Bobby Caldwell and his legacy

WeRCatz here.

This past March 14th, the world lost Bobby Caldwell. His signature song “What You Won’t Do for Love” is his best work and is remembered since its release in 1978.

At the time of his debut album, Caldwell was under TK Records; the label was focused on an African-American audience. The issue was that Caldwell was white. But TK decided to hide his identity when the album debuted. He was a great success, so much so that “What You Won’t Do for Love” was released as a red heart-shaped single LP for Valentine’s Day of 1979.

Beyond that, Caldwell had a successful career, writing songs for other artists like Amy Grant and Peter Cetera. But Caldwell was very huge in Japan, where he earned the nickname “Mister AOR.” AOR is abbreviated from Adult Oriented Rock.

Bobby also was successful in Hollywood making songs for films. Back To School, Mac and Me, Salsa, and Simone are some of the films Caldwell scored.

In 2013 at the Soul Train Awards, Bobby performed his song with Dave Koz in front of the live audience to major acclaim.

We will miss his style, but Bobby Caldwell won our hearts over and over.