Second Cup Café: Bobby Caldwell

Over the past 25 years, Bobby Caldwell has been entertaining audiences around the world with his electrifying live performances, drawing from a vast repertoire that includes R&B, smooth jazz and Big Band songs.

He's best known for his 1978 hit "What You Won't Do For Love" which has become an R&B classic still heard on the radio today. The song has also been covered or sampled by a wide variety of artists ranging from Natalie Cole to the Notorious B.I.G.

Caldwell's most recent effort is his 13th CD, "Perfect Island Nights," and he visits The Saturday Early Show to perform in the Second Cup Café.

He started out playing rock music, but says after listening to Motown, he decided to shift gears.

"I was longing for better song content and a better lyric," he says. "Growing up, I was also surrounded by the sounds of Sinatra and Roberta Flack, so that had an influence as well."

It also helped that he was born into a show business family. His mother and father both sang and were the hosts of one of the first musical variety programs on television, "Suppertime."

"They did a variety show in Pittsburgh," he says. "I grew up around such talent as Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald and Mary Martin."

And besides singing, he is in demand as a songwriter. Writing music, he says, is his creative outlet.

"Perfect Island Nights" is the culmination of everything he has done in two decades, Caldwell says.

"I want to give the fans what they expect from a Bobby Caldwell album," he says, "I hate when you buy an album and there's only one good song on it. I try to give people their money's worth."