Yearning for Your Love
1981 single by The Gap Band
"Yearning for Your Love" is a 1980 ballad recorded and released by the Gap Band on Mercury Records. The single was the third release off the band's fifth album, The Gap Band III (1980). Four different singles, each with a different B-side, were released in 1981.
The song became a modest hit on the US and UK charts when it was released; it arose to number 5 on the Hot Soul Singles chart and number 60 on the Billboard Hot 100. Written by Gap Band keyboardist Oliver Scott and keyboardist Ronnie Wilson, it was a romantic love song dedicated to Wilson's wife at the time and was performed by Ronnie's brother Charlie Wilson.
Structure
The song was markedly different in style from the past few hits, with less emphasis on synthesizers, instead on "light slices of guitar, smooth keyboard pads and soft percussion".
Releases
"Yearning for Your Love" / "Burn Rubber"
"Yearning for Your Love" / "Humpin'"
"Yearning for Your Love" / "When I Look in Your Eyes"
"Yearning for Your Love" / "Oops Upside Your Head"
Personnel
Lead vocals by Charlie Wilson
Background vocals by Oliver Scott, Ronnie Wilson and Robert Wilson
Drums by Ronnie Kaufman
Guitars by Fred Jenkins, Glenn Nightingale
Bass by Robert Wilson
Synthesizers by Ronnie Wilson
Keyboards by Oliver Scott
Charts
Famous cover versions
In 1990, Guy also covered the song on their 1990 album, The Future.
In 2001, keyboardist Kevin Toney covered the song on his album Strut. The song featured Evelyn "Champagne" King on vocals.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Yearning for Your Love” as 1981 single by The Gap Band. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as 1981 single by The Gap Band. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8050955. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1980, 1981, 1990 and 2001.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Yearning for Your Love”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Yearning for Your Love primary sources, Yearning for Your Love archive and Yearning research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Yearning for Your Love”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Yearning for Your Love” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.