The soul singer nobody knew was white

Bobby Caldwell was born in Manhattan and grew up in Miami. His mother sold real estate, and one of her clients was a reggae singer called Bob Marley, who became a friend. His parents hosted a local television variety show, and at twelve he began playing piano and guitar.

In the late 1960s he formed a group called Katmandu in Miami, and Little Richard took notice. Managed by the rock and roll pioneer, they moved to Los Angeles and released an album in 1971, but the band dissolved. Caldwell stayed, playing rhythm guitar for Little Richard's backing band before going solo. By 1977 he had spent six years in bar bands trying to land a deal.

He signed with TK Records in Miami in 1978. After the album was recorded, executives said they enjoyed it but thought it lacked a hit. Caldwell returned to the studio for two days and wrote “What You Won't Do for Love”. TK was an R&B label popular with Black listeners, and the executives kept his face off the album cover. When he toured with Natalie Cole, many in the mostly Black audience were surprised to learn he was white.

The song reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six on the R&B chart. It has been covered by acts including Go West, Phyllis Hyman, Roy Ayers, Michael Bolton and Boyz II Men, and sampled by Tupac Shakur for “Do for Love”. Another of his tracks, “My Flame”, was sampled for “Sky's the Limit” by The Notorious B.I.G.

Caldwell kept writing, including “The Next Time I Fall” for Amy Grant and Peter Cetera, a Hot 100 number one. He later turned to the Great American Songbook. He died in 2023, and much of his catalogue is now best known through the generations of hip hop and R&B artists who sampled it.