Forever is the seventeenth studio album by the funk band Kool & the Gang, released in 1986. The album included two major hits on the US Hot 100 Chart: "Victory" (US #10, R&B #2) and "Stone Love" (US #10, R&B #4). Three additional singles charted, "Holiday" reached the top ten on the R&B Chart, "Special Way" reached #6 on the Adult Contemporary chart. and "Peacemaker" was released in international markets and charted at #20 in New Zealand.
After this album, lead vocalist James "J.T." Taylor left the group to pursue a solo career. He returned in 1996 for the State of Affairs album.
Track listing
Personnel
Kool & The Gang
James "J.T." Taylor – all vocals (1, 3, 4, 7, 8), lead vocals (2, 5, 6, 9), percussion Khalis Bayyan – keyboards, saxophone Curtis "Fitz" Williams – keyboards Charles Smith – guitars Robert "Kool" Bell – bass George Brown – drums Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas – alto saxophone Clifford Adams – trombone Robert "Spike" Mickens – trumpet Michael Ray – trumpet
Additional musicians
Randy Taylor-Weber – synthesizer programming, creative software programming
Mark Attalla – instruments
Kendal Stubbs – instruments, drum programming, backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Alex Williams – instruments Bert Clardy – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Jeff Clardy – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Lisa Foster – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Barbara Hernandez – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Starleana Young – backing vocals (2, 5, 6, 9) Kool & the Gang – backing vocals (6)
Production
Gabe Vigorito – executive producer
Kool & the Gang – producers
Khalis Bayyan – producer, mixing
I.B.M.C. Group (Khalis Bayyan, Peter Duarte, Meekaaeel Muhammad, Kendal Stubbs and Randy Taylor/Weber) – producers, recording Jay Biolic – recording Alex Williams – recording Craig Vogel – second engineer Peter Duarte – assistant engineer Roger Talkov – assistant engineer Kendal Stubbs – mixing Herb Powers, Jr. – mastering at Frankford/Wayne Mastering Labs (New York, NY) Bill Levy – art direction George Corsillo – design Gil Gilbert – cover photography Carl Davis for Lemans Designs – fashions Rosalyn Burns-Brock – make-up