Over the last 30 years, R&B icon Brian McKnight has sold over 30 million albums globally.
The 16-time Grammy nominee was supposed to perform this weekend at the Strathmore in Bethesda, Maryland, but he has rescheduled the show for Sept. 27 due to the coronavirus.
McKnight joined WTOP to discuss his career as we wait a few months for the big concert.
“My show is a retrospective of the 30 years that I’ve been in the business,” McKnight told WTOP. “I sprinkle in a few new things, but for the most part, it’s the hits from yesteryear.”
He even mixes in some jokes between the songs.
“I’ve been told [that] I’m very, very funny,” McKnight said. “There’s humor, there’s music, all the range of emotions. … Most of the people that come to see me have seen me at some point in the last 30 years, so I just really want to give them what they expect.”
Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1969, McKnight grew up in a musical family.
“We all grew up singing in church, all my aunts, uncles, cousins, my brothers and myself, never thinking about doing it professionally,” McKnight said. “I really got a great musical education. My grandfather led big bands in the ’40s, so I’m also a huge jazz head, so I think I have a really great musical library of music to draw from for the music I create.”
What music does he remember listening to growing up?
“It was one of the greatest periods of time to grow up,” McKnight said. “You had all the music from the ’60s that our parents were listening to, then you had all the Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire from the ’70s, then the ’80s music from Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Kenny Loggins and The Police. … I wanted to be in Van Halen at one point.”
How did he hone his signature vocal range?
“Everyone in our family sat at the feet of our parents who all sang, so I wouldn’t say that we were formally trained, but our parents were, so they gave us some of the same kind of training that they had growing up, even though we didn’t actually go to actual teachers.”
After his older brother Claude’s group Take 6 signed with Warner Alliance in 1987, McKnight began recording demos at a studio in Huntsville, Alabama during college.
“I sent all my demos out to all the record companies,” McKnight said. “They were like, ‘Who’s writing the songs?’ I’m like, ‘That’s me.’ ‘Who’s singing the songs?’ ‘That’s me.’ ‘Who’s producing the songs?’ ‘That’s me.’ ‘Well, do you want a record deal?’ ‘OK.'”
He signed with Wing Records, a subsidiary of Mercury Records, to record his platinum-selling debut album “Brian McKnight” (1992), featuring the hit single “One Last Cry.”
“I know people use that song as their ‘get over a breakup’ song, but I’d never had a breakup,” McKnight said. “I was just really trying to call on all the sad songs I had ever heard. I actually wrote that song hoping that a woman would sing it, but when the record label heard that song, they were like, ‘We’re not giving that away. You’re keeping it.'”
The early success was fueled by fame from producing Vanessa Williams’ album “Comfort Zone” (1991) and their hit duet “Love Is” (1994) on the “Beverly Hills 90210” soundtrack.
“The duet was just natural for us to do,” McKnight said. “We did it, not thinking anything would come of it, but it was actually my very first charted Top 100 Billboard song. That then paved the way for ‘One Last Cry.’ It was a really great introduction to the pop chart.”
He next collaborated with Boyz II Men by producing their holiday album “Christmas Interpretations” (1993), including an entirely new re-imagining of “Let It Snow.”
“We were in London because they were on tour,” McKnight said. “I’m writing Christmas songs in June in the summertime. Those guys are like my brothers. We’ve known each other for a very long time, so it’s really great to work with them and continue to be close.”
He next did “Crazy Love” on the movie soundtrack for “Jason’s Lyric” (1994).
“That was a Van Morrison song, one of the very few covers I’ve done in my career,” McKnight said. “I produced that song for the movie. At that time, Van Morrison had to clear everyone that recorded his music. He gave me a thumbs up and the rest is history.”
He followed up with the hit song and album “Anytime” (1997), which went double platinum.
“Some songs just write themselves,” McKnight said. “Sometimes the changes you play and the melodies you come up with actually dictate how the song is going to go. ‘Anytime’ is a perfect example of music and lyric coming together in a way that was very synchronistic.”
He topped himself with the triple-platinum album “Back at One” (1999) and its title song.
“‘Anytime’ built the house we lived in in California and I was putting in the home theater,” McKnight said. “I was reading the manual for the DVD player. I went to the troubleshooting page because it wasn’t working and it said, ‘Do step one, step two and step three, and if the problem persists, do this and repeat steps, one, two and three.’ The song was born.”
The song reached a different audience when it was covered by country artist Mark Wills.
“That’s what made me songwriter of the year,” McKnight said. “Not only was it a hit for myself on five or six different charts, it was also No. 1 on two country charts. My good friend Mark Wills covered it at the exact same time, like when LeAnn Rimes and [Trisha Yearwood] did, ‘How Do I Live’ at the very same time, No. 1 and No. 2 on the chart.”
Around the same time, he switched to Motown Records when Universal bought PolyGram, which moved its entire African-American music department over to the Motown label.
“It was great for the history that was associated with that,” McKnight said. “It was great to be associated with so many great acts at that time. To say that you were on Motown was really special. I was with Berry Gordy! It was really great to be on that label.”
Today, a new generation is discovering McKnight by listening to his Kobe Bryant duet “Hold Me,” as basketball fans look back at the fallen NBA star’s rare music attempt.
“One of the greatest people that I’ve ever met,” McKnight said. “To have been in his life when he was so young and just coming into his own and to see him grow, it was really tragic for myself and for my family. … I still wake up every morning not believing that this has happened, but the world was a better place because Kobe Bryant was here.”
That’s where we left our conversation, not knowing that a different level of national tragedy was on the doorstep to postpone his concert. When the nation finally pulls through the COVID-19 crisis, you can bet McKnight will be there to lift our spirits this fall at Strathmore.
