Albert Joseph Brown III (born June 4, 1968), known professionally as Al B. Sure!, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, radio host and former record executive. He was born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and raised in

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Moun ...

. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Brown was one of

new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Te ...

's most popular performers.

Early life and music career

Brown is the son of Albert Joseph Brown II, a nuclear medicine technologist, and Cassandra Brown, an accountant. Brown was a star football quarterback at Mount Vernon High School in New York, who rejected an athletic scholarship to the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

to pursue a music career. In 1987,

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

selected Brown as the first winner of the Sony Innovators Talent Search. He went on to work with Jones on several projects, most notably the platinum 1990 single "

The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite) "The Secret Garden (Sweet Seduction Suite)" is a song by producer Quincy Jones, featuring R&B singers Al B. Sure!, James Ingram, El DeBarge, and Barry White. It was released as a single from Jones's album, ''Back on the Block'' (1989), and peaked ...

" from Jones' double-platinum-certified album ''

Back on the Block ''Back on the Block'' is a 1989 studio album by Quincy Jones. The album features musicians and singers from across three generations, including Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Joe Zawinul, Ice-T, Big Daddy Kane, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Geo ...

''. On this recording, Brown was one of a quartet with

Barry White Barry Eugene White (né Carter; September 12, 1944 – July 4, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter. A two-time Grammy Award winner known for his bass voice and romantic image, his greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and ...

El DeBarge Eldra "El" Patrick DeBarge (born June 4, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He was the focal point and primary lead singer of the DeBarge family, family group DeBarge. Popular songs led by El DeBarge include "Time Will Reveal ...

, and

James Ingram James Edward Ingram (February 16, 1952 – January 29, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a two-time Grammy Award-winner and a two-time Academy Award nominee for Best Original Song. After beginning his career ...

. Brown's 1988 debut album ''

In Effect Mode ''In Effect Mode'' is the debut album by Al B. Sure!. It was released on May 3, 1988, on Uptown Records with distribution handled by Warner Bros. Records. It was one of two albums by Sure! that was released under Uptown that were not issued unde ...

'' sold more than three million copies, topping the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

for seven straight weeks. It included the single "

Nite and Day Nite may refer to: * Jon Nite * Night * National Institute of Technology and Evaluation National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether th ...

", which topped the R&B chart and reached No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and " Off on Your Own (Girl)", which also topped the R&B chart. He received numerous

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

and

American Music Award The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show produced by Dick Clark Productions since 1974. Nominees are selected on commercial performance such as sales and airplay. Winners are determined by a poll of the public and ...

(AMA) nominations, and won an AMA for Best New R&B Artist. He also received several

Soul Train Award The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual music awards ceremony which honors the best in African-American culture, music and entertainment. It is produced by the production company of ''Soul Train'', the program from which it takes its name, and ...

nominations, and won the award for Best New Artist. Brown also won several New York Music Awards. In addition, his 1-900 phone line was third in generating revenue, following those for

New Kids on the Block New Kids on the Block (also initialized as NKOTB) is an American boy band from Dorchester, Massachusetts. The band consists of brothers Jonathan and Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood. New Kids on the Block had ...

and Run-D.M.C. As a writer and producer, Brown helped introduce to the music industry such multi-platinum acts as

Jodeci Jodeci ( ) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B quartet consisting of members DeVanté Swing, Dalvin DeGrate, Mr. Dalvin, K-Ci, and K-Ci & JoJo, JoJo. Formed in 1988 in Charlotte, North Carolina, Jodeci began as a duo of DeVanté Swing and JoJo ...

and teen R&B performer

Tevin Campbell Tevin Jermod Campbell (born November 12, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He performed gospel in his local church from an early age. Following an audition for jazz musician Bobbi Humphrey in 1988, Campbell was signed to War ...

(who was also one of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

's and Quincy Jones' former protégés), as well as

Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 in pursuit of a recording career. Evans initially performed as ...

Dave Hollister David Le Chaine Hollister (born August 17, 1968) is an American singer from Chicago, Illinois who found fame during the 1990s as one quarter of the R&B group Blackstreet, before going on to have a solo career. Hollister is best known for his ...

Case Case or CASE may refer to: Instances * Instantiation (disambiguation), a realization of a concept, theme, or design * Special case, an instance that differs in a certain way from others of the type Containers * Case (goods), a package of relate ...

. In 2009, Brown signed with

Hidden Beach Recordings Hidden Beach is an American independent record label known for R&B, soul, inspirational, and contemporary jazz genres. Hidden Beach was formed in 1998 by Steve McKeever and has a distribution deal with Universal Music Group. History Steven Mc ...

. His first single for the label, "I Love It (Papi Aye, Aye, Aye)," entered the

Radio & Records ''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...

Urban AC chart at No. 33. The album ''

Honey, I'm Home "Honey, I'm Home" is a song co-written and recorded by Canadian country music artist Shania Twain. It was released on August 10, 1998, as the sixth single from her third studio album ''Come On Over'' (1997). The song was written by Twain and he ...

'' was released on June 23, 2009.

Other work

In 1991, Brown co-starred with

Martin Lawrence Martin Fitzgerald LawrenceStated in interview on '' Inside the Actors Studio'' (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor and comedian. Lawrence began his career doing comedy shows, including in '' The Improv''. After his first acting role in t ...

in a television pilot titled ''Private Times''. In 1993, Brown provided vocals to the title track of the

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

album ''

Black Tie White Noise ''Black Tie White Noise'' is the eighteenth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 5 April 1993 through Savage Records in the United States and Arista Records in the United Kingdom. Conceived following Bowie's marri ...

''. He performed the song live with Bowie on

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

the same year. In 2000, Brown's ABS Entertainment launched a television development division, and he served as co-executive producer of an HBO Comedy Special starring

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. Known for his work in both the screen and music industries, his accolades include an Academy Award, a Grammy Award ...

, filmed at the Paramount Theater in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, California. Then, Brown teamed with the

ABC Radio Network Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which ...

to produce and host a romantically themed nighttime music program, ''The Secret Garden'', featuring a blend of music and celebrity guests. Brown participated in Bless the Children Foundation's celebrity auction along with

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

stars

Charles Woodson Charles Cameron Woodson (born October 7, 1976) is an American former professional football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers. He spent his first 14 seasons as ...

and

Anthony Dorsett Anthony Drew Dorsett Jr. (born September 14, 1973) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers. Dorsett was selected by the H ...

. He was presented with the key to the city of Oakland by city council member Laurence E. Reid in recognition of the participation of Brown's ABS Ken-Struk-Shen in refurbishing parts of the city. Reid proclaimed October 19 Al B. Sure! Day. Brown was a DJ on the Los Angeles radio station KHHT, and played old-school hip hop and R&B. He currently hosts a daily morning-radio show on iHeart Radio. In July 2019, Brown became the new host of

Urban One Urban One, Inc. (formerly Radio One) is an American media conglomerate based in Silver Spring, Maryland. Founded in 1980 by Cathy Hughes, the company primarily operates media properties targeting African Americans. It is the largest African-Ame ...

's nationally syndicated evening

quiet storm Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style. It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album '' A Quiet Storm''. The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Li ...

/slow jams program ''Love and R&B'', replacing the previous host, John Monds. The show, syndicated through Urban One subsidiary Reach Media and based in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas, is heard on

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

format radio stations such as

WZAK WZAK (93.1 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, featuring an urban adult contemporary format. Owned by Urban One, WZAK serves Greater Cleveland and much of surrounding Northeast Ohio as a local affiliate for national ...

in Cleveland,

WMMJ WMMJ (102.3 FM), known on air as "Majic 102.3 & 92.7," is an urban oldies-leaning urban adult contemporary radio station owned by Urban One in the Washington, D.C. market. It is co-owned with WKYS, WOL, WPRS-FM and WYCB and has studios ...

in Washington, KZMJ in Dallas, and

WDMK WDMK (105.9 FM broadcasting, FM, "105.9 Kiss-FM") is a commercial radio, commercial FM radio, FM radio station in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Owned by Beasley Broadcast Group, it broadcasts an urban adult contemporary radio format, format. The ...

in Detroit among others. In 2010, Brown appeared as one of the 12 contestants on the TV One reality television

dating game show Dating game shows are game shows that incorporates a variety of matchmaking systems and services in the form of a game with clear rules. Human matchmaking is involved only in selecting the game's contestants, who are usually selected more for the ...

The Ultimate Merger ''Donald J. Trump Presents The Ultimate Merger'' is an American reality television dating game show. A spin-off of '' The Apprentice'', the series premiered on TV One on June 17, 2010. The series' first season starred Omarosa, who in 2004 appe ...

''. The series was produced by

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and starred former ''

Apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...

'' contestant Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, whom Brown dated previously. In 2023, Brown and

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights and social justice activist, Baptists, Baptist minister, radio talk show host, and TV personality, who is also the founder of the National Action Network civil rig ...

founded a health equity organization called Health Equity in Transplantation following a March decision made by a private Medicare administrative contractor on behalf of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Coverage (CMS). The organization seeks to support underserved communities by supporting blood testing for early detection of organ rejection. Brown serves as the Executive Chairman. Brown was featured in the

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

documentary, ''Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy'' which was his first time speaking on camera about

Kim Porter Kimberly Antwinette Porter (December 15, 1970 – November 15, 2018) was an American model and actress. Career Porter was from Columbus, Georgia. She began modeling as a teenager and was also a debutante. In 1988, she graduated from Columbus H ...

's death and relationship with

Sean "Diddy" Combs Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

Personal life

Al B. Sure! has three sons. His eldest son Albert Joseph Brown IV, as Al B. Sure Jr, was featured on the MTV series ''

Rock the Cradle ''Rock the Cradle'' is an MTV reality show in which the offspring of rhythm and blues, R&B, popular music, pop, and rock stars from the 1980s and 1990s vie in a six-week singing competition. The show debuted on April 3, 2008, and ended on May 8 ...

''. His second son Devin Brown is a hip hop singer and goes by the name of Devin LOUD. While publicly dating

Niki Haris Niki Haris (born April 17, 1962) is an American singer and dancer of pop, R&B, jazz and dance music. She was one of Madonna's backing vocalists from 1987 to 2001, and the guest lead vocalist on various Snap! singles in the early 1990s. Early ...

in 1991, he had a son by Porter,

Quincy Brown Quincy Taylor Brown (born June 4, 1991) is an American actor, dancer, model and singer who performs under the show name Quincy. He released his lead vocal first song in 2012. He had a co-starring role on the television musical drama ''Star'' ...

who was later allegedly adopted by Combs. In that same year, he co-wrote a song called "

Forever My Lady ''Forever My Lady'' is the debut studio album by American R&B quartet Jodeci, released May 28, 1991, by Uptown Records and MCA Records. Background The album's production and composition was largely attributed to DeVante Swing, who worked alon ...

" in honor of Kim and his son. The song was performed by

and produced by Al B. Sure! and Jodeci-member

DeVante Swing Donald Earle DeGrate Jr. (born September 29, 1969), better known by his stage name DeVanté Swing, is an American record producer, singer, songwriter and rapper. He is best known as the main songwriter and producer of the R&B group Jodeci, whic ...

. In 2022, it was revealed that Al had suffered from multiple illnesses including renal failure. He eventually was intubated and fell into a coma. He received a liver transplant, and has been recovering during 2023.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Featured singles

Writing and producing credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Al B. Sure! 1968 births Living people African-American male actors Warner Records artists African-American radio personalities African-American record producers African-American songwriters Radio personalities from Boston American rhythm and blues keyboardists American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters Record producers from Massachusetts American soul singers New jack swing musicians Participants in American reality television series Singers from Boston Rappers from Boston Rappers from New York (state) People from Leonia, New Jersey Singer-songwriters from New Jersey American contemporary R&B singers 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts Mount Vernon High School (New York) alumni