R&B/HIP-HOP SONGS". Billboard. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  9. "Sharon Brown Chart History - Dutch Charts". Dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
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