Songoftheday 12/9/21 - It's undeniable that we should be together, it's unbelievable how I used to say that I'd fall never...

 

 

"Back At One" - Brian McKnight

from the album Back At One (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (eight weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 33

 

Today's song comes from R&B singer/songwriter Brian McKnight, whose third studio album Anytime had spun off a pair of top-40 pop hits in "You Should Be Mine (Don't Waste My Time)" and "Hold Me", along with the title track, which wasn't released as a physical single, but was his biggest success from the album, reaching the top ten on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 Airplay chart in the spring of 1998. At the end of the year, after changing record labels to Motown, Brian released a holiday record Bethlehem, which went to #95 on the Billboard 200 sales tally. The following year, McKnight returned with his fifth studio effort Back At One. The title track, written and produced by Brian, was released as the first single. A downtempo love ballad, the song has McKnight counts down how he's going to win her love. It's corny, but its delivered earnestly, and Brian doesn't try to oversing the gentle melody. The music video for this was totally out there, putting McKnight at the scene of a UFO crash that got nominated for a Grammy for Best Music Video, but right now is blocked from YouTube. Here's the album version audio...

"Back To One" became McKnight's biggest crossover hit, spending a full two months (eight weeks) at #2 on the Hot 100 starting in November of 1999. It was his last to make the pop top-40 so far. The song rose to #7 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart. It came a week from spending a year on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, peaking at #4, while getting to #25 on the older-skewing Adult Top-40 format list. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in Canada (#4) and New Zealand (#7), while making the top-40 in Australia (#24) and #33 in both the Netherlands and Iceland. The Back To One album, released in September of that year, was the singers first top ten placing on the Billboard 200 at #7, as well as going to #2 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over three million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2000, along with the music video nomination Brian was also up for Best R&B Album for Back At One, which went to TLC for FanMail. 

Brian's follow-up single was "Stay Or Let It Go", which he co-wrote with producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins (of Destiny's Child fame). The moody electro-soul number went to #26 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, but stalled down at #76 on the pop Hot 100. The third offering, "6, 8, 12", written by McKnight with future hard rocker Brandon Barnes, was another ballad that almost sounds like a boyband track. It stopped at #48 on the R&B chart, while "bubbling under" the Hot 100 at #108. Both songs were nominated for Grammys in 2001, with "Stay..." losing Best Male R&B Vocal Performance to D'Angelo's "Untitled (How Does It Feel)", while "6, 8, 12" was up for the Pop counterpart award, which went to Sting for the second year in a row for "She Walks This Earth".

McKnight's next move was a contribution to the Cuba Gooding Jr movie Men Of Honor, "Win", which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Song Written for Movie/TV in 2002, which was won by They Might Be Giants for the theme to the TV show Malcolm In The Middle, "Boss Of Me". 

 

The singer returned in 2001 with Superhero, which also went to #7 on the Billboard 200. Lead single "Love Of My Life" attempted to recreate the success he had with love ballad but going all falsetto, just missed the top ten on the R&B Singles chart at #11, while stopping just below the halfway mark on the pop Hot 100 at #51. At the 2002 Grammy, the song was twice nominated, losing Best R&B Song to Alicia Keys for her breakthrough hit "Fallin'", as well as for Best Male R&B Vocal, which went to Usher for "U Remind Me". The second try, "Still", missed the R&B chart altogether, and only "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #115, but was nominated for the Best Pop Male Vocal category, which James Taylor took home for his live version of "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight". The song also climbed to #22 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio chart. The third effort, "What's It Gonna Be" featuring rapper/producer Jermaine Dupri, is so far Brian's last placing on the Hot 100 at #91. Another track from the album, "My Kind Of Girl" with NSYNC member Justin Timberlake, was also up for Best Pop Vocal Collaboration, which was won by Christina Aguilera, Mya, Lil' Kim, and Pink for their Moulin Rouge remake of the disco hit "Lady Marmalade".

 

That was followed in 2003 with U Turn, which was his third straight studio release to get to #7 on the Billboard 200, and like his previous one sold over a half million copies. From the record the downtempo jam "Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda" went to #35 on the R&B Singles chart,"bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #106, and was nominated for the Best Male R&B Vocal Grammy in 2004, losing to the late Luther Vandross for "Dance With My Father".  McKnight's final album on Motown, Gemini, came a year later, and was his highest rank on the Billboard 200 at #4. Lead single "What We Do Here" also got to #35 at R&B Singles while topping the Adult R&B radio format for four weeks, and again was up for the Best Male R&B Vocal Grammy in 2005, which went to Prince for "Call My Name". It so far is his most recent nomination. 

 

Brian switched to Warner Brothers Records for one album, Ten, which spun off three top-40 R&B hits, with "Used To Be My Girl" doing the best at #25 on the R&B Singles chart in 2006. Also, "Find Myself In You" topped the Adult R&B list for two weeks.  Since then, McKnight has put out seven studio albums (including a second Christmas set) on various independent labels, which 2009's Evolution Of A Man doing the best at #20 on the Billboard 200. Its lead single "What I've Been Waiting For" is so far his most recent top-40 R&B hit at #28, along with rising to #3 on the older-skewing Adult R&B radio list. 2011's Just Me had Brian's two most recent minor R&B Singles hits, with "Temptation" featuring his namesake son Brian McKnight Jr. getting to #86 (and #29 at Adult R&B). McKnight's most recent album, Exodus, was released in 2020, with lead single "Nobody" reaching #9 on the Adult R&B radio chart. 

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Here's Brian performing the song live for a television audience...

McKnight performed "Back To One" at the American Music Awards...

Only a few months after Brian released his biggest hit, country singer Mark Wills put out a cover of the song as a single. Not only did he get to #2 on the Country Singles chart, he made the Hot 100 top-40 (and will be a future SOTD)...

and lastly, back to Brian in concert in 2016...

Up tomorrow: This vocal legend in romantically inclusive.