Love Unlimited supplied the lush backing vocals that enriched Barry White’s blockbuster recordings and packed arena shows while also scoring their own gold single, “Walkin’ in the Rain With the One I Love,” and the chart-topping R&B single “I Belong to You.” Sisters Glodean and Linda James along with Diane Taylor made up the trio. Glodean first encountered her future husband through a mutual acquaintance; she had already purchased Viola Wills’ recording of “Lost Without the Love of My Guy,” a track White co-wrote and produced during his tenure as A&R director and producer at Bob Keene’s Bronco Records.
Although the singers had never worked professionally before, White began guiding them through nearly twelve months of intensive rehearsals. Drawing on his talks with Glodean, he composed “Walkin’ in the Rain With the One I Love,” then gave the group its name, Love Unlimited. His associate Larry Nunes brought the finished track to Russ Regan, president of MCA’s Uni imprint. The single, featuring White’s voice on an answering phone, earned gold status and reached number six on the R&B chart and number fourteen on the pop chart. Their debut album, From a Girl’s Point of View We Give You…, also sold a million copies. When Regan departed for 20th Century Records, White’s arrangement with Uni deteriorated.
Still contractually tied to Uni, White sought another outlet and cut three piano-and-vocal demos. Nunes urged him to release the performances under his own name; after prolonged debate, White agreed and signed with 20th Century, where Regan now served as president. That move launched White’s own string of gold and platinum releases. He secured a release from Uni for Love Unlimited, and the trio followed him to the new label. Their initial 20th Century singles—“Oh Love, Well We Finally Made It,” a Top 40 R&B entry, plus “It May Be Winter Outside (But in My Heart It’s Spring)” and “Under the Influence of Love”—appeared on the summer 1973 album Under the Influence. White had first recorded the latter two songs with vocalist Felice Taylor.
While preparing material for the next Love Unlimited project, Glodean proposed transplanting the piano figure from “Lost Without the Love of My Guy” into a new composition. White eventually adopted the chord sequence for “I Belong to You.” Gene Page’s sweeping arrangement carried the ballad to number one on the R&B chart in late 1974; it anchored the fall album In Heat, which showcased the same studio musicians heard on White’s hits: guitarists Ray Parker, Jr., Wah Wah Watson, Lee Ritenour, David T. Walker, Dean Parks, and Don Peake; bassists Nathan East and Wilton Felder of the Crusaders; drummer Ed Greene; and percussionist Gary Coleman. The set also yielded the spring 1975 follow-up “Share a Little Love in Your Heart,” which peaked at number twenty-one R&B, along with “Move Me No Mountain,” “I Needed Love – You Were There,” an extended “I Belong to You,” and a lyric version of “Love’s Theme.”
After White left 20th Century, Love Unlimited moved to his CBS-distributed Unlimited Gold imprint and scored a notable club hit with “High Steppin’ Hip Dressin’ Fella (You Got It Together),” which reached number forty-five R&B in fall 1979 on the album Love Is Back. Barry and Glodean White charted together in 1981 with “Didn’t We Make It Happen Baby” and “I Want You,” and they issued the full-length Barry & Glodean. Following eight Barry White albums, four Love Unlimited albums, four Love Unlimited Orchestra albums, relentless touring, and the pressures of the business, White stepped away for a time.
His return yielded the platinum single “Practice What You Preach” and the multi-platinum album The Icon Is Love on A&M. Glodean’s harmonies appear on White’s 1999 Private Music/Windham Hill/BMG release Staying Power. Love Unlimited can be heard on the soundtrack to the 20th Century Fox film The Together Brothers, originally issued by 20th Century Records in summer 1974 and reissued on CD in June 1999, as well as on the 1997 compilation Best of Love Unlimited from PGD/Polygram Pop.
