Robert Lavelle Huggar (born April 2, 1977), better known by his initials RL, is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for being the lead singer of the R&B group Next.

Early life

Robert Lavelle Huggar was born in 1977 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Robert and Toni Huggar. Growing up, he was exposed to a variety of musical styles that helped influence his sound. His admiration of artists like Prince and Michael Jackson and music producers such as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis encouraged him to pursue music.

Fronted by Huggar and brothers Terry Brown and Raphael Brown, Next originally performed under the name Straight4ward. For broader commercial appeal, the name was changed to "Next". The group was introduced to producer and DJ artist KayGee from Naughty by Nature. Subsequently, they signed with KayGee's newly formed Divine Mill record label, which, at the time, was distributed through

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

Solo work

RL first distinguished himself outside of Next with his duet with Deborah Cox on the song "We Can't Be Friends" as well as other feature projects. RL followed up that effort with "The Best Man I Can Be", the super-group track from ''The Best Man'' movie soundtrack which also featured Ginuwine, Tyrese and

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. By the time RL's soulful "Good Love" (from ''The Brothers'' movie soundtrack) and his hook to Tupac's ''Until the end of Time'' were released, he had created an artistic persona distinct and separate from Next. ''RL: Ements'' is RL's debut solo project and was released on J Records. It spawned the singles "Got Me a Model" (featuring Erick Sermon) and "Good Man".

Personal life

Huggar has a son, Charles, with his first wife. In October 2017, he married Lena Danielle. Their daughter Rory Lane was born in January 2018.

Discography

Albums

Singles

As songwriter

Other notable songwriting credits

References

External links

Official website
20th-century African-American male singers American contemporary R&B singers Living people Musicians from Minneapolis 1977 births Singers from Minnesota 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers 21st-century African-American male singers {{US-RnB-singer-stub