Description
Standing on the One is the debut album by the American R&B/soul singer and songwriter Jon Gibson, released on Constellation Records in 1983. The album was produced by Bill Wolfer.
At the age of 20, Jon Gibson knocked on the door at Warner/Electra/Asylum where he was referred to Dick Griffey’s new Constellation label, a subsidiary to his mighty Solar label known in the music industry as “Motown’s second coming”. Griffy, a prankster, got a kick out of tricking his Solar artist like Jodie Wately and The Whispers as they all thought Gibson’s demo was Stevie Wonder.
Jon Gibson’s debut as a singer/songwriter came as a guest vocalist and songwriter on three songs for The Jackson’s keyboardist Bill Wolfer’s solo project entitled Wolf, released on Constellation in 1982. The album was a Smooth Jazz hit and included a host of great musicians, including Michael Jackson who sang background vocals on the Gibson/Wolfer collaboration “So Shy”. Wolfer returned the favor the next year by producing Gibson’s debut album, Standing on the One. The album showed that Gibson was more than just a Stevie Wonder-clone, and that he had songwriting skills to go with that great voice. Standing on the One was released in 1983 and the video team that produced “Ribbons In The Sky” for Wonder produced Gibson’s video single “She Told Me So”. In the process of making that album, Gibson met his musical idol, Stevie Wonder.
But at the time Christian labels were also courting Jon Gibson and he soon became torn between his desire for pop stardom and the need to give testimony to his faith, so he signed with the Christian label Frontline Records for On the Run, a partial re-release of Standing On The One (featuring five of the tracks remixed, with five new cuts added, including the No. 1 CCM hit “God Loves A Broken Heart”).
Standing on the One is Jon Gibson’s 1983 debut solo album. Jon got his start on Solar Records distributed through Warner/Electra/Asylum. Solar, a black music label, often referred to as “Motown’s second coming” with acts like The Whisper’s, Shalimar, Lakeside, and Midnight Star, formed a whole new label for Jon called Constellation. With a single climbing the charts and a debut MTV video, it looked like Jon was well on his way to becoming a pop star. However, in mid-release, the promotion of the album was halted as Solar ran into a dispute with W.E.A. and moved their acts over to MCA. The label was never the same after that and two years after it’s release, a young Christian bookstore manager named Brian Tong heard Standing on the One on a secular station and knew right away, that Jon had to be a Christian. He ordered the album, and upon reading Jon’s dedication on the back cover, his gut instincts were confirmed. Brain sent the album to K.Y.M.S, a 100,000 watt station that reached the entire Southern California region. It was a smash success and is the event that would eventually lead Jon, a kid from the mean streets of San Francisco to his true calling, in a world he never knew existed.
Jon Gibson, a 22-year old singer/songwriter, has found himself with a dynamic first solo album, ‘Standing on the One’. Through his Elektra/Asylum distribution Gibson walks that sharp line between secular and Christian music, desiring to reach the unsaved – without compromising his faith. On this controversial and exciting border is born the excitement of what Jon’s music is all about.
The title cut reveals a Stevie Wonder/Michael Jackson sound: simplistic backbeat rhythms with polyrhythmic melodies set deeply in r&b. Easily appreciated by pop-rock enthusiasts, «Standing on the One» has an appeal of constant movement, musically and spiritually.
«Start It All Again» talks of being born again. It examines our human tendency to stray from God and issues a beckoning call to return. Tunes like «Nation in Need» and «That Ain’t No Way to Live» make strong social statements about man’s inability to cope with this fallen world.
Gibson’s ability to cause us to look a little deeper into ourselves gives his music power and substance. He can write songs with moral lyrics, proclaim his faith, and still draw an audience.
‘Standing on the One’ should be just a foreshadowing of what may come from this gifted artist. [Brian K. Tong, CCM, June 1984]
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/standing-on-the-one/317333682)
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Start It All Again” – 4:55
A2. “She Told Me So” – 5:33
A3. “Standing On The One” – 4:47
A4. “That Ain’t No Way To Live” – 3:12
Side Two
B1. “Are You Gonna Stay With Me Again” – 4:35
B2. “I Love Here Anyway” – 3:48
B3. “It’s True” – 3:07
B4. “So In Love With You” – 4:37
B5. “Nation In Need” 3:50
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by Constellation Records. Re-issued on CD by Unidisc in 2008 featuring the bonus track “She Told Me So (Radio Mix)”.
“She Told Me So” (VIDEO)
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