Songoftheday 10/11/21 - I'm sorry that your man ain't home, I'm sorry that yours left you alone...
"Chante's Got A Man" - Chanté Moore
from the album This Moment Is Mine (1999)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11
Today's song comes from R&B singer Chanté Moore, who grew up in San Fransisco with a church background before modeling when she was signed to MCA Records under the Silas imprint in the early 1990s. Moore's debut album, Precious, was released in 1992, and went on to sell a half million copies, peaking just under the top half of the Billboard 200 sales tally at #101 and #20 on the R&B albums list. The first single from the set, "Love's Taken Over", went to #13 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart, while placing on the pop Hot 100 at #86. It even became a minor hit in the UK at #54, which its breezy adult soul production fitting with the British R&B of the time. A second single from the set, "It's Alright" followed up at #13 on the R&B chart in America, while "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 at #108.
Moore returned in 1994 with her sophomore effort A Love Supreme (not to be confused with the jazz classic from John Coltrane). The lead release from the record, "Old School Lovin'", climbed to #19 on the R&B Singles chart. Follow-up single "This Time" stalled down at #61 on that R&B list, but the remixes of the track by house music legend Frankie Knuckles for the clubs were successful, scoring Moore's first and biggest dance chart hit at #5. The album rose to #64 on the Billboard 200, putting her in the top half for the first time.
It was a long five years between that album and her third release, This Moment Is Mine. In that time, Moore eloped with actor Kadeem Hardison, who played Dwayne Wayne on the Cosby spin-off sitcom A Different World. It was Hardison who inspired the first single from the record, "Chante's Got A Man". Written by Chante with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the song is odd in that it seems as if Moore is dunking on a friend who's lover is mean and cruel to her, while bragging that she's got a keeper. There are glimmers of "girl, you can find better" in there, but it's sort of drowned out by her going on about how good her own man is. I would never have guessed at first glance that this was a Flyte Tyme production, but rather something out of the R. Kelly camp, with the sing-song verses a waste of Moore's formidable pipes, which at least she lets go in the vamps at the end...
"Chante's Got A Man" did connect with a lot of people, though, and became Moore's biggest hit by far, reaching the top ten on the pop Hot 100 chart in June of 1999. The song spent five weeks at #2 on Billboard's R&B chart, as well as on the older-skewing Adult R&B radio list. The remixes of the track, transforming it into a house music jam, helped it place on the Dance Club Play chart at #34. The Moment Is Mine album, released in May of that year, landed in the top-40 of the Billboard 200 sales tally at #31, while peaking at #7 on the R&B Albums list.
The second and final release from the Moment Is Mine album, "I See You In A Different Light", featured ex-Jodeci singer JoJo Hailey. The song stalled down at #61 on Billboard's R&B chart, and didn't even place on the Hot 100, but was a minor hit on the Adult R&B format, getting to #25. It was also featured in the Kevin Costner movie For The Love Of The Game.
That second song must have been prophetic, as karma came around to Chante, as her relationship with Hardison ended a year later. In 2000, Moore put out her fourth album, Exposed. This record was her attempt to veer from the adult soul path to a more hip-hop inspired sound. That was evident with the lead single "Straight Up" (not the Paula Abdul hit), which was co-written and produced by Jermaine Dupri. The song has her delivering a rapid-fire vocal that's more rap-like in cadence. While it was only a moderate success on urban radio, reaching #22 on the Billboard R&B chart, it was a surprise hit internationally, almost reaching the top ten in the UK at #11, while also making the top 40 in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Second release "Bitter" became Moore's second top ten hit at the Adult R&B format at #10.
Moore left Silas/MCA after that and signed to Arista Records. Along with third husband Kenny Lattimore, who had a top ten single of his own in the spring of 1997 with "You", Moore release a pair of collaboration albums. The first of them, Things That Lovers Do, matched her Moment Is Mine peak at #31 on the Billboard 200, while landing her highest rank on the R&B Albums list at #3. Between the two records the couple placed four songs on the Adult R&B format, doing the best with "Loveable (From Your Head to Your Toes)", which got to #19 at the start 2003. Also, Moore guested on lite-jazz sax giant Kenny G's single "One More Time", which gave Chante her first and only hit on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart at #19 in 2002.
Chante struck out solo again in 2008 (she would eventually romantically leave Lattimore in 2011 as well), signing to the indie label Peak for her next release, Love The Woman. The sole single from the set, "It Ain't Supposed To Be This Way", is so far her most recent hit on the R&B Singles chart at #90, while getting to #21 on the Adult R&B list. Moving to the Shenachie label, Moore released Moore Is More in 2013, her most recent appearance on the Billboard 200 albums sales list at #184. She spent the 2010's mostly performing on stages in shows in New York and Las Vegas, and appearing on the reality show R&B Divas: Los Angeles. In 2017 Moore re-emerged with The Rise Of The Phoenix, and went to #10 on the Adult R&B radio chart with "Real One". That, along with holiday release Christmas Back To You that same year, has been her most recent studio albums. This year, Moore released a new single, "Right One", which has a welcome country/Americana flair to it.
(4/10)
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Here's Moore performing "Chante's Got A Man" on a TV appearance promoting the album...
And lastly, in concert in London in 2009...
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