Songoftheday 8/20/21 - I've been wanderin' 'round in the dark, been lost somewhere where no light could shine on my heart...

 

 

"I Will Get There" - Boyz II Men

from the album The Prince Of Egypt (Inspirational) (1998)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 4

 

Today's song comes from MotownPhilly vocal group Boyz II Men, whose third non-seasonal studio album Evolution may not have sold the massive numbers of their previous two records, but still pushed out a pair of big pop hits with the #1 "7 Seasons Of Loneliness" and "A Song For Mama", which hit the top ten at the start of 1998. At the end of that year, the quartet of Wanya Morris, Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman, and Michael McCary contributed a song to the religiously-themed animated movie The Prince Of Egypt. The song, "I Will Get There", was an inspirational ballad written by song doctor supreme Diane Warren, and produced by the group with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. It appeared on the main soundtrack as an acappella recording, then as an orchestrated version on the tie-in "inspirational" collection, which included many gospel artists. Like the other single from Prince Of Egypt, "When You Believe" from Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston, its lyrics are pretty vague and textbook for the genre, but as opposed to that record, the Boyz are complimenting each other, instead of trying to outsing the other, and their soulful delivery has the edge in this...

 

 "I Will Get There" became Boyz II Men's thirteenth, and so far most recent, top-40 pop hit in February of 1999. The song also climbed to #23 on Billboard magazine's R&B Songs chart, and #13 on the older-skewing Adult R&B format list. 

The group returned in 2000 with their next studio set Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya, their first after the Motown label was folded and ingested by Universal Records in the big bad label mergers of the end of the millennium. Also the record landed in the Billboard 200 top ten at #4, it barely moved over a half million copies, and lead single "Pass You By", which stalled at #27 on Billboard's R&B chart, missed the pop Hot 100 altogether, only "bubbling under" the list at #104. Nevertheless, the song was nominated for a Grammy Awards for Best R&B Duo/Group Vocal Performance in 2001, losing to the unstoppable Destiny's Child for "Say My Name", while the album was also up for Best R&B Album, which went to neo-soul king D'Angelo for his Voodoo set. The follow-up single, "Thank You In Advance", did manage to make the pop Hot 100, but only made it to #80. With this, the group left Universal, signing with Arista Records.

The Boyz' first and what would be only record for Arista, Full Circle, again made the top ten on the Billboard 200 sales tally at #10, but radio by then had gave them a pass, with neither of the two singles even making the top half of the R&B Songs chart, although "The Color Of Love", which went to #51 at R&B, did a bit better on "easy listening" radio, peaking at #24 on the Adult Contemporary format list. . Dropped by Arista, Michael McCary also left due to physical problems stemming from his multiple sclerosis (although different stories emerge depending on who you ask). Continuing on as a trio, the group recorded two albums for Koch Records, then two more for Decca, with the latter releasing Motown: A Journey Through Hitsville USA, which was nominated for a Grammy in 2009 for Best R&B Album, which Jennifer Hudson won for her self-titled debut album. A track from the set, a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Ribbon In The Sky", also was up for Best R&B Duo/Group Performance, which went home with Al Green and John Legend for "Stay With Me (By The Sea)". Also, their take on the Temptations' "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" went to #23 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio chart, and #83 at R&B, while the album made it back to the top-40 on the Billboard 200 at #27. Their second Decca album, Love, also had a minor hit cover, this time of Bonnie Raitt's "I Can Make You Love Me" at #75 R&B, and #21 at Adult R&B. 

Since then, the group has released three more studio albums, with both 2011's Twenty (#20) and 2014's Collide (#37) reaching the top-40 on the Billboard 200. From Twenty, the single "More Than You'll Ever Know" with the former Gap Band leader Charlie Wilson, which was their most recent R&B Songs hit at #59, also going to #16 on the Adult R&B format. "Losing Sleep" from Collide got to #21 on the Adult R&B list, their most recent minor radio hit. Their latest, Under The Streetlights, was released in 2017. Most recently, they had a residency in Las Vegas' Mirage hotel. 

(5/10)

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Here's the group performing the song for an NBC TV special...

Next up, the "acappella version" from the original Prince Of Egypt soundtrack...

and lastly, Nathan, Wanya, and Shawn live in concert in 2015 in Nashville...

Up tomorrow: Country singer dawdles a bit.