Is It the ‘Right Night’ for White’s Kind of Love Song?

Barry White ranks with Donna Summer and the Bee Gees as the most popular and influential hitmaker of the mid-’70s disco boom, thanks to such hits as the silky instrumental “Love’s Theme” and the seductive rap “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe.”

So does that mean that White’s first album in four years--”The Right Night and Barry White”--is headed for the same commercial cold shoulder encountered by recent albums by Summer and the Bee Gees?

Is there still a disco backlash?

Gary Borman, who co-manages the Bee Gees, believes there can be a stigma to being closely identified with a bygone musical era--if that era is considered out of fashion.

“Today’s business is highly image-conscious and research-conscious and demo-conscious,” explained Borman. “Everything is so formatted and figured that making a transition from a different era into this era is difficult. You have to take an artist’s talent and creativity and translate it into today’s mechanics. It sometimes doesn’t translate easily--and I think it’s that translation process that can screw up an artist.”

The key, he added, is how the old era is now regarded by pop fans. Being identified with some eras may even help veteran artists.

“It didn’t hurt John Fogerty to be thought of as the guy from Creedence when he relaunched his career (in 1985),” Borman said. “It’s certainly not hurting George Harrison to be an ex-Beatle. It all depends on the era--and if it happens to fit into what’s considered hip in today’s marketplace.”

White, sitting in the comfortable guest house of his sprawling Sherman Oaks compound, disputed the suggestion that the Summer and Bee Gees albums stumbled just because of the disco connection.

“If their albums didn’t do well, it had nothing to do with being associated with disco,” he said. “It meant the (music) wasn’t in the grooves.”

Still, the fact remains that no artist associated with the disco era continues to thrive on the charts.

“There will be one,” bellowed White, confident that his old style is still marketable. “Trust me, there will be one.”

White may have reason for optimism.

One advantage he has over Summer and the Bee Gees is that he has a stronger base of support at R&B; radio stations. “Sho’ You Right,” the first single from his album, is in the Top 20 on the black music charts--and A&M; Records is hoping it will join the many urban and dance-oriented hits that have crossed over this year to the broader pop market.

“I didn’t start . . . disco. I just happened to make a music that fit the format,” White said. “I was one of the top artists who was played in discos, but I was also played in clubs, at parties, in living rooms, in bedrooms, at the beach, at the park. I was played everywhere.”

White, whose deep, imposing speaking voice belies his gregarious manner, was ubiquitious on pop radio in the mid-’70s. Though he never achieved critical acclaim (or a Grammy), he amassed 18 gold records. His gruff bedroom beckonings even inspired a 1976 parody by Bill Cosby: “Yes Yes Yes.”

But the 43-year-old singer has been c-o-l-d for most of the past decade, his last Top 10 pop single being “It’s Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me” in 1977. White, whose early hits were on the small 20th Century label, signed with industry giant CBS Records in 1978, but the relationship didn’t work.

When that deal expired in 1983, White tried to raise $10 million to finance his own label. After funding fell through, he signed with A&M; Records, home of such black music stars as Janet Jackson and Jeffrey Osborne. The deal includes the Love Unlimited Orchestra and the female vocal group Love Unlimited II.

White still performs the smooth, seductive music that has long been his trademark. But if his brand of pillow talk was considered provocative 15 years ago, it seems almost tame next to George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex” and Prince’s “Erotic City.”

“I’ve always tried to watch what I say and how I say it,” said White, who is married and has seven children. “I think every singer, every lyric writer, every record producer and every record company has a moral responsibility to the young people who listen to the radio. There is a limit. We can do anything we want to do, but does that make it right?

“Let’s don’t be sleazy about it. Let’s don’t be gutterish about it. Let’s talk about making love--let’s talk about all of it--but let’s use some class. If we do, people will be able to play it in their homes and not mind if their child walks by.”

White, who grew up in Southeast Los Angeles, prides himself on being involved in the community. He has spoken at juvenile halls, youth authorities and radio telethons to help inner-city kids realize alternatives to street gangs.

But except for an unsuccessful 1983 album, “Dedicated,” he has purposely avoided mixing social and political concerns with his music.

“You don’t attack problems that we have in our community through (an) album,” he said. “You can’t solve nothing like that. What you do is use music to get you popularity so people will listen to you when you speak to them.

“I didn’t come into the industry to make music about political issues or gangs. That’s not my primary objective. My primary objective is love songs because I know that love conquers all.”