Songoftheday 6/10/19 - Close your eyes make a wish and blow out the candlelight for tonight is just your night...
from the album II (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (14 weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 31
Today's song of the day comes from the male soul vocal group Boyz II Men, who had dominated the early 1990s with songs from their debut album CooleyHighHarmony. With six singles that reached the top ten on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, and four of them doing the same on the pop Hot 100 in America, they broke the record for weeks held at #1 at the time with "End Of The Road". But as 1993 was closing up their presence was fading a bit, with a break from the chart throughout most of that year from January's peak of the Jacksons biopic single cover of "In The Still Of The Nite" until their stopgap holiday album Christmas Interpretations sent the single "Let It Snow" featuring Brian McKnight into the top-40 for a week. They also parted with their mentor and label head Michael Bivins of Bell Biv Devoe. A space and changes like that would easily spell doom for many a music act, especially in the R&B or dance genres (looking at you, Another Bad Creation), but when Wanya, Shawn, Nathan, and Michael returned, it would be in a way few have ever been able to top.
In the summer of 1994, the Boyz came back with another ballad written by Babyface, but instead of the breakup emotions of "End Of The Road", it would be the romantic promises of "I'll Make Love To You". Written and produced by Babyface, it would straddle the line between earnestness and total hackdom, but they pulled it off to the fact of breaking their own chart-topping record...
"I'll Make Love To You" went on to spent fourteen weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart in America starting in August of 1994, a week longer then "End of The Road" and tying the then-current record-holder of "I Will Always Love You" from Whitney Houston. The song also topped the R&B chart for nine weeks, as well as doing the same on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list for three weeks. It was the biggest record of the year by far that year, although because of Billboard's weird math and cutoff points it ended up the #3 Hot 100 hit of 1994 in their year-end issue (and #50 of 1995's year-end). Internationally, the single went to number one in Canada (two weeks), Australia (two weeks), and New Zealand (four weeks). It also reached the top ten in France (#2), the UK (#5), Norway (#5), Sweden (#6), the Netherlands (#6), Ireland (#7), Belgium (#7), and Switzerland (#9). In Germany, it stopped at #20. At the Grammy Awards in 1995, they won for Best Duo/Group R&B Vocal Performance with this song, and Babyface won as the writer for R&B Song of the Year. Meanwhile the II album won Best R&B Album, and "I'll Make Love To You" was nominated for Record of the Year, which went to Sheryl Crow for "All I Wanna Do".
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Here's the group performing live in 1996...
And again, at the Grammy Awards in 2010...
On an episode of CMT Crossroads from this year they teamed up with country singer Brett Young...
And finally, from their Journey Through Hitsville TV special from 2008...
Up tomorrow: "New" new jack swing group phones for some lovin'.
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