Karyn White – I’d Rather Be Alone

R&B singer Karyn White’s I’d Rather Be Alone, from her album Make Him Do Right, is today’s throwback pick.

It was the third single off Make Him Do Right, after Hungah and Can I Stay With You. At 5:30, the record takes its time, so the story has plenty of room to build. Its theme is plain: she would take her own company over a relationship that keeps wearing her down.

Karyn White shares the writing credit with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Stanley Howard and Gary Johnson are on the writing sheet too. Jam and Lewis also helped produce the album, and they had worked with her on Ritual of Love.

Still, I’d Rather Be Alone peaked at number 50 on the Hot 100. Can I Stay With You, the single before it, was her last top ten hit. Karyn White also came up in Los Angeles, the youngest of five children. Her biggest hit at the time was Secret Rendezvous, which reached number six in the US.

Yet she was the first woman whose first three solo releases all topped the R&B chart. Hum along to I’d Rather Be Alone and tell us in the comments which Karyn White record you still love.