Singer Keith Barrow is best known for the silky Top 30 R&B ballad and enduring steppers classic “You Know You Wanna Be Loved.” Dancefloor enthusiasts also prize his track “Turn It Up.” A native of Chicago, Barrow grew up as the son of Rev. Willie Barrow, longtime figure in Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Push Organization. During his teenage years he fronted the gospel ensemble the Soul Shakers.
Bobby Eli, guitarist and songwriter with MFSB, produced Barrow’s self-titled Columbia album, released in summer 1977; the track “Mr. Magic Man” drew modest notice. The following summer, Michael Stokes helmed the single “You Know You Wanna Be Loved,” which climbed to #26 R&B on Billboard. That same year the album Physical Attraction spawned additional disco successes with “Physical Attraction” and “Turn It Up,” while its sensuous slow jams included “Overnight Success,” “Step Into My Garden,” and “Free To Me.”
Issued as a single, “Turn Me Up” backed with “Physical Attraction” (the UK edition pairing the A-side with the jubilant “Joyful Music”) became a major disco hit, reaching #79 R&B in early 1979. Barrow’s composition “Teach Me (It’s Something About Love),” a charting single for Blue Magic, appears on the Rhino anthology Blue Magic’s Soulful Spell: The Best of Blue Magic. He later moved to Capitol and cut the 1980 album Just As I Am.
Keith Barrow died at age 29 from AIDS-related complications on October 22, 1983. His recording “Turn Me Up, Pt. 1” resurfaced on the Sony Special Products compilation Dancin’ ’n’ Disco, issued April 16, 1995.
