By the late 1960s Austin was a prolific session musician and commercial jingle singer. By the 1980s she was signed to Jones's Qwest Records and she began having hits. She charted twenty R&B songs between 1969 and 1991 and had success on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where she hit number one in 1981 with "Do You Love Me?" / "The Genie."
The album containing that hit, Every Home Should Have One, also produced her biggest mainstream hit. "Baby, Come To Me," a duet with James Ingram, peaked at number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1982. After being featured as the love theme in a prominent storyline on the soap opera General Hospital, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart in October and went to number one in early 1983.
Next Austin released her third album in three years entitled "Gettin' Away With Murder". In addition to the title track, she had two more hit singles, "Honey For The Bees" (#24 R&B and #6 Dance) and "The Heat of Heat". Produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, noted for their later work with Janet Jackson, the latter track returned Austin to the top 15 of the R&B charts for what would be the last time to date. It would also be her last Hot 100 charting to date, peaking at number 55, although she would score a top-5 dance hit with the single Reach that appeared originally on her 1994 CD That Secret Place (GRP Records). "Gettin' Away With Murder" used producers Russ Titelman, Tommy LiPuma, Monte Moir (of "The Time"), and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Billy Joel (Austin sang background on his "Just The Way You Are"), Dan Hartman, friends Luther Vandross and Jocelyn Brown, along with Chaka Khan were among the background vocalists on the project, with successful songwriters, Randy Goodrum, Michael Bolton, Jam & Lewis plus several other big name writers offering up their best compositions on what was likely a big budget affair. She next appeared with Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen in Francis Ford Coppola's critically acclaimed period piece Tucker: The Man and his Dream (1988). That year, Austin released The Real Me, a collection of standards which garnered her the first of several Top 10 showings on the Jazz Albums chart. "The Real Me" was chiefly produced by David Pack who had been a part of the Pop group Ambrosia. Austin served as a co-producer and as Executive Producer on the project. Austin sang "It's the Falling in Love" with Michael Jackson on his album Off The Wall. Other duet partners include George Benson ("Moody's Mood for Love" and "Keep Your Dreams Alive"), and Luther Vandross ("I'm Gonna Miss You In The Morning"). Earlier she'd recorded featured duets with Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons on "Our Day Will Come" and "Swearin' To God" with little billing. Austin also sang lead and background vocals on many contemporary Jazz instrumentalists' records in the 1970s. In 1985 she sang lead vocals on a collaboration with her producer, Narada Michael Walden, and the single, "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme", went top 40 on the R&B charts. In 1991, she recorded the duet "You Who Brought Me Love" with music legend Johnny Mathis, which was received with critical acclaim. That same year she was invited to be a guest on a Johnny Mathis television special that was broadcast across North America.
Austin led a new group of Raelettes for the 2006 album Ray Charles + Count Basie Orchestra = Genius². That group also featured veteran session singer Valerie Pinkston and members of the group Perry.
During a 2007 interview promoting her latest recording, Austin reflected how as a teenager she reluctantly attended one of Judy Garland's last concerts and the experience helped focus her career, stating "She (Judy Garland) ripped my heart out. I wanted to interpret a lyric like that, to present who I was at the moment through the lyric."
In 2007 Patti Austin participated in the Avo Session Basel with a program dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald.
In 2008, fifty-three years after getting her first record contract, Patti Austin was awarded her first Grammy Award, winning Best Jazz Vocal Album for "Avant Gershwin" at the 50th annual Grammy Awards. The award came for her ninth nomination in that category.
Austin is co-producer and one of over 70 artists singing on "We Are the World: 25 for Haiti", a charity single in aid of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.
In 2011 Austin released a mostly covers album project titled "Sound Advice" which contained re-works of Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody", Brenda Russell's "A Little Bit Of Love", a lesser known Jacksons tune, "Give It Up," her tribute to late friend/collaborator, Michael Jackson, a cover of Bill Withers, "Lean On Me" which she first sang at a milestone birthday for her Godfather Quincy Jones. Also on "Sound Advice" standout performances of Don McLean's "Vincent" (aka Starry Starry Night) and a deeply female take on "My Way." Austin wrote the anthemic "The Grace Of God" after watching an episode of the old "Oprah Winfrey Show" which featured a facially scarred woman ... Keeping relevant, Austin offered the bouncy slice of Pop/Rock/RandB "Round And Round" including the latest trendy vocal effects, though Austin remains one singer who clearly needs no such production techniques to cover a crystal clear, flexible, and knowing voice imitated by many, duplicated by none. Austin co-wrote and sings in the star-studded L.O.V.E. - Let One Voice Emerge, encouraging especially younger Americans to get out there and exercise their right to vote.[citation needed]
Austin appears in the Academy Award-winning documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom (2013), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released on 21 June 2013. She is working on an upcoming, as yet untitled duets album project with James Ingram.
For Once In My Life
Patti Austin Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Someone I’ve needed so long
For once unafraid I can go where life leads me and somehow I know I’ll be strong
For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of
Long before I knew
Someone warm like you
Who have my dreams come true
For once in my life I won't let sorrow hurt me
Not like it's hurt me before
For once I have someone I know won't desert me
I’m not alone anymore
For once I can say
This is mine you can’t take it
As long as I know I have love I can make it
For once in my life I have someone who needs me
For once I can say
This is mine you can’t take it
As long as I know I have love we can make it
For once in my life I have someone who needs me
The lyrics to Patti Austin's "For Once in My Life" describe a feeling of finding true love and returning it, leading to a newfound sense of confidence and strength. The singer has finally found someone who needs them in return, someone who they have longed for and dreamed of having in their life. They feel unafraid and able to face the unknown paths of life, knowing that they have this person by their side. The singer is grateful for this love as it has made their dreams come true.
The song explores the idea of having someone who won't desert you and someone who you can make a life with. It expresses a sense of ownership over this newfound love with the lines "This is mine you can’t take it," showing the singer's level of commitment to this person and their relationship. The song shows a shift in the singer's emotional state from feeling hurt and alone to feeling strong and content with themselves and their love.
Overall, the lyrics to "For Once in My Life" celebrate finding someone who loves you and whom you love in return, and the transformative power of that love. It speaks to how love can provide a sense of belonging, ownership and the confidence to face life's challenges.
Line by Line Meaning
For once in my life I have someone who needs me
I finally have someone in my life who depends on me and truly cares about me.
Someone I’ve needed so long
The person I have found is someone I have longed for and needed in my life for a very long time.
For once unafraid I can go where life leads me and somehow I know I’ll be strong
Because I have this person in my life, I am fearless and confident in facing whatever challenges that life may bring.
For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of
I am finally able to experience, in real life, the things that I have been yearning for and dreaming of for so long.
Long before I knew someone warm like you
Even before I met someone as kind and loving as you, I have already been dreaming of having someone like you in my life.
Who have my dreams come true
You are the one who has made my dreams come true, and I am forever grateful for that.
For once in my life I won't let sorrow hurt me
Now that I have you, I am no longer vulnerable to the pain that sorrow can bring into my life.
Not like it's hurt me before
I have been hurt by sorrow many times in the past, but now, I am stronger and more resilient because of you.
For once I have someone I know won't desert me
You are someone who I can trust to always be there for me, and I am confident that you will not abandon me.
I’m not alone anymore
With you by my side, I am no longer lonely and I feel loved, comforted, and supported.
This is mine you can’t take it
I am possessive of the love and happiness that I have found with you, and I will not let anyone or anything take it away from me.
As long as I know I have love I can make it
As long as I have your love, I can overcome anything and everything that life throws my way.
For once in my life I have someone who needs me
I am blessed to finally have someone in my life who loves me and needs me, and I will cherish this newfound happiness for the rest of my life.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Ronald N Miller, Orland Murden
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
heidi Tann
Patti is my ultimate idol . Her music are simply timeless
TheKoolkanadian
You call yourself a true #music fan, musicologist, collector, Expert etc, & you don't know about the signature contributions #PattiAustin has made to #American #PopularMusic - #RandB/#SoulMusic/#Jazz and #RockMusic?!! She's spent 61 of her now 66yrs recording/releasing music! Her albums are astonishingly consistently good!
Glenn Morris
odd arrangement