Songoftheday 4/2/19 - Let's start the night off right, you and I babe and candle light...
from the album Thought 'Ya Knew (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 4
Today's song of the day comes from R&B/dance music singer CeCe Peniston, whose debut album Finally had scored a trio of club classics that became pop top-40 hits with "Keep On Walkin'", "We Got A Love Thang", and the top ten title track "Finally". In 1994, CeCe returned with her sophomore effort, where she tried to ground herself more in soul music than the club fare that got her famous. Nevertheless, the lead track, the midtempo groove of "I'm In The Mood", was given a remix for the dancefloor, and did return her to pop radio, although the new jack swing styled original did get a healthier reception on urban stations...
"I'm In The Mood" became Peniston's fourth and to date final top-40 pop hit in March of 1994. The song climbed up to #7 on the R&B chart in Billboard magazine, ending up her second-highest result after "Keep On Walkin'". The house music rework on the 12" single helped the song land CeCe her fourth consecutive #1 hit on the Dance Club Play chart as a lead artist. Internationally, the single did even better than the States, reaching the top-40 in the UK (#16), the Netherlands (#22), and Switzerland (#29).
While British fans were given the dance jam "Keep Givin' Me Your Love" as the second single, which went to #36 in the UK, in America we were serviced another new jack track, "I'm Not Over You", which was another top ten R&B hit at #10, but stalled right under the pop top-40 at #41. Again, remixes saved the single, which spent three weeks at #2 on the Billboard dance chart. So by the time the barnburner from the record was released as the third single, the house music anthem "Hit By Love" (my favorite single of her career) stalled down at #90 on the Hot 100 in America, though again it topped the dance chart and crossed over to #47 R&B (and made a respectable #33 in Britain). Finally, due to its inclusion in the movie Ready To Wear, "Keep Giving Me Your Love" was given a chance in the U.S., but by that time radio had forgotten her and the single only "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #101, though it did get to #4 on the Dance Club Play list in Billboard.
Two years later, CeCe reemerged with her third album Movin' On. Again aiming for the R&B market first, the title track was released as the first single; but this time it only climbed to #29 on the R&B chart, while nicking the pop Hot 100 at #83 (her final pop chart appearance so far). Follow-up "Before I Lay (You Drive Me Crazy)", which featured JoJo Hailey from Jodeci, got to #52 on the R&B list, and "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 at #120. But neither of these track were promoted to the clubs and her main vein of support had dropped off. In 1998, a hits compilation that wasn't even released in the states scored CeCe another overseas hit as her cover of Jocelyn Brown's "Somebody Else's Guy" peaked at #13 in the UK.
After this point Peniston career lost its way a bit. Still working with Steve "Silk" Hurley, whose mixes and production had gotten her started, she was preparing an album with him that never came to pass. In 1999, single "He Loves Me 2" got Hurley nominated for a Grammy, but topping out on the Dance chart at a meager #24 (after a previous single stiffed worse) probably caused that cancellation. She did rebound the following year somewhat with the single "Lifetime To Love", which spent a week at #2 on the Dance chart.
The first decade of the 2000's found CeCe bouncing around making guest appearances on other artists' records. One of them, "Deeper Love" from David Longoria, went to #14 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart in 2005. A decade later, she was the featured single on Chaos' "Believe", which peaked at #5 on that list, her most recent appearance.
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Here's the smooth remix of the song that helped it top the dance chart (and the much-better version IMHO)...
And CeCe throwin' it down at Showtime At The Apollo in 1994...
And finally, live with a band (I think this was from The Tonight Show)...
Up tomorrow: The Boss goes deep in the City of Brotherly Love.
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