Songoftheday 8/9/19 - How can I love somebody else, if I can't love myself enough to know...
from the album My Life (1994)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #29 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 8
Today's song of the day comes from R&B singer Mary J. Blige, whose debut album What's The 411? is considered one of the cornerstone records of the genre in the 1990s. Besides its expansion of the sound within the "new jack swing" era, eight of its twelve tracks reached the R&B charts in Billboard magazine. Three of those made the American pop Top-40, "You Remind Me", her cover of Rufus and Chaka Khan's "Sweet Thing", and the ebullient top ten "Real Love". But despite those highs, Blige was at quite a low part of her life, battling addiction as well as being in a turbulent relationship with Jodeci member "K-Ci" Hailey at the time, was taking a toll on her, but also provided a spring for her emotions to well up in, giving life to her sophomore album My Life, which was released in the fall of 1994. The lead single, "Be Happy", was insidiously a positive, optimistic number that started with the line "How can I love somebody else, if I can't love myself enough to know" years before RuPaul. Written by Blige with help from producers Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, JC Olivier from the Trackmasters, and Arlene Del Valle, the song rode on a sample of Curtis Mayfield's "You're So Good To Me", which went to #46 on the R&B chart in 1980, with touches of Marvin Gaye's "I Want You" sprinkled in...
"Be Happy" returned Blige to the American top-40 in December of 1994. The song also climbed up to #6 on Billboard's R&B chart, landing Mary her fifth top ten effort. Internationally, the single nabbed her fifth top-40 hit in the UK at #30, while being a minor hit in Australia at #76. At the Grammy Awards in 1996, her My Life album was nominated for Best R&B Album, losing out to TLC's CrazySexyCool.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's Blige performing "Be Happy" at Showtime At The Apollo...
...and with a different arrangement for Apollo Comedy Hour...
Fast forward to a show at the House Of Blues about ten years ago...
And finally, Mary on Letterman...
Up tomorrow: R&B trio describes their love as a recurring feature.
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