Songoftheday 1/14/18 - I hear a song that makes me laugh, and smile and sing to you...
from the album Tony Terry (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10
Today's song of the day comes from R&B singer Tony Terry. Originally from Washington DC, he sang backup for a few acts before landing his own record deal in the late 1980s. His debut single, "She's Fly", was a new jack swing track that climbed to #10 on Billboard's R&B chart, and slipped onto their pop Hot 100 list at #80 in 1987. That success led to the release of Terry's first album, Forever Yours, the following year. The second release from the record, "Lovey Dovey", became his highest-ranking R&B hit at #4. That song also almost reached the top-40 in the UK at #44, but didn't even reach the American pop chart at all. The title track came next, and the retro-soul of "Forever Love" put him back on the pop chart at #80 and R&B at #16. A fourth single, the house music jam "Young Love", scored Terry his first Dance Club Play hit at #17 (also #88 R&B). Later that year, the one-off single "Forget The Girl" continued his embrace of house, and resulted in his biggest club hit at #9, but the single somehow missed the pop and R&B charts and didn't make it on an album (both of those "house" singles slipped on to the British charts in the 90s). Also, Tony was featured on the single "On The Strength" from the group Flame, which climbed to #11 on the Dance chart (his final time) and #59 R&B.
With all the momentum from four successful hits from his debut, Terry recorded his self-titled sophomore effort, which came out in 1990. The lead single from the record, "Head Over Heels", a smoother midtempo new jack swing-inspired track, climbed to #13 on the R&B chart, but missed out on the pop list. Terry convinced his label to put out the love ballad "With You" as the follow-up. With a little help from quiet storm queen Anita Baker, who helped finance the music video, Terry slowly but surely acquired his biggest pop hit, written by future Grammy-winner Raymond Reeder...
"With You" became Terry's sole top-40 pop hit in November of 1991, spending almost six months on the Hot 100 chart in Billboard. The song also climbed to #6 on their R&B chart, and crossed over to the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio format tally, peaking at #45.
The third release from Tony Terry, "That Kind Of Guy", which brought him back to new-jack style dance material, went to #38 on the R&B chart, followed by another love ballad, "Everlasting Love", with background vocals from pre-fame Jodeci, which was more successful, peaking at #6 R&B and giving Tony his last pop charting hit at #81.
Even with two moderately successful albums, Terry left Epic Records and got signed to Virgin, where he released his third disc Heart Of A Man. The first single from the record was a double-sided hit in which both "When A Man Cries" (#32) and "Can't Let Go" (#56) reached the R&B chart. A second single, the title track and lush ballad "Heart Of A Man", was hit most recent R&B minor hit at #86. After another sultry secular album in 2001, My Best, from which the song "Freaky Little Game" "bubbled under" the R&B chart at #110, Terry concentrated on gospel music, with his 2006 record Changed! doing well on the Gospel Albums chart (#21) and even landing a Gospel Songs hit with "Praise Him" (#18). His most recent album was the secular I Tony 8 in 2015.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's Tony appearing on Live At The Apollo to perform "With You"...
...and again on The Party Machine promoting the song...
and finally, from a performance in 2016...
Up tomorrow: The boys from Boston get back together for the first time since their hiatus.
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