Songoftheday 9/9/20 - When you're feeling lost in the night when you feel your world just ain't right, call on me I will be waiting...

 

 

"For You I Will" - Monica

from the albums Space Jam (Original Soundtrack) (1996) and The Boy Is Mine (1998)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (four weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 30

 

Today's song of the day comes from R&B singer Monica, whose debut album Miss Thang had spun off three top ten pop hits with "Don't Take It Personal", the double-sided "Before You Walk Out Of My Life" and "Like This and Like That", which she repeated on "Why I Love You So Much", which was paired with the Nutty Professor track "Ain't Nobody". In 1996, after switching labels to Arista Records, Monica recorded a song recorded a song for another mainstream appeal movie, this time the half-animated half-sports themed Space Jam featuring Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny. Written by the song doctor supreme, Diane Warren, "For You I Will" was Monica's most straightforward love ballad to date, and radio and her fans responded well, continuing her streak on the pop chart. The song was released as the fifth "single" promoted to radio from the soundtrack, after R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly", Seal's cover of "Fly Like An Eagle", the Quad City DJ's "Space Jam", and the cut "Hit 'Em High" from an A-list cast of rap artists including Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J, Coolio, Method Man from the Wu Tang Clan, and B Real from Cypress Hill. That last song wasn't released as a single in the U.S., but was a top ten hit in the UK at #8 topped the singles list in Norway, went top ten in the Netherlands (#5) and Sweden (#10), and got to #50 on Billboard magazine's R&B Airplay chart. "For You I Will" ended up the most popular cut on the set after R. Kelly's...

"For You I Will" reached the top five on the American top-40 in April of 1997. The single was her first success on "easy listening" radio, spending two weeks at #3 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio chart, while rising to #31 on their Adult Top-40 format list. The track also took two weeks in the runner-up position on the R&B chart as well. Internationally, the single topped out at #2 in New Zealand, and was a top-40 hit in the UK (#27). Another song from the film, "I Turn To You" from All-4-One (another Diane Warren composition), was supposed to be released as a single, but pulled, only to later become a huge smash for Christina Aguilera.

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Here's Monica performing the song on a TV appearance to promote the single...

and lastly, in concert...

Up tomorrow: A late legend climbs methodically.