Songoftheday 3/27/18 - Sometimes the snow comes down in June, sometimes the sun goes 'round the moon...

"Save The Best For Last" - Vanessa Williams
from the album The Comfort Zone (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (five weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 23

Today's song of the day comes from former Miss America turned R&B/pop singer Vanessa Williams, who landed her second top-40 pop hit in the fall of 1991 with "Running Back To You", the lead single from her second album The Comfort Zone. That was followed by the lush Soul II Soul-style title track "The Comfort Zone", which spent two weeks at #2 on Billboard's R&B chart, but only managed to climb to #62 on the pop Hot 100. She came back with a love ballad that would end up being her greatest hit: the "friendzone" anthem "Save The Best For Last". Written by Phil Gladston, Wendy Waldman, and Jon Lind, the song has Vanessa's manfriend going through many girls before settling in with the one who's been there the entire time...

"Save The Best For Last" became Vanessa's first and so far only #1 pop hit in March of 1992. The single also spent three weeks on top of Billboard's R&B chart, while also hitting #1 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio format tally for three weeks as well. Internationally, the record topped the charts in Canada and Australia, and reached the top ten in Ireland (#2), the UK (#3), the Netherlands (#3), Switzerland (#6), and Belgium (#7). It also peaked at #15 in New Zealand and #19 in Germany. At the Grammy Awards in 1993, it was nominated three times, losing Record of the Year and Song of the Year to Eric Clapton's "Tears In Heaven" and Female Pop Vocal Performance to k.d. lang's "Constant Craving". The video was nominated for Best Female Video at MTV's Video Music Awards in 1992, which Annie Lennox won for "Why".

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Here's a very pregnant Vanessa singing "Save The Best For Last" at the Grammy Awards in 1993...

And lastly, Vanessa in concert with her signature tune...

Up tomorrow: Prog rockers turned pop stars have trouble getting down.