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Brian McKnight: Good for the soul

(JP/Arief Suhardiman) Whether romance for you is about smiles or tears, soul singer Brian McKnight knows how to tug at your heartstrings and put you in the mood

Dian Kuswandini (The Jakarta Post)
JAKARTA
Fri, March 13, 2009

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Brian McKnight: Good for the soul

(JP/Arief Suhardiman)

Whether romance for you is about smiles or tears, soul singer Brian McKnight knows how to tug at your heartstrings and put you in the mood.

“Every song I make shows who I am,” the crooner says, adding, “I just flush everything out of my heart when making music.”

With his lyrics composed like a romance novel, and a velvety voice in the tradition of Stevie Wonder and Nat King Cole, 40-year-old McKnight might be labeled a balladeer, but becoming a pop heartthrob was not his childhood dream.

“In my family, being a musician is pretty much predestined – it has never been something special. Everyone plays [music], everybody sings. Music is just part of who we are,” says McKnight, whose older brother Claude formed the Grammy-winning gospel a cappella group Take 6.

Despite his musical family and his own skills – he can now play nine instruments – the little McKnight dreamed of becoming a basketball player.

“I thought that if I grew to be 6’6” to 6’7”, then everything I’d ever wanted would be very easy for me to achieve. But well, I got some 6’4” and 6’5”… and that was it,” the sturdy and handsome New Yorker says, laughing.

“But wait – don’t get me wrong. I’m incredibly skilled [in basketball] and super nice on the court,” he says, showing off a smooth slam-dunk move.

The decider, perhaps, was just that the opportunity in music came first, with a Mercury Records subsidiary offering him a deal when he was 19.

“I thought I couldn’t do every dream that I had,” he says.

“So I dropped [basketball], and I think I made the right decision.”

Indeed. Combining soulful vocals and smooth instrumentals rooted in jazz and gospel, McKnight created a throwback to the time when music was a celebration of genuine love. His hits “One Last Cry” and  “Back At Once” are just two shining examples.

He is generally called a soul singer, but “I don’t put myself into a certain musical niche,” he says. Singing R&B and pop, he adds, is something he truly enjoys. “And I just try to tell it like it is in my music.”

His simple formula was a hit, with millions of records sold worldwide and numerous Grammy Award nominations; in 2001 he walked away with the American Music Award for favorite male R&B/soul artist. Women love him, and men thank him for the instant romance his songs bring.

He put the whole lot on show during his recent Jakarta concert, as part of the 5th International Jakarta Java Jazz Festival, when his romantic tunes, magnetic stage persona and smoldering sex appeal sent thousands of audience members – both women and men – wild.

“I’m single ... and I’m still looking for someone special,” McKnight told the audience that night, as he wandered around the stage.

“Well ... what if that someone special is here? What if you’re the one?” he added, a question greeted with screams from the women and laughter from the men.

As he chose one lucky fan – a woman by the name of Angel – to go one stage, McKnight turned up the heat.

“Do you have any idea what am I going to do with you?” he said, looking straight into the trembling woman’s eyes.

He presented her with a bouquet of roses and said, “Angel, I want you to answer me.” He paused, before adding, “If I’m down on my knees, will you be my girl ... and marry me?”

He then launched into a love song, continuing to romance the dazzled Angel onstage.

In this way, he gave his audience more than just the music – he left them with intimate moments to remember the concert by.

“I love my audience. To me, they are the people who really make a difference in my life,” McKnight says. “That’s why I will always stay true to them.”

But for all the frenzied fans and worldwide popularity, McKnight remains a low-key and dedicated single father of two talented sons, 19-year-old Brian Jr. (BJ) and 16-year-old Cole Nikolas (Niko), with whom he shared the stage during the Jakarta concert, to the crowd’s surprise.

“I think it’s important to expose your children to what interests them, if you have the opportunity to,” McKnight says. “And whatever they naturally gravitate towards, then, if you support them, then they’ll do it.”

McKnight has enjoyed fatherhood to the fullest, but it hasn’t slowed down his career. Among his most recent projects are not only his latest album, but also some radio and TV shows, and this month, he is appearing in the second season of Celebrity Apprentice, one of the United States’ top-ranking reality TV shows.

“Getting involved in other things than music is actually to keep your face out there,” he says. “People can forget you easily, so you have to figure out ways [to deal with it].”

But the main key to success, he says, is believing in yourself.

“Success comes in cans, failure comes in can’ts,” he says, quoting a proverb. “You have to believe, you have to go and do it. You can’t be ‘oh, I can’t do that’. It’s all about ‘I can, and I will, and I do.’”

Given this philosophy, McKnight’s success is no surprise. As well as his own music (11 albums since 1992), he has produced others’ work, including Boyz II Men, Take 6 and Quincy Jones. He has collaborated with many musicians including Sean “Puffy” Combs, Justin Timberlake, Vanessa Williams, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey and Josh Groban, and in 2007, he trod the boards of Broadway with a run as lawyer Billy Flynn in Chicago.

“The greatest thing about being a musician is to wake up in the morning with nothing, but end the day with something,” says McKnight, who’s now sure in his heart that music was the right choice.

Not least because, thanks to his celebrity status, he laughs, “I can hang out with my sports heroes,” his face brightening as he names greats such as Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan.

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