(January 7, 2025) Before writing this song review, I received a picture of my cousin and her new fiancé. Their eyes were aglow with excitement and joy after getting engaged, knowing that they plan to spend the rest of their lives together. The pair found love and they want it to last.
That’s in sync with our latest First Listen, a song called “This Love Is Gonna Last” performed by veteran soul singer Charles “Wigg” Walker. The last time I wrote about Walker, he was releasing his previous single – “(Feels Like) Things Are Comin’ Our Way.” Like that song, his new single “This Love Is Gonna Last” is classic R&B to the full. It sounds like a Philly Soul song that could’ve been released in the 1970’s by The Spinners, O’Jays, or Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes.
“This Love Is Gonna Last” finds Walker expressing gratitude to the woman who convinced him to give love a second chance despite having been disappointed by it. The song was inspired by Walker’s late wife Marva, who passed last year. He said: “My wife and I were together for 30 years. She was my backbone, always there for me. Through all the ups and downs, I always felt like our love was going to last, and it did.” No wonder, then, that this song is described as a “tribute to the power of a timeless romance.”
This Love Is Gonna Last is the title track fromWalker’s upcoming album, scheduled for release on January 24, 2025. This is a milestone in that it’ll be his first new album in over a decade, after 70 years in the music business.
Hear Walker’s heartfelt love song below.
By Darnea N. Samuels
