''Brian McKnight'' is the debut studio album of R&B singer

Brian McKnight Brian Kainoa Makoa McKnight Sr. (born Brian Kelly McKnight; June 5, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, record producer, radio personality, and multi-instrumentalist. An Contemporary R&B, R&B performer, he is recognized for his strong ...

, released in 1992 by

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...

. It features his then-highest charting single, "

One Last Cry "One Last Cry" is a song co-written and co-produced by Brandon Barnes, Melanie Barnes and Brian McKnight. The song was performed by American contemporary R&B singer Brian McKnight, issued in May 1993, by Mercury Records, as the fourth single from ...

", which reached number 13 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and sold 500,000 copies. The album itself was certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Critical response

''Brian McKnight'' received positive reviews from most

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' writer Havelock Nelson, gave the album an A-rating citing that "McKnight is the most comforting R&B singer-songwriter to emerge since

Keith Washington Keith Douglas Washington (born November 15, 1960) is an American R&B vocalist from Detroit who recorded the hit single " Kissing You" in 1991. The song was also used as background music for the ABC television soap opera ''General Hospital''. ...

early last year."

Track listing

Personnel

All instruments performed by Brian McKnight except where noted. * David Anderson – bass guitar (track 12) * Brandon Barnes – drums and keyboard programming (tracks 2 and 9) * James Blair – drums (track 12) * Gerry Brown – backing vocals (track 1) * Cedric Dent – piano (track 10) *

Clare Fischer Douglas Clare Fischer (October 22, 1928 – January 26, 2012) was an American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. After graduating from Michigan State University (from which, five decades later, he would receive an honorary doctorat ...

– strings (tracks 6 and 10) * The Four Horns – horn arrangements (track 1) * Louis Johnson – bass guitar (tracks 2 and 4) * Kipper Jones – backing vocals (track 11) *

Ricky Lawson William Riser III (November 8, 1954 – December 23, 2013), better known as Ricky Lawson or Ricky Remo, was an American drummer and composer. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he worked extensively as a session musician, collaborating with Stev ...

– drums (tracks 5, 8 and 9) *

Fred McFarlane Frederick Craig McFarlane (November 14, 1959 – September 3, 2016) was an American R&B songwriter, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. McFarlane's career as a songwriter and producer spanned more than 30 years. He wrote or co-wrote a nu ...

– keyboards (track 11) * Claude McKnight – backing vocals (tracks 10 and 13) * Fred McKnight – lead guitar (track 8) * Julie McKnight – backing vocals (track 4) * B.J. Nelson – backing vocals (track 11) * Kelly O'Neal – saxophone (track 12) * Phase 5 – drum programming (tracks 1, 3 and 11), keyboard programming (track 1) * John R. Robinson – drums (track 10) *

Neil Stubenhaus Neil Stubenhaus is an American bass guitarist. Career He started his musical training playing drums and switched to bass guitar at the age of 12. In one of his early bands, The Neighbourhood in 1969, he played with future Kiss guitarist Vinnie V ...

– bass guitar (track 10) *

Take 6 Take 6 is an American a cappella gospel sextet formed in 1980 on the campus of Oakwood College in Huntsville, Alabama. The group integrates jazz with spiritual and inspirational lyrics. Take 6 has received several Grammy Awards as well as D ...

(Claude V. McKnight, Mark Kibble, David Thomas) – backing vocals (track 10) * Darryl Tibbs – percussion (track 12) *

Wah Wah Watson Melvin M. Ragin (December 8, 1950 – October 24, 2018), known professionally as Wah Wah Watson, was an American guitarist who was a member of the Funk Brothers, the studio band for Motown Records. He also worked extensively as a session musician ...

– electric guitar (tracks 1 and 2) *

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first Black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later Vanes ...

– backing vocals (track 1) * John Willis – lead guitar (track 9), acoustic guitar (track 6)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

1992 debut albums Albums produced by Brian McKnight Brian McKnight albums Mercury Records albums {{1990s-R&B-album-stub