Songoftheday 11/16/21 - I never knew such a day could come, and I never knew such a love could be inside of one...

 

 

"Spend My Life With You" - Eric Benét featuring Tamia

from the album A Day In The Life (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 15

 

Today's song of the day comes from neo-soul singer/songwriter Eric Benét, who grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was a part of a couple groups. One of those two was Benét with his sister Lisa Marie, who had a minor hit on Billboard magazine's R&B chart with the new jack swing track "Only Want To Be With You", which peaked at #75 in 1992, before striking out on a solo music career. Signed to Warner Brothers Records, Benét released his debut album True To Myself in 1996. Lead single "Let's Stay Together" appeared in the Martin Lawrence movie A Thin Line Between Love & Hate, and rose to #45 on the R&B chart. Eric's follow-up, "Spiritual Thang", got to #41 on the list and was a minor hit in the UK at #62. The third of the four singles from the record that made the chart, "Femininity", was the only one that made it to the top-40 on the R&B list at #24, while it "bubbled under" the crossover pop Hot 100 at #107. The True To Myself album placed at #174 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #38 on the R&B Albums list.

Benét returned in 1999 with his sophomore effort, A Day In The Life. The first single from the set was a cover of Toto's soft-rock groove "Georgy Porgy" which featured Faith Evans. The record got to #15 on the R&B chart, and was Eric's first time on the Hot 100 at #55. The remake was a decent international success as well, getting to #2 in New Zealand, and reaching the top-40 in the Netherlands (#33), Sweden (#36), and France (#40).

 

For the follow-up, he released "Spend My Life With You", which featured singer Tamia, a prodigy of Quincy Jones whose debut album had spun off two top-40 pop hits with "Imagination" and "So Into You" in 1998. Written and produced by Eric with George Nash and Demonte Posey, the downtempo love ballad checks all the usual wedding-song boxes lyrics-wise, but doesn't really offer anything new. It's well produced, and both Eric and Tamia's voices are in fine form, but it plays like a throwback to boyband version 2.5 like a Color Me Badd or All-4-One track. But for what it is, the song is a nice listen...

"Spend My Life With You" became Eric's first and only top-40 pop hit (and Tamia's fourth) in August of 1999. The song spent two weeks at #1 on Billboard's R&B chart as well as topping the older-skewing Adult R&B format list. The Day In The Life album, released in April of that year, climbed into the top-40 on the Billboard 200 sales tally at #25, as well as #6 on the R&B Albums chart, going on to sell over a half million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2000, "Spend My Life..." was nominated for Best Duo/Group R&B Vocal Performance, losing to TLC for their #1 hit "No Scrubs". 

The third and final single from the album, "When You Think Of Me", featured jazz-soul vibraphonist Roy Ayers. The track got to #46 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart and #4 on the Adult R&B radio format, and was a minor hit in Britain at #48. 

Despite the success, when it came to Benét's next album Better and Better, Warner Brothers decided to release it, and the singer and label parted ways, with Eric going to the Friday imprint on Reprise Records. Eric finally returned in 2005 with Hurricane. The title track "Hurricane" was a big departure from his previous neo-soul work, and while R&B radio gave it a pass, the worthy song found a home at "easy listening" pop radio, getting to #33 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio chart.

 

Three years later, Eric came back with Love & Life, which became his highest-charting set on the Billboard 200 at #11, as well as his best on the R&B Albums list at #2. Lead single "You're The Only One" climbed to #17 on the R&B Singles chart, and "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #106. The song was nominated for a Grammy for Best Male R&B Performance, which went to Ne-Yo for "Miss Independent". The Love & Life album also got a nomination for Best R&B Album, which Jennifer Hudson took home for her self-titled debut album. 

Benet's fifth release Lost In Time's first single, "Sometimes I Cry", topped Billboard's Adult R&B radio chart, went to #16 on the R&B Singles chart, and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance, losing to Cee Lo Green's "Fool For You" in 2012. That song, along with the record's "Never Want To Live Without You", both were top ten hits on the International artist chart in Korea. 

Eric started up his own label, Jordan House Records, for his latest two albums. The One, released in 2012, went to #32 on the Billboard 200, and #5 on the R&B Albums list. The first single "Real Love" was his most recent top-40 R&B hit at #32, and also got to #3 on the Adult R&B list. That was followed by "Harriett Jones", which to date is his last hit on the main R&B Singles chart at #46, while getting to #15 on the Adult R&B tally. Eric also released an album of all-covers in Asia, From E to U, in 2014. His most recent album in American, Eric Benet, came out in 2016, and went to #32 on the R&B Albums list. The set spun off two top ten hits at the Adult Top-40 radio format: "Sunshine" (#2) and "Insane" (#10). 

 

The singer, who also appeared on Real Husbands of Hollywood, is married to Prince's ex Manuela, and released a new single, "Lady", this year.

(6/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

At his performance on Live At The Apollo, Terry Dexter subbed for Tamia...

Benet was married for a hot moment to actress Halle Berry, which makes this concert version of the song kind of ironic...

Fast forward to 2012 for a TV live appearance for Benet and Tamia...

and lastly, Eric and Tamia on a "quarantine edition" of the song from 2020...

Up tomorrow: This band is a little crazy on this song.