Songoftheday 6/21/20 -It happened the moment when you were revealed, 'cause you were a dream that you should not have been a fantasy real...
from the album Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #36 (four weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 5
Today's song of the day comes from neo-soul artist Maxwell, who grew up as Gerald Maxwell Rivera in New York City in the 1970s. Writing music since he was a teenager, Maxwell was a staple in the New York club scene before being signed to Columbia Records. In the spring of 1996, his debut album Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite was released, with the lead single "Til The Cops Come Knockin'", which was a minor hit at #79 at R&B in Billboard magazine, but the subject matter scared off lily-white "pop" radio programmers from this stellar slow jam. (It didn't bother British ears, as it was his first hit there at #63. The second release, though, was more serene and aspirational, and "Don't Ever Wonder" found a home on mainstream stations after urban radio made it a big hit...
"Ascension" became Maxwell's first top-40 pop hit in America in September of 1996. The song also climbed to #8 on Billboard's R&B chart, spending over half a year (29 weeks) on the list, while going to #2 on their Adult R&B radio format chart. Internationally, the single was also a top-40 hit in the UK at #28, and in the Netherlands at #36. The Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite album slipped into the top-40 on the Billboard 200 sales chart at #37, going on to sell over two million copies. At the 1997 Grammy Awards, the record was up for Best R&B Album, criminally losing to Tony Rich's Words album. Ah, the power of Babyface.
Anyhoo...
The next single from the album, "Sumthin' Sumthin'", reached the R&B top-40 at #22, but was only able to "bubble under" the pop Hot 100 in America at #106, while in Britain it granted the singer a second (and so far last) top-40 hit at #28. Finally, "Suitelady (The Proposal Jam)", which was promoted to radio without a commercial single, got to #64 on the R&B Airplay component of the chart.
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Here's Maxwell performing the track live for French TV in 1997...
....and for a very enthusiastic audience at Showtime At The Apollo....
Here he is on his Unplugged gig in 1997...
And lastly, for a morning show appearance in 2010...
Up tomorrow: G-funk artist redoes a Turner Classic for a Jackie Chan movie.
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