lyricst Hal David to reunite with her on the record. Bacharach had discovered Warwick in 1961 and, along with David, penned most of her hit singles until 1972 when the duo decided that they would discontinue writing material together. "Sunny Weather Love" marked their first collaboration in twenty years. Frequent collaborator Luther Vandross served as a backing vocalist on the Sting cover "Fragile." Critical reception Friends Can Be Lovers was released to positive reception from music critics. Bil Carpenter from Allmusic called Friends Can Be Lovers "certainly one of her best-produced, best-sung and well-packaged albums since joining the Arista roster." He found that "Here lies the pleasant balance between Dionnesque pop anthems ("Age of Miracles" and "I Sing at Dawn"), ballads (Sting's "Fragile" and a duet with Whitney Houston on "Love Will Find a Way"), down-right funk on "Much Too Much" and shameless lust on "Where My Lips Have Been"." Janine McAdams from Billboard remarked that fans of the singer may find the album "a pleasant surprise" and complimented Warwick for her selection of collaborators on it, writing: "Warwick has found the right package of contemporary songs to set off her throaty purr." Her colleague, Billboard writer Paul Verna, named Friends Can Be Lovers "a sterling set of R&B-spiced pop ballads" and cited single "Sunny Weather Love," Warwick's duet with Houston and Stansfied's title track as highlights on the album. He, though, found that the remainder of the album was "equally potent." Entertainment Weeklys Amy Linden was unimpressed by "Sunny Weather Love," but liked Stansfield's contributions to the album "whose sexy, grown-up grooves fit Dionne Warwick's burnt-umber pop stylings like a glove on Friends Can Be Lovers." In a positive review, The Indianapolis Star wrote that "the combination of covers and new material, with greatly varied influences, all distills into comfortable, vintage Dionne Warwick. Warwick is able particularly with the Bacharach–David revisitation to bring us music that seems instantly familiar and so easy to listen to." Commercial performance The album debuted and peaked at number 84 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in the week ending February 13, 1993. This marked Warwick's lowest peak for a regular studio album with all-original material since Love at First Sight (1977), her final album with Warner Bros. Records. Friends Can Be Lovers failed to chart elsewhere, also becoming her first album in 16 years to miss the US Billboard 200. In her 2011