Leon Ware

Leon Ware operated as a songwriter, producer, and vocalist among the more understated contributors to Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s, owing largely to his consistent focus on behind-the-scenes roles. His trademark method fused an intensely romantic sensibility with soul music, generating numerous chart successes including the Michael Jackson recording of “I Wanna Be Where You Are” and Marvin Gaye’s version of “I Want You,” both of which he co-authored. Across nearly five decades that encompassed notable partnerships with Quincy Jones and Minnie Riperton, this quiet storm specialist issued more than a dozen albums dominated by ballads on United Artists, Gordy, Elektra, and Stax. Among the releases were Leon Ware (1972), Rockin’ You Eternally (1981), and Moon Ride (2008). He maintained his own imprint, Kitchen, which served as the primary outlet for later projects such as the posthumous Rainbow Deux (2019).

Raised in Detroit with ambitions as a musical artist, Ware naturally gravitated toward Motown Records, established in the same city as he reached adulthood. The Isley Brothers’ Tamla Records single “Got to Have You Back,” which he wrote with Ivy Hunter and Steve Bowden, entered both the R&B and pop charts in spring 1967. His initial major songwriting breakthrough arrived via the Four Tops’ “Just Seven Numbers (Can Straighten Out My Life),” co-written with Pam Sawyer and issued on Motown; the track climbed into the R&B Top Ten and the pop Top 40 during early 1971. Ware did not limit himself to Motown projects. In 1971 he supplied six co-written songs to Ike & Tina Turner’s United Artists album ’Nuff Said, which appeared that autumn and registered on both the R&B Top 40 and the pop charts. United Artists also signed him directly, resulting in his self-titled debut album on the label in 1972.

Returning to Motown, Ware began working with Arthur “T-Boy” Ross, younger brother of Diana Ross, and together they composed “I Wanna Be Where You Are,” which Michael Jackson recorded for his early 1972 Motown album Got to Be There. The single, released that spring, rose to number two on the R&B charts and entered the pop Top 20. Over subsequent years the composition became one of his most frequently interpreted works, with versions by José Feliciano, Marvin Gaye, SWV, and additional artists. Songwriting credits from Ware appeared on 1973 albums by the Average White Band, Donny Hathaway, and the Jackson 5. “Give Me Just Another Day,” written for the Miracles, came out as a Tamla single that autumn and charted on the R&B side. His next R&B singles entry arrived with “If You Were My Woman,” an answer record to Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “If You Were My Man,” cut by Latimore on Glades Records in spring 1974.

The same period brought a more significant undertaking: Quincy Jones’ A&M Records album Body Heat. Ware contributed as both writer and performer; the set reached the top of the R&B charts, entered the pop Top Ten, and earned gold certification. “If I Ever Lose This Heaven,” co-written with Pam Sawyer and performed on the album alongside Minnie Riperton and Al Jarreau, appeared on the R&B singles chart in September. Nearly a year later the Average White Band’s Atlantic cover reached the Top 40 of both the pop and R&B charts. The song later became another enduring Ware copyright, interpreted by Jonathan Butler, Sergio Mendes, and Nancy Wilson. The Body Heat title track, also co-written by Ware, charted on the R&B singles list in spring 1975. “Rolling Down a Mountainside,” written with Jacqueline Hilliard, became an R&B hit for the Main Ingredient on RCA Victor that season, peaking inside the Top Ten and crossing into the pop chart before serving as the title track of the group’s subsequent album. Ware joined Minnie Riperton and Richard Rudolph on “Inside My Love,” included on her Epic album Adventures in Paradise, also released in spring 1975. Issued as a single that summer, the track reached the R&B Top 40 and entered the pop charts.

Two Motown projects occupied Ware at the time: producing material for T-Boy Ross and recording his own solo album. Upon hearing one proposed Ross track, “I Want You,” label president Berry Gordy reassigned it to Marvin Gaye. After Gaye listened to Ware’s solo recordings, those songs were redirected into a Gaye album instead. Ware produced the resulting Tamla release I Want You, issued in March 1976, on which he co-wrote every track. The title song, co-written with Ross, topped the R&B charts and reached the pop Top 20. It later turned into a standard covered by Herb Alpert, Gato Barbieri, Madonna, and Michael McDonald, among many others; Robert Palmer’s 1991 medley with “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” climbed into the pop Top 20. The I Want You album itself hit number one on the R&B charts and the pop Top Ten, spinning off a second single, “After the Dance,” co-written by Ware, Ross, and Gaye, which entered the R&B Top 20 and the pop charts.

After relinquishing his own album material, Ware started fresh on a solo project for Motown and delivered Musical Massage on the Gordy subsidiary in September 1976. He later indicated that Motown again sought to redirect the songs to Gaye; when Ware declined, the label released the album without promotion, leading to modest commercial results. He therefore resumed songwriting for other performers. Throughout the late 1970s he contributed tracks to albums by Minnie Riperton, Marlena Shaw, Melissa Manchester, and Bobby Womack. His third solo album, Inside Is Love, appeared on Fabulous Records in 1979, reaching the R&B charts in December along with its single “What’s Your Name,” marking his initial recognition as a recording artist. Melissa Manchester’s 1980 Arista album For the Working Girl featured “Lovers After All,” which Ware and Manchester wrote and which Manchester recorded with Peabo Bryson. Released as a single in early 1981, the track entered the R&B Top 40 and the pop charts. Meanwhile Elektra Records signed Ware, resulting in his fourth solo album Rockin’ You Eternally, which produced two R&B singles chart entries—“Baby Don’t Stop Me” and the title track—though the album itself did not chart. Elektra funded a follow-up; the second album titled simply Leon Ware arrived in 1982, yet the label dropped him after disappointing sales.

Songwriting remained a reliable avenue. During the early and mid-1980s Ware placed material with Jeffrey Osborne, Loose Ends, Teena Marie, and James Ingram. He signed with Slingshot Records in 1987 and released his sixth solo album, Undercover. In the late 1980s and 1990s he continued session work as a musician, arranger, and producer while securing fewer new placements, although he did contribute to albums by the Isley Brothers, John Martyn, Fred Wesley, and Chico DeBarge. One notable exception was “Independence,” recorded by Lulu and charting just outside the UK Top Ten in 1993. Two developments aided his career during the 1990s. Rap and hip-hop artists began sampling his recordings, boosting publishing revenue even if they did not elevate his profile as a performer. Montell Jordan’s 1999 R&B entry “When You Get Home” sampled “I Want You,” as did tracks by EPMD (“It’s Going Down”), Ice Cube (“What Can I Do”), and Prince (“Mr. Happy”). A Tribe Called Quest’s “Lyrics to Go” drew from “Inside My Love,” as did 2Pac’s “Me Against the World” and Aaliyah’s “Heartbroken”; 2Pac also sampled “Body Heat” on the number-one pop and R&B hit “How Do U Want It.”

Concurrently, UK audiences rediscovered Ware as a foundational soul figure, prompting the Expansion label to reissue his solo albums. He advanced this recognition by issuing his seventh album, Taste the Love, on his own Kitchen Records imprint in 1995. Candlelight, a jazz collaboration with Don Grusin, appeared on Kitchen in the US and Expansion in the UK in 2001. Further soul-oriented collections followed, including Love’s Drippin’ (2003), Deeper (2004), A Kiss in the Sand (2004), and the Stax release Moon Ride (2008). In the ensuing decade he partnered with Danish duo Quadron on the 2012 single “Orchids for the Sun,” evoking his mid-1970s style. His twelfth solo album, Sigh, was licensed by Kitchen to P-Vine for Japanese release in 2014. Ware died in February 2017 in Marina del Rey, California, at age 77 from complications of prostate cancer. Material he had been developing with Taylor Graves surfaced in 2019 as part of Rainbow Deux, which also incorporated tracks from Sigh.