Will to Power is an American dance-pop group that originated in South Florida in the mid-1980s, founded by Miami producer Bob Rosenberg. The group recorded a number of hit singles on the Billboard dance and pop charts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, most notably "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley", a medley of 1970s hits by Peter Frampton and Lynyrd Skynyrd that reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1988. His mother, Gloria Mann, was a pop singer who had two Top 40 pop hits in the mid-1950s on the Sound Records label, "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)" and "Teen Age Prayer". After attending school in Florida, Rosenberg became a DJ at various local events, and by 1985 he was working at a Miami CHR radio station, WHQT (Hot 105).

During 1986 and 1987, Rosenberg worked with various other musicians to create original music. He chose the name Will to Power for the group as an homage to German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's theory of an individual's fundamental Will to Power. and at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in August 1987. It also reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart in September of that year. Epic Records asked Rosenberg if he had enough material for an album. That month, the album reached its peak position of No. 68 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. A fourth single from the album, "Fading Away", which spent two weeks atop the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in early 1989. The album appeared on the Billboard 200 albums chart in February 1991, peaking at #178.

The first single to be released from the album was "I'm Not in Love", a cover version of a song by the British art rock band 10cc that was a No. 1 UK and No. 2 US pop hit in 1975. Will to Power's version made the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 7 in January 1991 in addition to reaching No. 4 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart.

The group released a new album, Spirit Warrior, in 2004 on Straight Blast Records, which was followed by an EP in 2006 titled Spirit Warrior: The Remixes. For this album, Rosenberg collaborated with vocalists such as Gioia Bruno (member of the freestyle music group Exposé), Donna Allen and Wendy Pederson, and remixers such as Giuseppe D and the Wonder Twins.

Critical reception

Allmusic's retrospective reviews of the group's first two albums are generally positive, with Will to Power receiving four stars out of a possible five and Journey Home receiving three stars. Entertainment Weekly gave Journey Home a D+ rating in a February 1991 review by Bill Wyman, stating that "the material is predominantly colorless pop songs". However, music journalist Chuck Eddy mentions tracks from Journey Home in his 1997 book, The Accidental Evolution of Rock 'n' Roll: A Misguided Tour Through Popular Music. In the section titled "Automotive Rock", Eddy mentions that the song "Journey Home" is the title track of what may have been his favorite album of the 1990s, that it is seemingly based on the 1981 song "Cruising with the Deuce" by Quarterflash and that Rosenberg "says he's got to keep his motor running, but not only can you feel the machine's momentum (in the rhythm), you can also feel stormclouds settling in (in the voices)."

Discography

Studio albums

  • Will to Power (1988)
  • Journey Home (1990)
  • Spirit Warrior (2004)

See also

  • List of artists who reached number one in the United States
  • List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. dance chart

References

  • [ Will to Power] at Allmusic
  • Artist page at Billboard website
  • [https://www.billboard.com/music/will-to-power]