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Brian McKnight is a talented singer/songwriter who has fashioned a
surprisingly strong career over the past decade as a soul balladeer. Coming from
an extremely religious background and being the brother of Take 6's Claude
McKnight, it was thought by many that Brian would be a gospel singer or a
secular singer who fairly explicitly infused gospel into his music. However,
like Marvin Gaye a generation earlier, despite his religious influences
McKnight's music has alternated between the spiritual and the sexual, often
creating an uncomfortable, seemingly contradictory musical landscape -- even
within a single album. From a critical standpoint, his songs are typically
melodic (if occasionally simplistic) and his voice is warm but fairly
unassuming.
There is no question, however, that from his sensitive first hit ballad, "One
Last Cry," through the big singles "Crazy Love," "On the Down Low," "Love of My
Life" and especially his #1 crossover hit, "Back At One," McKnight has been one
of the most consistently popular soul acts of the 90s and 00s, with nearly every
album hitting both the Soul and Pop top 20. Further, he has established an
extremely loyal female following and a persona as a soul "loverman" that is the
envy of most other male soul singers today.
Source: soultracks.com
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