Chicago 16 is the thirteenth studio album by the American band Chicago, released on June 7, 1982. It is considered their "comeback" album because it was their first album to go platinum since 1978's Hot Streets. It made it into the Billboard 200 top ten, and produced their second number one single in the United States, "Hard to Say I'm Sorry." The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in August, 1982, two months after its release, and platinum in December, 1982. "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Chicago 16 was the first album in a decade-long association with their new label Warner Bros. Records; the band's first project to be produced by David Foster, who has been called the "key" to their comeback; their first album to include some songs exclusively by composers outside of the group; and is also the first album since Chicago VII (1974) not to feature Laudir de Oliveira as a band member. It is also the first studio album to be released two years after the previous, as previous studio album were released annually. Background The band brought in Sons of Champlin founder Bill Champlin as keyboardist and singer. The group also retained Chris Pinnick from the Chicago XIV sessions. Through the band's manager, Jeff Wald, and on suggestion of Danny Seraphine, producer David Foster would make contact with the band. Once they agreed to Foster producing the album (the band had considered him for 1980's Chicago XIV), Foster radically redefined Chicago's sound for the 1980s, with all of the latest technologies and techniques, and also brought in outside songwriters and studio players to the sessions. Three members of Toto lent their expertise to the sessions. In 2015 former Chicago drummer Danny Seraphine defended this choice to change their sound: The soft rock leanings of Peter Cetera and Foster permeate much of Chicago 16. The band was moving to a new label after an entire career at Columbia. Robert Lamm was also unavailable for the majority of the album's production because of personal issues, and the once-prolific writer only shared a sole partial writing credit on the release, with no lead vocal contributions. Lamm said of this change: In an interview in 2019, Cetera described the initial songwriting efforts from band members that