"Diamonds" by Herb Alpert featuring Janet Jackson & Lisa Keith

            Hey, friends! This weekend the Dial brings you a former top 10 hit specially selected for the Valentine's Day weekend. Give it up for Herb Alpert and his all star collaboration “Diamonds”!

“You told me you love me... You told me you care...
But when I'm around you... It's like I'm not there.”

The lead single from Alpert's 1987's Keep Your Eye on Me LP, “Diamonds” was Herb's first major pop hit since 1979's “Rise”, a chart topping instrumental that an entire generation of music fans would later come to recognize as the music bed for The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1997 hip hop smash “Hypnotize”.

Unlike “Rise”, (and a good bulk of Alpert's musical output dating back to the 60s...) “Diamonds” features lyrics, the vocals of which are provided courtesy of Janet Jackson and Lisa Keith. With production by legendary r&b and funk producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, “Diamonds” achieved #5 on the Billboard top 40, and topped the US R&B singles chart. It also placed respectably in the UK at #27. The Alpert/Jackson/Keith/Jam/Lewis supergroup collaboration continued on the follow up single, “Making Love In The Rain”, which reached US #35 and R&B #7.

“I need a reminder... Something I can see...
Something on my finger... Shines so brightly.”

Despite tons of radio and MTV play at the time, not much has been heard from “Diamonds” since it's release, and because of the very high profile of one of its vocalists, it ends up seeming like a lost Janet Jackson track. In fact, most casual listeners identify the song not as Herb's creation, but as a Janet hit. The confusion continues as “Diamonds” doesn't appear on any of Janet's LPs, though it did finally earn a spot on her 2009 Number Ones compilation LP.

Lisa Keith, while not nearly as well-known as her co-vocalist Jackson, nevertheless carved out a respectable niche for herself as a backing vocalist and songwriter. She also managed to place one song of her very own on the Top 40, the Jackson 5 channeling “Better Than You”, which peaked at US #36 in 1993, and may very well get it’s own spotlight from the Dial coming up.

Diamonds and “Making Love...” were Alpert’s last top 40 appearances. Since then, Herb has branched out into expressionist painting and sculpting, Broadway production work, and working with The Herb Alpert Foundation which supports youth and arts education.

“Don't want your money... Don't want your key...
Diamonds, love don't come for free.”

Be sure to check out the amusing music video for the cut, featuring moments in which Herb is mistaken for a certain Latin singer as he exists his car (“Yo Julio!”), and Bucky the club owner taking a bite out of Herb's vinyl record, exclaiming that it...

“DON'T TASTE LIKE NO HIT TO ME!!!” 

Bucky quickly learns to regret this goofy display of disrespect, to be sure.

Be sure to stay dialed into this frequency, friends, as we continue to bring you the best in forgotten former hits. Kyle's Radio Dial, because the more you listen... the more you REMEMBER!

“Don't you know... Diamonds are a girl's best friend...
When you go... They stay with me until the end.”