Songoftheday 7/5/20 - I will love you anyway baby anyway and every way I can, 'cause I'm that kinda man yes I will give you everything baby...

"This Is For The Lover In You" - Babyface featuring LL Cool J, Howard Hewett, Jody Watley, and Jeffrey Daniels
from the album The Day (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's song of the day comes from singer/songwriter/producer Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds,whose third album as a solo artist, For The Cool In You, spun off three top-40 pop hits with "Never Keeping Secrets", "And Our Feelings", and the top ten Grammy-winning single "When Can I See You" in the fall of 1994. He was also busy behind the studio gear, producing and mentoring artists like Jon B., with whom he scored a top ten hit with "Someone To Love" in the summer of 1995. The following year, Babyface returned with his fourth solo disc The Day. The lead single wasn't an original though, but a remake of a soul nugget from the early 1980s. "For The Lover In You" was the third single from the soul/disco act Shalamar's Three For Love album in 1981, and went to #17 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart...

For Babyface's cover, the singer/producer reunited the trio of singers that were Shalamar at that time - Howard Hewett (who co-wrote the song with Dana Meyers), Jody Watley, and Jeffrey Daniels - and added a rap break cameo from LL Cool J. This combo of talent brought a whole new generation to this song by turning it from a slow jam to a cruising bop, and became another in Babyface's big hits...

Babyface's take on "This Is For The Lover" in you reached the American pop top-40 in November of 1996. The single also spent a week at #2 on Billboard's R&B chart. Internationally, the single made the top-40 in the UK (#12), New Zealand (#12), the Netherlands (#19), and Sweden (#34). His The Day album became his first top ten album on the Billboard 200 sales chart at #6, going on to sell over two million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 1998, The Day was nominated for both Album Of The Year and Best R&B Album, losing the former to Bob Dylan's Time Out Of Mind and the latter to Erykah Badu's Baduizm.

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For their Top Of The Pops appearance, Babyface physically reunited Shalamar along with LL Cool J to mime the song...

Up tomorrow: Another 80s act reunites for a final hit ballad.