Chicago 13 is the eleventh studio album by American rock band Chicago, released on August 13, 1979, by Columbia Records. Chicago 13 was the band's final release with guitarist Donnie Dacus, who had followed founding member, guitarist Terry Kath, after his death. All band members contributed to the songwriting (one of only two albums where this is the case, the other being Chicago VII).
Background
After recording sessions in Morin-Heights, Quebec and Hollywood, Chicago 13—which saw the band return to numbering its albums (the first album to use an Arabic numeral in its numbering) and displaying its logo—was released in August 1979, and was preceded by Donnie Dacus's "Must Have Been Crazy" as lead single. Chicago 13 is the first Chicago album to bear no significant hit singles.
Despite negative reviews, Chicago 13 reached No. 21 and went gold, although it was the band's first album to miss the Top 20 and was then the lowest charting release since their debut album. Shortly after the tour to support the album ended, Dacus was fired from the band without explanation.
In 2003, Chicago 13 was remastered and reissued by Rhino Records with a B-Side, featuring Dacus's "Closer to You" (an outtake from the Hot Streets sessions), and the 12-inch single mix of "Street Player" as bonus tracks.
The opening track, the disco-fueled extended jam "Street Player" was also released as a single and hit the R&B singles chart on 12/1/1979 at 91 on the charts. The songs "Street Player" and "Closer to You" had previously been released by other artists: "Street Player" by Rufus, who recorded it before Chicago, and "Closer" by Stephen Stills, though with Donnie Dacus on lead vocals. "Street Player" did eventually reach hit status, being sampled for the 1995 hit "The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)" by The Bucketheads, the 2009 hit "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" by Pitbull and the 2013 remix by dance music producer "Tradelove".[5]
P.C. Moblee – lead vocals on "Window Dreamin'" and "Aloha Mama" (Moblee was actually Peter Cetera singing in a lower register. His appearance on the album is credited as "courtesy of the Peter Cetera Vocal Company").
