Songoftheday 10/17/21 -What's wrong with your shady ass, wakin' me up early in the mornin' still yawnin'...

 

 

"My Favorite Girl" - Dave Hollister

from the album Ghetto Hymns (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #39 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 2

 

Today's song comes from R&B singer Dave Hollister, who got his first break singing on two singles for rapper Tupac Shakur, with his (uncredited on the label) vocals on "Keep Your Head Up" helped it reach the top-40 in the beginning of 1994. A year later, Hollister joined the group Blackstreet, and sang lead for their first top ten pop hit "Before I Let You Go". However, Dave would leave the act after their debut album to go solo. Signed to the Def Squad imprint on the DreamWorks label, his first appearance as a solo artist didn't come until 1998, with his contribution to the soundtrack of the movie Ride. "The Weekend", co-written by Hollister and featuring rappers Erick Sermon and Redman, was a minor hit on Billboard magazine's R&B chart at #80 (It also was Hollister's sole minor solo hit in the UK at #83). In the spring of 1999, Hollister returned with the first single from his debut album, Ghetto Hymns. "My Favorite Girl", written by the singer with Steve Jordan, Marc Kinchen, and Ted Turpin, was a turnaround on the title, as Dave is singing this to a woman who is presumbly his ex and his baby's mama, who keeps calling him and stalking him (though we don't get the other side of the story). He proclaims his new woman is the titular female, and that she is who he intended to stick with, and for the ex to step off. The music video has the other woman go full psycho, breaking into his apartment and doing some crimes...

"My Favorite Girl" became Hollister's first and so far only top-40 pop hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in June of 1999. The song climbed to #10 on their R&B chart as well. The Ghetto Hymns album, released in May of that year, rose to #34 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #5 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over half a million copies. 

The second single from his debut, "Baby Mama Drama", which seems to be a sequel to the hit, was co-written by then new member of Blackstreet, Eric Williams. The track stopped at #64 on Billboard's R&B chart, while missing the Hot 100 altogether. That was followed by "Can't Stay", which Hollister wrote on his own. The strongest of the three, the song returned Dave to the R&B top-40 at #28, while placing at #84 on the pop Hot 100. 

Hollister re-emerged in 2000 with his sophomore solo effort Chicago '85...The Movie. The lead single from the set, "One Woman Man", landed Dave his second and biggest top ten R&B hit at #8, while stopping just short of the pop top-40 at #44. The follow-up, the slinky "Take Care Of Home", written and produced by Atlanta duo the Funktwons (Tim & Bob), went to #39 on the R&B chart, his most recent top-40 placing there. The album, which went to #49 on the Billboard 200 and #10 on Billboard's R&B Albums list, again sold over a half million.

Switching to Motown, Dave came back in the fall of 2002 with his third disc Things In The Game Done Changed. The album would be his highest charting on both the Billboard 200 (#10) and R&B Albums (#3) tallies, but the two singles, his most recent lead-credit songs to make the R&B Singles chart, only were minor hits with the funky "Keep Lovin' You" getting to #47 and the ballad "Baby Do These Things" stalling at #72 (though both spent 20 weeks each on the list). 

After another album with DreamWorks, Hollister switched to the Gospo-Centric label for two gospel albums in the 2000's. One of them, The Book Of David Vol. 1 - The Transition, topped Billboard's Gospel Albums sales chart in 2006. "Striving", from the second religious set Witness Protection, went to #15 on the Gospel Songs list two years later.

Hollister returned to secular music for his 2014 release Chicago Winds...The Saga Continues, which was his most recent appearance on the Billboard 200 sales chart at #110. Featured single "Spend The Night" climbed to #7 on the older-skewing Adult R&B radio chart. Dave's most recent album, The Manuscript on the Shanachie label in 2016, made the R&B Albums list at #29, while single "Definition Of A Woman", peaked at #25 on the Adult R&B format. Currently, the singer is a featured guest on "Karma (Remix)" by Donell Jones, which landed them at #15 on the Adult R&B chart. 

(5/10)

Up tomorrow: Back in the news again with THIS "celebrity" rock band.