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(Top) 1 Track listing 1.1 Notes 2 Personnel 3 Charts 3.1 Weekly charts 3.2 Year-end charts 4 Certifications 5 References

The Sweetest Days

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The Sweetest Days

Studio album by

Vanessa Williams

Released

December 6, 1994

Recorded

January 1993–October 1994

Studio

Axis (New York City)

Battery (New York City)

Electric Lady (New York City)

Power Station (New York City)

The Hit Factory (New York City)

Bass Hit (New York City)

Sorcerer (New York City)

Right Track (New York City)

RPM Sound (New York City)

East Wing (New York City)

Sony Music (New York City)

Capitol (Hollywood, California)

Westlake (West Hollywood, California)

Mad Hatter (Los Angeles)

Music Grinder (Hollywood, California)

Larrabee Sound (North Hollywood, California)

The Bennett House (Franklin, Tennessee)

Javelina Recording (Nashville, Tennessee)

Goodnight (Dallas, Texas)

Genre

R&B^[1]

Length

52:08

Label

Wing
Mercury

Producer

Vanessa Williams chronology

The Comfort Zone
(1991)

The Sweetest Days
(1994)

Star Bright
(1996)

Singles from The Sweetest Days

"The Sweetest Days"
Released: October 18, 1994
"The Way That You Love"
Released: January 24, 1995
"Colors of the Wind"
Released: April 25, 1995
"You Can't Run"
Released: July 17, 1995
"Higher Ground"
Released: October 10, 1995
"Betcha Never"
Released: January 30, 1996

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Entertainment Weekly	^[3]
Muzik	^[1]
Robert Christgau	^[4]

The Sweetest Days is the third studio album by American singer Vanessa Williams, released on December 6, 1994, by Wing Records and Mercury Records. The album peaked at number 57 on the US Billboard 200 and at number 25 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[5]

The album includes the singles "You Can't Run", "Betcha Never", "The Way That You Love", and the title track. It also includes the first recording of the song "Higher Ground" later covered by Barbra Streisand as the title track from her 1997 self-titled album, as well as cover versions of songs previously recorded by Patti Austin and Sting. The album was re-released in 1995 with the additional track "Colors of the Wind", the theme from the Disney animated film Pocahontas.

"The Way That You Love" and "You Can't Run" were nominated at the 1996 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female and Best R&B Song, respectively.

Track listing[edit]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Intro-Lude"	Nick Moroch Gerry E. Brown	Brown Vanessa Williams	0:55
2.	"The Way That You Love"	J. Dibbs Abenaa	Brown Williams J. Dibbs^[a]	4:48
3.	"Betcha Never"	Babyface	Babyface	3:55
4.	"The Sweetest Days"	Jon Lind Wendy Waldman Phil Galdston	Keith Thomas	3:31
5.	"Higher Ground"	Steve Dorff George Gree	Brown Williams	4:19
6.	"You Don't Have to Say You're Sorry"	Patti Austin	Brown Williams	4:10
7.	"Ellamental"	Laythan Armor Bunny Hull	Brown Williams	6:06
8.	"Sister Moon"	Sting	Brown Williams	5:28
9.	"You Can't Run"	Babyface	Babyface	4:27
10.	"Moonlight Over Paris"	Peter Mayer James Mayer Roger Guth	Brown Williams	5:07
11.	"Constantly"	Donald Robinson	Brown Williams Galdston^[a]	5:04
12.	"Long Way Home"	Brock Walsh Eric Carmen Galdston	Brown Williams	4:18

1996 Japanese reissue bonus tracks^[6]
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Love Is" (duet with Brian McKnight)	Tonio K John Keller	Brown Williams McKnight	4:46
14.	"Colors of the Wind" (radio mix)	Alan Menken Stephen Schwartz	Thomas	4:20

1995 Target exclusive edition (bonus CD single)
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"For All the Children"	Don Sebesky Gloria Nissenson	Brown Moroch	3:20
2.	"Colors of the Wind" (radio mix)	Menken Schwartz	Thomas	4:18

Notes[edit]

^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer

Personnel[edit]

Adapted from AllMusic.^[7]

Abenaa – composer, background vocals

Laythan Armor – arranger, composer, fender rhodes, programming, rhythm arrangements

Ryan Arnold – assistant engineer

Patti Austin – composer

Roy Ayers – guest artist, vibraphone

Babyface – composer, drum programming, guest artist, keyboards, producer

Ron Blake – saxophone

Anthony Block – cover typeset

Jeff Bova – keyboards, mellotron, programming, strings, synthesizer programming

Gerry Brown – arranger, composer, guitar, keyboards, mixing, electric piano, producer, special effects, tape effects

Jackie Brown – assistant producer, production assistant

Larry Carlton – guest artist, guitar

Eric Carmen – composer

Bryan Carrigan – assistant engineer

Ron Carter – acoustic bass, guest artist

Marietta Ciriello – stylist

Tim Conklin – assistant engineer

Mick Corey – technical support

Dominic Cortese – accordion

Martin Czembor – assistant engineer

Paulinho Da Costa – guest artist, percussion

Kenwood Dennard – drums

Joel Diamond – organ

J. Dibbs – arranger, composer, producer, programming, rhythm arrangements

Tim Donovan – assistant engineer

Steve Dorff – composer

Derek Duffey – production assistant

Barry Duryea – technical support

Suzanne Dyer – assistant engineer

Ed Eckstine – executive producer

Peter Erskine – drums

Tabitha Fair – background vocals

Brent Fischer – orchestration, strings orchestrator

Clare Fischer – conductor, string arrangements

Eric Fischer – assistant engineer

Phil Galdston – arranger, composer, keyboards, producer, synthesizer, synthesizer programming, vocal arrangement

Odile Gilbert – hair stylist

Brad Gilderman – engineer

Carl Glanville – assistant engineer

Carl Gorodetzky – contractor

George Gree – composer

Roger Guth – composer

Mick Guzauski – mixing

Mark Hammond – drum programming, programming

Roy Hargrove – guest artist, trumpet

Kenny Hicks – vocal arrangement, background vocals

Dann Huff – acoustic guitar, electric guitar

Ronn Huff – conductor, string arrangements

Bunny Hull – composer, background vocals

Anthony Jackson – bass

Tim Leitner – assistant engineer, engineer, mixing assistant

Jon Lind – composer

Peter Lindbergh – photography

Marty Maidenberg – artwork, cover design, package layout

Bill Malina – digital editing, engineer, mixing

Stephanie Marais – make-up

James Mayer – composer

Peter Mayer – composer

Brian McKnight – guest artist

Joe Mennona – accordion

Vaughn Merrick – assistant engineer

Jay Militscher – assistant engineer

Jen Monnar – assistant engineer

Todd Moore – production coordination

Nick Moroch – arranger, composer, guitar, guitars, mandolin, mellotron, synthesizer, synthesizer bass

James Murphy – drums

The Nashville String Machine – strings

Marty Ogden – assistant engineer

Pino Palladino – bass, bass slide

Greg Parker – assistant engineer

Leon Pendarvis – piano

Jamey Perenot – assistant engineer

Greg Phillinganes – fender rhodes

Joe Pirrera – assistant engineer

Herb Powers – mastering

Morris Repass – conductor, string contractor

Marnie Riley – assistant engineer

Max Risenhoover – digital Editing

Donald Robinson – composer

Rory Romano – assistant engineer

Armand Sabal-Lecco – bass

Philippe Saisse – keyboards, piano

Al Schmitt – engineer

Ivy Scott – production coordination

Mike Scott – mixing, assistant engineer

Ira Siegel – guitar

Ricardo Silveira – guitar

Dexter Simmons – assistant engineer

Artie Smith – technical support

Bill Smith – assistant engineer

Robert Smith – assistant engineer

Soul Man – rap

Brian Sperber – assistant engineer

Carol Steele – percussion

Sting – composer, guest artist, background vocals

Casey Stone – assistant Engineer

Toots Thielemans – guest artist, harmonica

Keith Thomas – arranger, bass, piano, producer, programming, string arrangements, synthesizer programming

Chris Thompson – art direction

Fonzi Thornton – background vocals

Wendy Waldman – composer

Randy Walker – MIDI programming, programming

Brock Walsh – arranger, composer, vocal arrangement, background vocals

Bill Whittington – engineer, mixing

Christian "Wicked" Wicht – technical support

King Williams – assistant engineer

Vanessa Williams – arranger, lead vocals, primary artist, producer, vocal arrangement, vocals, background vocals

Victor Winograd – cartage

Dann Wojnar – assistant engineer

Charts[edit]

Weekly charts[edit]

Weekly chart performance for *The Sweetest Days*
Chart (1994–1995)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)^[8]	72
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[9]	74
Japanese Albums (Oricon)^[10]	36
USBillboard 200^[11]	57
USTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)^[12]	25

Year-end charts[edit]

Year-end chart performance for *The Sweetest Days*
Chart (1995)	Position
USBillboard 200^[13]	142
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)^[14]	68

Certifications[edit]

Certifications for *The Sweetest Days*
Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Japan (RIAJ)^[15]	Gold	100,000^{^}
United States (RIAA)^[5]	Platinum	1,000,000^{^}
^{^} Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Jones, Bob (September 1995). "Vanessa Williams: Sweetest Days" (PDF). Muzik. No. 4. p. 81. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2022.

^ AllMusic review

^ Dyson, Michael Eric (9 March 1995). "Recordings". Rolling Stone. Vol. 703.

^ Consumer Guide: Vanessa Williams

^ ^a ^b "American album certifications – Vanessa Williams – The Sweetest Days". Recording Industry Association of America. August 1, 1995. Retrieved December 13, 2018.

^ "Sweetest Days : Vanessa Williams". HMV Japan. Retrieved May 11, 2022.

^ The Sweetest Days - Vanessa Williams | Credits | AllMusic, retrieved 2023-02-11

^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 303.

^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Vanessa Williams – The Sweetest Days" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 14, 2021.

^ "スウィーテスト・デイ" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on March 16, 2023. Retrieved March 16, 2023.

^ "Vanessa Williams Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 14, 2021.

^ "Vanessa Williams Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 14, 2021.

^ "Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1995". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.

^ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 1995". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2021.

^ "Japanese album certifications – ヴァネッサ・ウィリアムス (Vanessa Williams) – スウィーテスト・デイズ (The Sweetest Days)" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved March 23, 2020. Select 1995年2月 on the drop-down menu

Vanessa Williams

Studio albums

Compilations

Singles

"The Right Stuff"
"(He's Got) the Look"
"Dreamin'"
"Darlin' I"
"Running Back to You"
"The Comfort Zone"
"Save the Best for Last"
"Work to Do"
"Just for Tonight"
"Love Is"
"The Sweetest Days"
"The Way That You Love"
"Colors of the Wind"
"Where Do We Go from Here"
"Do You Hear What I Hear / The Little Drummer Boy"
"Happiness"
"Oh How the Years Go By"
"Merry Christmas Darling"
"You Are Everything"
"The Real Thing"
"Legs (Keep Dancing)"

Relatives