singer
Personal Information
Born June 5, 1969, in Buffalo, NY; married; two children.
Education: Attended Oakwood College, c. 1987-89.
Religion: Seventh-Day Adventist.
Career
Singer. Signed to Mercury Records, 1989; released first album, Brian McKnight, 1992; I Remember You, 1995; Anytime, 1997; Bethlehem, 1998; Back At One, 1999; Superhero, 2001; worked with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Justin Timberlake of N'Sync, Mary J. Blige, Boyz II Men, and Take 6.
Life's Work
Critics have compared Brian McKnight to classic soul singers of a bygone era. His smooth vocal stylings and talent for writing and producing a stirring piece of music--and one devoid of even a hint of the risqué--have earned him a devoted, largely female fan base. Yet McKnight works hard to earn new admirers as well: for his 1997 record Anytime, he expanded his horizons by working with some notable figures in rap music, with a not surprising success.
McKnight was born and lived his first eight years in Buffalo, New York, where he learned to sing while sitting on the lap of his mother. Religion was an important part of the McKnight family heritage, with several generations of Seventh-Day Adventists behind McKnight's era; his grandfather had been minister of music for a congregation, while his mother played the piano and sang alto in the gospel choir of Buffalo's Emanuel Temple. The youngest of four boys, McKnight became the junior member of an a capella gospel quartet with his three elder siblings. All were serious about music, and as a youngster McKnight was heavily influenced by their tastes, which ranged from the Mighty Clouds of Joy to Gino Vannelli.
When he was eight, the McKnights moved to Orlando, Florida, and he grew into an avid and able athlete as a teen. He was a member of the football, basketball, and track teams, and even dreamed of turning pro. Yet music became more of a lure, especially after he took up the trumpet and found inspiration in the career of horn prodigy Wynton Marsalis; he was also a great admirer of the music of Stevie Wonder. He had also learned to play the piano by ear, and was a solid jazz pianist by the time he was in his teens. "Church music thrilled me, but jazz stimulated my mind," McKnight recalled in a biography issued by his record company. By the time he finished high school, he had formed a band without his mother's knowledge and was playing in bars.
Expelled from College
In 1987 McKnight headed to Huntsville, Alabama to attend Oakwood College, a strict Christian institution that his brother Claude also attended. Yet around that same time, Claude McKnight and his gospel group Take 6 were signed to a record label, and the role-model brother abandoned his studies to record in Nashville. During his own time in Huntsville, the younger McKnight made the acquaintance of a local producer named Brandon Barnes and his Sound Cell studios, and the two began working together on musical projects; from him McKnight learned the studio production wizardry he would later put to use in his own recording career. Then, in March of his sophomore year, McKnight was expelled from college for violating Oakwood's strict rules regarding dormitory visitors; both he and his girlfriend had to leave. Incensed, his mother ordered him back home to Orlando, but he begged to stay on until June so that he could work with Barnes; McKnight told her he would come home if he did not win a record deal by then.
The setback fueled him. Working with Barnes, he wrote and recorded dozens of songs, sometimes at the rate of three a day. He then shopped his demos to record companies, and Mercury/Polygram recognized the raw talent and signed him. Yet executives at the label did not immediately let McKnight loose in the studio, instead forcing him to develop his singing and songwriting talents. "I was 19," McKnight confessed in his record company biography. "And arrogant. You couldn't tell me anything; couldn't tell me how to sing or what to write. Man, I knew it all. I had a lot of growing up to do--as a person and artist," he admitted, and praised the executive who signed him, Ed Eckstine, for his patience.
McKnight's debut album finally arrived in 1992. The self-titled LP hit No. 17 on the Billboard charts, and featured the single "One Last Cry." The record went gold, and critics praised McKnight's smooth, understated manner that distanced him greatly from the lewdness of many other young R&B singers; People reviewer Jeremy Helligar characterized it as a "Moet-and-Brie style." The success led to collaboration with actress/singer Vanessa Williams, and their duet single, "Love Is," emerged as a top five hit and was featured on the soundtrack to the Fox-TV drama Beverly Hills 90210.
McKnight's rising star brought him an invitation to produce a Christmas album for the group Boyz II Men. He also kept up a disciplined schedule of songwriting and recording. For his follow-up, 1995's I Remember You, the singer wrote 14 of its 15 tracks. The album reached number four on the Billboard charts and featured the singles "Still in Love" and "(Keep It On the) Down Low." In a Rolling Stone review, writer Richard Torres lamented the passing of the old-school soul singer who seduced, not shocked, and hailed McKnight as a throwback to this style. "McKnight revels in being a hopeless romantic who fervently believes in the healing power of love," Torres wrote, and compared him to Smoky Robinson. Torres found I Remember You rife with "impassioned singing and understated arrangements with enough jazz and gospel flavoring to prevent clogging of the arteries."
Changed Directions
McKnight, already a heartthrob, was able to seduce more fans with the videos for I Remember You, which were linked together thematically around a "cliffhanger" type of plot that featured McKnight in the role of a stylish secret agent/Lothario. Yet McKnight felt pulled in still other directions; he was eager to explore new territory, and the label was acquiescent. "I got tired of people thinking I was 36 when I was 26," McKnight explained to Washington Post reporter Geoffrey Himes. " ... People think I'm older because I like Armani suits and don't wear my pants sagging down to my knees. But that's just the way I like to dress." McKnight asked some well-placed friends in the music industry to help him out for his 1997 release Anytime. They included Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, who produced the first single, "You Should Be Mine;" another industry comrade, rapper Mase, guested on the track. Mary J. Blige co-wrote "Hold Me" with McKnight, and much of the production work was undertaken by the renowned Trackmasterz team. "It was a double-edged sword," McKnight admitted to Billboard writer J. R. Reynolds. "I found it very different to be recording and having other people tell me what they wanted. At the same time, hearing what they laid down really made me step up on what I did on my own."
McKnight's foray into uncharted territory was a success. Ebony's Lynn Norment called the record "hot and cool and eclectic," while other critics applauded it for revealing McKnight's range of talents. One example is the moving, orchestral gospel track "When the Chariot Comes," a song McKnight wrote for Anytime, and one inspired by a funeral he attended with his mother. "A lot of us assume we're going to wake up tomorrow, but you go to a funeral and you realize that you have to live each day like it's your last," McKnight told Himes in the Washington Post. "I just tried to capture the way people responded at the service." Still other professional triumphs occurred for McKnight in 1997: he recorded a song with Jamaican reggae artist Diana King that became the title track to the acclaimed film about Muhammad Ali, When We Were Kings; for an NBA at 50 compilation, he covered a classic track from one of his idols, Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)."
Over the next couple of years, McKnight would begin to revert back to his gospel roots for even more inspiration for his music. The 1998 holiday inspired Bethlehem was produced in conjunction with brother Claude's gospel group Take 6 as well as R&B group Boys II Men and featured a cross between traditional gospel hymns and more contemporary Christmas tracks. This album would in turn be eclipsed by McKnight's next offering in 1999, Back At One. Compared to the streetwise rhythms of Anytime, Back At One focused more on mixing the gospel sound with urban soul to produce an album which critics called "empowered" and "nicely polished." McKnight himself considered the album a breakout of sorts as he told Billboard's Chuck Taylor, "Everybody came to know Anytime but I'm not sure they connected it with Brian McKnight. Now I think they know that Back At One is me." While trying to stay on top of his music career during this period, McKnight suffered some marital problems and briefly separated twice from his wife, Julie. McKnight however is committed to making his personal relationships work and took time out of tours and recording to work on his marriage and relationship with his two children. He told Ebony reporter Aldore Collier, "It's not easy, but we have decided that no matter what, we're just going to be together.... Commitment makes it happen. The communication is there. The relationship requires a lot of compromise."
Even though McKnight was spending more time with his family, it did not seem to slow down his movement in the music industry. In 2001 McKnight released his fifth studio album, Superhero, which secured McKnight four Grammy nominations as well as awards from the NAACP and Billboards. This album played off of McKnight's popularity in the R&B style, with such singles as "Love of My Life" and the radio popular duet "My Kind of Girl" with Justin Timberlake of N'Sync. But McKnight was not afraid to dabble in other genres as well such as his forage into rock on "Superhero" and the bouncing rap-like single "Groovin' Tonight." McKnight also continued to work on the other side of the microphone, producing and writing music for other artists whenever his schedule allowed. But the most important thing to McKnight was always the quality of whatever project he was involved in. "The music I write and the songs I sing must first move me," McKnight explained in his press biography. "The sentiments must be real, the melodies must be magic. I want to create moods everyone can feel. Records don't need to be perfect, but they do need character."
Awards
Four Grammy nominations; NAACP Image Award.
Works
Selected discography
- Brian McKnight, Mercury 1992.
- I Remember You, Mercury, 1995.
- Anytime, Mercury, 1997.
- Bethlehem, Motown, 1998.
- Back At One, Uptown/Universal, 1999.
- Superhero, Motwon, 2001.
Further Reading
Periodicals
- Billboard, April 29, 1995, pp. 44; November 18, 1995, p. 100; August 2, 1997, pp. 27-28; November 20, 1999, p. 119.
- Black Collegian, September/October 1992, p. 52.
- Ebony, November 1997; July 2000.
- Ebony Male, October 1995.
- People, August 21, 1995, pp. 24-25.
- Rolling Stone, September 21, 1995, pp. 83-84.
- Washington Post, January 9, 1998; Page N15.
- All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com
- http://www.infomatch.com/~winst/index.htlml
- http://www.polygram.com
— Carol Brennan and Ralph Zerbonia
