Al B. Sure!

R&B singer Al B. Sure! enjoyed brief success during the New Jack Swing wave. Born Albert Joseph Brown III in Boston on June 4, 1968, he grew up in New York State with an interest in rap and soul. Introduced by his friend DJ Eddie F to singer Heavy D and his Uptown Records label, affiliated with Warner Bros, he recorded his first album, In Effect Mode (1988), at the height of the New Jack Swing wave, and scored a major hit with the single "Nite and Day", which reached No. 7 in the pop charts and No. 1 R&B, followed by three other singles, including the other #1 R&B single "Off on Your Own (Girl)", "If I'm Not Your Lover" in a duet with Slick Rick, and a cover of Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly". In 1990, the second album Private Times... And the Whole 9! tried to capitalize on this successful start, landing another R&B No.1 with the track "Missunderstanding", while "No Matter What You Do", featuring Diana Ross, reached No.4 in the R&B charts. A fourth and final No. 1 in the specialized charts, "Right Now", is the first single from the album Sexy Versus (1992), before the singer retires from the stage to devote himself to his position as vice-president of the Motown label. After a car accident in 1996 and hosting a radio show from 2002 onwards, Al B. Sure! returned to singing, signing with the Hidden Beach label to record the album Honey I'm Home (2009), which enjoyed minor success with the track "I Love It (Papi Aye Aye Aye)" (#72 in the R&B charts).