Songoftheyday 12/12/19 - I was in love with you and gave my heart to you, I did my best to keep you satisfied...
from the album Reflections (1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #31 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11
Today's song of the day comes from the soul vocal trio After 7, who had followed up their successful debut album with a retro top-40 pop hit in "Nights Like This" in the summer of 1991. However, when it came to their sophomore album release, brothers Kevon and Melvin Edmonds, along with Keith Mitchell, tried not to rely on family connections, specifically Kevon and Melvin's superstar singer/producer/songwriter brother Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, but the lead single from it, "Kickin' It", stalled right under the pop top-40 in the fall of 1992, and none of the other three singles did any better (though two of the tracks including "Kickin' It" reached the R&B top 10). In 1994, another acappella-inspired soundtrack try, this time "Gonna Love You Right" from the crime film Sugar Hill, managed to get to #15 on the R&B list, but only slipped on to the pop chart at #87. They tried again later that year with the ballad, "Not Enough Hours In The Night", for the TV soundtrack to Beverly Hills 90210: The College Years, but the song only scraped to #56 on Billboard's R&B list.
When it came for their third album project, Reflections, the trio called on Babyface, who produced a good part of the album, and co-wrote lead single "'Til You Do Me Right" with Melvin and Kevon. A ballad about being mistreated in a love relationship, and instead of a Toni Braxton ending where the wrong hold on, these guys are done....
"'Til You Do Me Right" became After 7's fifth and so far most recent Top-40 pop hit in America in October of 1995. The song also climbed to #5 on Billboard's R&B chart. Internationally, the song was even a bigger hit Down Under, peaking at #11 in New Zealand and #16 in Australia.
The second single from the Reflections album, the midtempo lush soul of "Damn Thing Called Love" written by singer Jon B ("Someone To Love"), landed the group a second top-40 R&B hit at #33, but only managed to "bubble under" the pop Hot 100 list at #109. Lastly, the track "How Do You Tell The One", a Babyface goodbye ballad, got to #60 R&B. Ten years after they were founded, the trio called it quits, releasing a best-of set that included a remake of Hall & Oates' "Sara Smile" that rose to #31 on the R&B Airplay chart. After splitting, Melvin and Kevon joined Babyface and Jodeci's Jo-Jo and K-Ci in 1997 for the one-off single "I Care About You" billed to the group Milestone in the movie Soul Food, where they performed the song and landed a top-40 pop/top-10 R&B hit. Kevon Edmonds released his debut solo album 24/7, with title song "24/7" going to #10 on the American pop chart and #2 for three weeks on the R&B list.
In 2016, Kevon, Melvin, and Mitchell reunited and added a fourth member, Melvin's son Jason, for a new album, Timeless. Produced by Babyface, the record placed five singles on to the Adult R&B radio format list, and all five reaching the R&B airplay chart with "Runnin' Out" going to #24 (#3 Adult R&B). But sadly, Melvin died this past spring at 65, with the other three carrying on for now as a trio.
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The group appeared on Soul Train to perform "'Til You Do Me Right" as well as followup-hit "Damn Thing Called Love"...
and lastly live in concert in 2009...
Up tomorrow: The Queen of Tejano loses her life just as she was achieving her greatest success.
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