One Hundred Ways – Quincy Jones Featuring James Ingram | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#14) & R&B (#10); 1982
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
Artist, songwriter, arranger, producer: these are just a few of the hats worn by the amazing Quincy Jones during his illustrious career. In 1970, he celebrated his 37th birthday by making his first chart appearance as a solo artist with the hypnotic jazz track Killer Joe.
Eight years later, Quincy racked up his first R&B record – Stuff Like That – featuring Ashford & Simpson and Chaka Kahn on vocals. That same year, 1980, a demo recording of James Ingram singing Just Once caught Quincy’s ear.
Ingram impressed Quincy so much that Jones included the song and James on his latest album, The Dude. When released as a single, Just Once rose to #11 R&B and #17 Pop. Ingram’s voice also graced another song on The Dude: One Hundred Ways.
It bested Just Once’s R&B peak by one notch and brought James a Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance – Male. In 1989 Jones called upon James again to sing on The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite): a collaboration that reached #1 R&B.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Quincy Jones
Lyrics Written by:
- Kathy Wakefield
- Benjamin Wright
- Tony Coleman
Awards:
- “One Hundred Ways” received the 1982 Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).