Contents

How Could It Be

1985 studio album by Eddie Murphy

How Could It Be
Studio album by Eddie Murphy
Released	September 1985[1]
Recorded	1985[2]
Studio	Wonderland Studios, Joint Recording Studios, Soundworks Studios, Clinton Recording, Power Station
Length	34:53
Label	Columbia
Producer	Rick James Aquil Fudge Stevie Wonder
Eddie Murphy chronology
Eddie Murphy: Comedian (1983) How Could It Be (1985) So Happy (1989)
Singles from How Could It Be
"Party All the Time" Released: September 23, 1985 "How Could It Be" Released: 1985

How Could It Be is the debut musical studio album by comedian/actor Eddie Murphy. The album was released in September 1985^[1]onColumbia Records and was produced by Aquil Fudge, with the exception of the hit top ten single "Party All the Time", which was produced by Rick James.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Robert Christgau	(C-)[4]
New York Daily News	(unfavorable)[5]
New York Daily News	[6]
The Cincinnati Post	[7]
The Cincinnati Enquirer	[8]
Detroit Free Press	[9]
The Boston Globe	(unfavorable)[10]
The Gazette	(favorable)[11]
The Buffalo News	(unfavorable)[12]
The Commercial Appeal	(favorable)[13]
Gannett News Service	(unfavorable)[14]
The Honolulu Advertiser	(unfavorable)[15]
The Canadian Press	(unfavorable)[16]
Copley Press	(favorable)[17]
Daily Press	(favorable)[18]
The Morning Call	(unfavorable)[19]
The Daily Oklahoman	(favorable)[20]
Oakland Tribune	[21]
Lexington Herald-Leader	(unfavorable)[22]
Los Angeles Times	[23]

The album was a commercial success, making it to No. 26 on the Billboard 200 and No. 17 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Two singles were released: "Party All the Time", which made it to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the title track, which became a minor R&B hit. This studio album was recorded as part of fulfilling a $100,000 bet that Richard Pryor had made with Eddie Murphy that he could not sing.^{[citation needed]} In the album's liner notes, Eddie Murphy wrote the following "To Richard Pryor, my idol, with whom I have a $100,000 bet. No, motherfucker, I didn't forget."^[24]

In an interview in 1987, Murphy said: "My album could have been much better but it came out okay".^[25]

For this album, Murphy enlisted other well-known musicians to help him create his first musical studio album. The record has two Stevie Wonder produced and written tracks, "Do I" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses." There are also two songs that Rick James produced and wrote—the title track (a minor R&B hit) and the successful hit, "Party All the Time".^[2]

Murphy wrote three tracks on the album in which he also gets sole writing credit for: "C-O-N Confused", a disco track, "I, Me, Us, We", a Parliament homage, and "My God Is Color Blind", an anti-racism song. Murphy took an experimental approach to test himself in what he could do with music.^[2]

• James Allen, Dennis Davis, Rick James – drums, Oberheim DMX (track 5)
• Aquil Fudge – percussion
• Frank Hamilton, Michael McKinney, Fred Washington – bass
• Gordon Banks, Ben Bridges, Kenny Hawkins, Larry John McNally, Mike O'Neil, Paul Pesco, Greg Poree, David Williams, Larry Menally – guitar
• Frank Hamilton, Greg Levias, Jeff Lorber, Greg Phillinganes, Darryl Ross, Levi Ruffin, Bill Wolfer,^[26] Stevie Wonder, Bill Young – keyboards, synthesizers, Roland Juno-60 bass (track 5)
• Abdoulaye Soumare, Bob Bradlove – synthesizer programming
• Stevie Wonder – harmonica
• Steve Porcaro – synths on "Party All the time"
• Larry Fast – synth
• Earl Gardner, Richard Gibbs, Larry Gittens, Bob Malach, Keith Quinn – horns
• Roderick Bascom, Crystal Blake, Alvin "Blues" Broussard, Anthony Clark, Carlotta Clark, Lisa Clark, Paul Freudenburg, Larry Gittens, Rod Gordon, Cynthia Green, Bruce Hawes, Rick James, David Allen Jones, Jacque Kimbrough, Derek Lawrence, Lorelei McBroom, Daryl Murphy, LaMorris Payne, Darryl Phinnessee, William Rivera, Dwayne Roberson, Darryl Ross, Levi Ruffin, Howard Smith, Spartacus R., Michelle Wiley, Philip "Bully" Williams, Steven Lindstrom – backing vocals

Technical

• Larkin Arnold – executive producer
• Nancy Greenberg – art direction
• Annie Leibovitz – photography