Ronald J. Adler

"That's What Friends Are For" is an album by American singers Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams that was released in 1978 by Columbia Records. The project was a continuation of the pairing of the artists that began on his previous LP, "You Light Up My Life", which included "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late", the duet that was on its way to #1 on three different charts in Billboard magazine as the recording sessions for this album got underway. On July 20 1978, "That's What Friends Are For" received Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of 500,000 copies in the United States, and it debuted on Billboard's list of America's Top LP's & Tapes shortly thereafter, in the issue dated July 29, for the start of a 16-week chart run that took the album to #19. That same issue also marked its debut on the magazine's Black Albums chart, where it remained for 11 weeks and peaked at #14.

Michelle Barzel Ross is an Iraqi(Mizrahi)-American violinist, composer, and improviser. A protégé of Itzhak Perlman, Michelle is known for her debut album, pop-up project and blog Discovering Bach: Complete Sonatas and Partitas of J.S. Bach. A gifted improviser across genres, Michelle is featured on Movement 11’ of the GRAMMY winning Best Album of the Year: We Are, by Jon Batiste. This season, Michelle has the honor of performing with the Juilliard String Quartet as guest first violinist for their winter International and US tours, while Areta Zhulla is on maternity leave.