Songoftheday 1/31/22 - Baby it's no mystery, you're bringing out the best in me...

 

 

"24/7" - Kevon Edmonds

from the album 24/7 (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 9

 

Today's song comes from Kevon Edmonds, who from 1987 to 1997 was a member of the R&B group After 7. The trio, with Kevon, his brother Melvin, and Keith Mitchell, had two top ten pop hits in 1989/1990 with "Ready Or Not" and "Can't Stop". After their third album Reflections in 1995 which scored a top-40 pop hit/top-10 R&B hit with "Til You Do Me Right", the trio split up. In 1997, Kevon and Melvin got together with producer/singer/songwriter brother Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds along with K-Ci and JoJo from the group Jodeci for the "supergroup" Milestone and the one-off single "I Care 'Bout You" from the movie Soul Food, which made the pop top 40 and the top-10 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart.

Kevon subsequently signed as a solo artist with RCA Records, where he released 24/7 in the fall of 1999. The title track, written by producer Angelo Ray with David Scott and Anthony Smith, was put out as the first single. A by-the-book adult soul love song, "24/7" doesn't really cover any new ground, and sounds a lot like brother Babyface's work, but Kevon does put on a strong vocal performance. The music video, which casts Kevon in a Bonnie and Clyde pastiche, ends pretty ridiculously, though...

"24/7" climbed to the top ten on Billboard's Hot 100 pop chart in December of 1999. The song spent three weeks at #2 on their R&B Singles chart, while getting to #37 on the Rhythmic radio format list. The 24/7 album, released in October of that year, peaked at #77 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, as well as #15 on the R&B Albums list. 

The second single from 24/7, "No Love (I'm Not Used To)", was written and produced by Babyface protege Daryl Simmons. A stronger song, it ended up going to #25 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, but missed the pop Hot 100, "bubbling under" the list at #109. A third offering, "Love Will Be Waiting", was a bona fide Babyface co-write/production, and my favorite of the three, but stalled down at #76 on the R&B chart. 

Kevon and RCA parted ways after just the one album, and it took a decade for him to return on an indie label in 2009 with Who Knew. The album started almost as high as his first at #78, but lead single "Oh", while spending 20 weeks on the R&B chart, only got up to #56. 

Edmonds reunited with Melvin and Mitchell to reform After 7 along with Melvin's son Jason. In 2016, the trio released a new album, Timeless, which was a top ten success on Billboard's R&B Albums chart, while popping onto the Billboard 200 at #198. Last year, after the death of brother Melvin, After 7 released their most recent set, Unfinished Business.

 

(5/10)

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Here's Kevon performing "24/7" on Live At The Apollo in 1999...

Up tomorrow: This R&B singer is counting down his fame, perhaps.