Songoftheday 12/7/20 - You keep telling me on the telephone, how you got it going on and how you'll keep me satisfied...

 

 

"My Love Is The Shhh!" - Somethin' For The People featuring Trina & Tamara

from the album This Time It's Personal (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 23

 

Today's song of the day comes from the R&B group Somethin' For The People, who came together in California in the early 1990s. Rochad Holliday, Curtis Wilson, and Jeff Young released their self-titled debut album in 1993 on Capitol Records, but it didn't get any notice until they switched to Warner Brothers, who re-released the record two years later after a successful run as songwriters for other artists. Lead single "You Want This Party Started" landed the trio a top-40 R&B hit at #29, and that was followed by "With You", which not only got to #34 at R&B, scored their first pop placing on Billboard magazine's official Hot 100 pop chart at #98. The album rose to #66 on Billboard's R&B Albums sales tally. 

In 1997, the trio returned with their second disc and first specifically recorded for the label, This Time It's Personal. The first single from the record is the bragging slow-funk of "My Love Is The Shhh!". The song featured twin sister duo Trina & Tamara, with Tamara co-writing the track with the group, and was anchored by a sample of the top ten R&B hit from 1974 "It's Been A Long Time" by the New Birth, which gave James Baker and Melvin Young writing credits as well. It was odd that the women got the first go on both the chorus and the verse, with the trio almost taking a backseat, but it worked, and the record saying how good their love was caught on, and the track became their biggest pop and R&B hit...

"My Love Is The Shhh!" became Somethin' For The People's first and only top-40 pop hit, reaching the top-5 in November of 1997. The song spent six weeks at #2 on Billboard's R&B chart as well. Internationally, the single did better than most American R&B hits, going to #6 in the Netherlands and #8 in New Zealand, and making the top-40 in Germany at #24. It was also a minor hit in the UK at #64. The This Time It's Personal album reached the Billboard 200 sales list at #154, while going to #33 on the R&B-specific chart. A second single from the record, "All I Do", almost make the pop top-40 at #47, while peaking at #15 at R&B.

On the strength of the exposure from that hit single, Trina & Tamara were signed by Columbia to their own deal, and released a self-titled debut album in 1999. The only single from the set, "What'd You Came Here For?", which sampled the disco hit "Car Wash", went to #14 on the R&B chart and #56 on the Hot 100. With the album only nicking the R&B Albums list at #99, they faded from view rather quickly after. 

As for Somethin' For the People, they returned in 2000 with their third and most recent album Issues. While it came in a little higher on the sales chart (#124 Billboard 200/#23 R&B Albums), it only stayed on the list for a single week. Single "Bitch With No Man" slipped into the R&B top-40 at #39, their last chart appearance to date. They haven't been heard since, with Young passing away from heart failure in 2011.

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Here's Somethin' For The People and Trina and Tamara performing live on a TV appearance...

Up tomorrow: Teen country star brings back a song that once held a record for longest stay at #1.