"
Lowdown" is a song originally recorded in 1976 by
Boz Scaggs for his album,
Silk Degrees. The song was co-written by Scaggs and
David Paich. Keyboardist David Paich, along with fellow "Lowdown" session musicians bassist
David Hungate, and drummer
Jeff Porcaro, would later help form the band
Toto.
nitially,
Silk Degrees received a lukewarm commercial response
and, similarly, the first single released from the album, "It's Over"
just barely cracked the top 40 on the
Billboard Pop Singles chart, peaking at #38. One day, however, a
Cleveland
R&B radio DJ began playing "Lowdown" straight off the album. This
was during a time period when DJs had much more say in what got played.
[3] Public response was very positive and soon Scaggs' record label,
Columbia, sent the song to other R&B-oriented radio stations for airplay. It began receiving airplay on
Top 40 Pop
stations as well, and when it was officially released as a single in
June 1976, it went on to become Scaggs' first major hit, eventually
peaking at number three on the
Billboard Pop Singles chart. It was also successful on the
R&B
and Disco Singles charts, peaking at number five on both. The song was
also a major hit in Canada, peaking at number two. It was a minor hit in
the UK, reaching #28. Scaggs is quoted as saying that the success of
"Lowdown" was 'an accident' and that, even though it was their favorite
from
Silk Degrees, he and the others involved in the making of
the song thought there 'wasn't a chance in hell' that the song would
have been released as a single.
[3] The single was certified gold by the
RIAA for sales of one million copies and would go on to win the
Grammy Award for Best R&B song of 1976.(Wikipedia)
