AN ‘EMOTIONAL’ ALBUM FOR OSBORNE AND PERRY

Jeffrey Osborne versus Richard Perry.

It was a battle of the heavyweights waged last fall--the star singer challenging the superstar producer. Unhappy with the way Perry was producing his album, Osborne wanted to do it himself. Though this conflict wasn’t heavily publicized, industry insiders were buzzing about it.

Osborne won control of his album “Emotional,” ousting Perry from the project. Osborne found some new material and produced most of the album himself.

“It was a battle I had to win,” Osborne said. “My career depended on it.”

But Osborne might have won the battle and lost the war. Despite a hit single, “You Should Be Mine,” the album has been a steady seller but not a smash hit. Its relatively slow progress even has affected Osborne’s tour plans.

“I want to wait a while to do more dates,” he said. “I want the album to build some momentum.”

This collaboration began happily. Perry was hired by A&M; Chairman Jerry Moss to produce the album. Osborne’s last one, “Don’t Stop,” was a hit in the black market but never attracted much pop attention. Osborne needed a pop hit. Moss figured that Perry, who has produced a string of hits for the Pointer Sisters, could do the same for Osborne.

But things quickly soured. First of all, Osborne wasn’t thrilled with Perry’s song selections. “Richard did 13 songs, but he didn’t bring in any ballads,” Osborne said. “I’m a ballad singer. How can I do an album without ballads?”

Osborne also objected to the way Perry produced the material: “He has a great ear for hit records, but he doesn’t necessarily capture the artist. I felt there was a void. He missed a big part of me. Those tracks didn’t sound like me.”

In October, according to Osborne, after A&M; Records executives heard what Perry had produced, they agreed that the collaboration with Perry should be terminated. Osborne assumed the producing duties himself. He got producing and composing help from George Duke and Michael Masser.

Perry’s work wasn’t scuttled. Three of his singles are on the album, including “You Should Be Mine,” Osborne’s current single. “Room With a View,” Osborne’s next single, is also a Perry production--as is the title song “Emotional.” “I kept his three strongest songs,” Osborne explained.

Now here’s the strange part: “You Should Be Mine,” which has a lamebrained subtitle--”The Woo Song”--is No. 17 on the Billboard magazine chart. This single, brought to Osborne by Perry, is the biggest of Osborne’s career. Though obviously happy with the hit, Osborne isn’t particularly happy that Perry is listed as producer.

Previously, Osborne’s highest single on the Billboard pop chart was “Stay With Me Tonight,” which peaked at No. 29. Most people don’t realize that. They assume an artist of his stature has had many Top 10 singles. Most undoubtedly assume his signature ballad, “On the Wings of Love,” was Top 10. Actually it barely cracked the Top 40.

Richard Perry vigorously disagrees with Osborne.

“Jeffrey’s statements are the most ludicrous things I’ve ever heard in my life,” he said. “I knew what Jeffrey needed. I’m well aware of Jeffrey’s strengths with a ballad. But he’s an all-around singer. For him to focus so much on ballads is selling himself short.

“I don’t write the songs. I told all my writers I wanted a ballad, along with other things. The first songs we used were up-tempo and middle tempo. I was trying new things with Jeffrey. I was trying to keep his black audience and stretch him so he can realize his full potential in the pop market. My experience with him was like a three-act play where only one or two acts had transpired. I was beginning to figure out which things were working and which weren’t when Jeffrey decided to take matters into his own hands.

“Since the ballad hadn’t come yet, he decided to look elsewhere for it. My most important songs come in the 11th hour. I would have focused my resources on getting a giant ballad or two. The songs of mine he left off the album are better than the stuff on there now.”

Commenting on the hit single “You Should Be Mine,” which lists him as producer, Perry noted that this mix (assemblage of recorded elements) is Osborne’s, not his: “My mix was a better record for radio. My record would have been a bigger single than his is now. His version does sound good, but there are things about the mix I think are missing. The writers of the song prefer my mix too.”

The next single is “Room With a View,” another Perry leftover. Though Perry is listed as producer, this, he pointed out, is also an Osborne mix. “With a better mix, it could be a big hit,” Perry said. “With his mix, the chances aren’t as good.”

On his last album, “Don’t Stop,” Osborne tried something different. “I wanted to reach the younger audience,” he said. “There were only two ballads on the album. The music was very polished. It was that techno-funk sound.”

Now he’s not too happy with that album, even though it’s sold more than 680,000 copies. “I experimented a little too much on it,” he said. “My fans didn’t want an album with just two ballads. Also, the album didn’t do that much for me in the pop market.”

Although it just passed the 500,000 mark in sales, “Emotional,” his current album, hasn’t attracted a huge pop audience either.

The problem is that Osborne is in a rut. He’s reached of certain level of popularity and can’t seem to go any further. One problem is that his audience is scattered. He is popular in the black market but is only a mild favorite among young pop fans. But because he’s basically a ballad singer, middle-aged fans--black and white--like him. He’s a big draw at the casino hotels where he shapes his act for that middle-of-the-road audience.

His career is going well, just not as well as he would like. He’s certainly making money. At his ranch-style home in Northridge there’s a big Mercedes sedan in the garage. Next to the house, he’s building an expensive studio.

“Basically I’m a happy man,” he said. “And my career? It’s OK. I just need that one thing to get me over the hump.”

That one thing is a Top 10 single. “You Should Be Mine” might be the one. Or maybe “Soweto,” the funky protest song that was just released on 12-inch, primarily for the black market. If that’s not a pop-crossover hit--it may be too political to get much pop air play--then maybe “Room With a View” might be a hit pop single.

“Something has to work,” he said, looking exasperated. “I need to get to that next level, where a Top 10 single will take me--to acceptance in the pop market. If it doesn’t happen, I won’t die. But being so close and not getting there, that’s maddening.”