BEAUTIFUL ONES: Phyllis Hyman

These black-and-white portraits were shot in 1977 by Anthony Barboza inside Phyllis's New York apartment. By that year her career was already gathering momentum. She'd sung "Betcha by Golly, Wow" on Norman Connors's You Are My Starship the prior year, released her Buddah Records debut that April, and was a fixture on the Upper West Side jazz-soul circuit at clubs like Rust Brown's and Mikell's. Statuesque and contralto, she carried herself with the presence of a woman who knew her own range. Barboza, a Kamoinge-trained photographer making his name on intimate portraits of Black musicians and writers (his Black Borders book came two years later), caught her at the moment her career was about to inflect.

"You Know How to Love Me" (1979)

Tracked at Sigma Sound Studios NYC, the song was written and produced by James Mtume and Reggie Lucas, the same partnership behind Roberta Flack's "The Closer I Get to You" and Stephanie Mills's "What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin'." Mtume played keyboards and percussion; Lucas played guitar and handled vocal arrangements; Ed Walsh handled synthesizer programming; Gwen Guthrie and Tawatha Agee sang backgrounds; Wade Marcus arranged strings and horns. Album mastering happened at Sterling Sound.

The session story (recalled by Nathan Alexander, brother of Phyllis's then-husband Larry, on Jointzoftheday): "Mtume, a man with much wisdom, wit, and a penchant for truth telling, no matter what the circumstances, was trying to get Phyllis to hold on to one note for a long time! She started getting mad with him and it was her anger and frustration that triggered her to actually end up doing just what he wanted!" That sustain became the record's signature flourish.

Released as the album's lead single on October 23, 1979, "You Know How to Love Me" peaked at #6 on Billboard's Disco chart and #12 on Hot Soul Singles. The parent LP climbed to #10 on the R&B chart, becoming her all-time best-selling album. The song outlived its initial commercial run, covered later by Lisa Stansfield and Robin S, championed in tribute by Philly DJ Cosmo Baker as "the greatest song in the history of music." Phyllis performed it on The Mike Douglas Show on January 30, 1980, alongside the album ballad "But I Love You."

Vinyl

• U.S. promo 12-inch: Arista SP-75 carries the full-length album mix (7:34). A staple for clean intros and system-checking the rhythm guitars.

• The U.S. commercial 7-inch (Arista AS 0463) ran an edited 3:29 version with "Give a Little More" as the B-side. There was no commercial 12-inch domestically; the U.K. got the full-length on Arista 12 ARIST 12323.

  
  

Afterlife

• Dimitri From Paris special remixes on Le Edits (RSD 2018, 2×12-inch). Includes the "Alternative String-Apella" and "Super Disco Orchestra" takes. Limited to 300 hand-numbered copies and worked from the original master tapes with all rights holders' approval.

• Mike Maurro Mix (12:13), from The Mike Maurro Remix Vault on Disco Police. Maurro is a veteran Philly engineer who's reworked everyone from Teddy Pendergrass to Harold Melvin to Hall & Oates from the masters.

• Dave Lee (formerly Joey Negro) Extended Disco Mix (around 10 minutes) on Z Records. Built from the original 24-track and stretched out with full dynamics for the dancefloor.

  
  

Watch & Listen

• Phyllis on The Mike Douglas Show, performing "You Know How to Love Me" and "But I Love You" with co-host Robby Benson, January 30, 1980.

• Jointzoftheday's tribute piece on the You Know How to Love Me album and the recording of the title track.

• Funk My Soul's album appreciation of the You Know How to Love Me LP.