Songoftheday 2/1/22 - Its 7:45 on the dot, I guess I'm late for work but I'm feeling kinda hot...
"15 Minutes" - Marc Nelson
from the album Chocolate Mood (1999)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #27 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 3
Today's song comes from R&B singer/songwriter Marc Nelson, the son of Phyllis Nelson who had a massive club hit in 1985 with "I Like You". Marc grew up in Philadelphia, where he got together with fellow classmates Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, and Michael McClary formed the group Boyz II Men. However, Nelson left the act before they released their first album to pursue a solo career. Signing on his own to Capitol Records, Nelson released his debut album I Want You in 1991. The title track was a cover of the Marvin Gaye classic done in the new jack swing style, and it rose to #26 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart. A second single, the self-penned "Count On Me", was a minor R&B hit at #48, and that was the extent of his tenure at Capitol.
After writing some songs for high-profile R&B acts, including the top-40 R&B hit "Don't Say" by Jon B. (#34 R&B) in 1997. One of those acts, Babyface, with whom he co-wrote one of the album tracks on his The Day album, put him together with a vocal group on his label, Az Yet. That quintet scored a pair of top ten pop hits with "Last Night" and "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", but Marc left them while they were still promoting those hits. Striking out solo again, Nelson signed on with Columbia, and in 1999, he released his second solo effort Chocolate Mood. The lead single from the set was "15 Minutes", written by the singer with Sam Salter and Tab Nkhereanye. The song wasn't about the time limit of fame, but rather is about being late for work because he wants to do the nasty with his woman, to the point of telling his boss about it. For the music video of the booty call jam for a "quickie", Columbia must have broke the bank with a high-tech precursor to Oculus that gives enough gratuitous peaks at Nelson's body...
"15 Minutes" became Nelson's first and only solo top-40 pop hit in December of 1999. The song was big on urban radio, rising to #4 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart. The Chocolate Mood album didn't make the Billboard 200, and without a follow-up single, Nelson and Columbia soon parted ways.
After an independently-released third album, Marc: My Words in 2008 got little notice, Nelson reunited for a while with Az Yet. He's released a couple singles, most recently the Donny Hathaway cover "Sack Full Of Dreams" in 2020.
(5/10)
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Up tomorrow: These rock icons get airborne.
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