Songoftheday 9/1/20 - Even lovers need a holiday, far away from each other...

 

 

"Hard To Say I'm Sorry" - Az Yet featuring Peter Cetera

from the album Az Yet (1996)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 32

 

Today's song of the day comes from the soul vocal group Az Yet, who had landed a top ten pop and R&B hit in the fall of 1996 with the seductive single "Last Night". For their next single, the quintet covered the 1982 soft-rock #1 pop hit from Chicago, "Hard To Say I'm Sorry". Paired up with that band's former lead singer Peter Cetera for support, the new take on the ballad resonated with audiences and radio, who made it their highest-charting single (well, out of two)...

 

 

Az Yet's cover of "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" became their second (and final) top ten pop hit, and Peter Cetera's fifth, in May of 1997. The song rose to #20 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, while peaking at #14 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio format list. Internationally, the single topped the chart in New Zealand, and made the top-40 in the Netherlands (#3), Australia (#5), the UK (#7), and Canada (#26). At the Grammy Awards in 1998, Az Yet and Cetera were nominated for Best R&B Duo/Group Vocal, losing out to Blackstreet for "No Diggity" (Chicago was nommed for the original in the Pop Duo/Group Vocal category, losing to Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes for "Up Where We Belong"). 

But by the time this single reached is apex at radio, Marc Nelson (lead on a lot of their songs) had already left the group, and apparently issues with the label and management caused no more singles to be released from the set. Later that year, the remaining members repaid Cetera's favor by appearing on his own redo of Chicago's "You're The Inspiration", which went to #29 at Adult Contemporary, and stopped at #77 on the pop Hot 100. That was followed by a chaotic shuffling of lineups until 2007, when the original members regrouped as Az Yet and released a second album Back Home independently, but it was pretty much passed over. A third attempt, She's Magic, did the same in 2016.

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Here's the remix that featured Peter Cetera, since the original music video lacked his voice...

Next up, the group (without Nelson) appearing live on the British National Lottery program...

Here's the group live in concert...

and lastly, the reunited members doing an acappella take in 2019...

Up tomorrow: Australian duo desires.