| |
| |
 |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
SINGAPORE : He's been in the music business for 15 years and is best known for hits like "Back at One" and "One Last Cry". But Grammy nominated singer Brian McKnight doesn't sing when he's with his family.
"Every one in my mother's side of the family sings - I have 20 first cousins who all play and sing, all my aunts and uncles play and sing. At our family reunions, I just play the piano for everyone else. I'm not even the best singer in my entire family," McKnight told Primetime Morning.
McKnight began singing in a church choir and landed his first record deal at the young age of 18. "It gave me a foundation, musically. You have to know where music came from to be able to continue to make your mark on the music industry.
"And from my mother’s classical training, to my jazz training, to listening to Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, I just figured out where I wanted to be in the world."
But McKnight hadn't always wanted to be a singer. He revealed that he dreamt about becoming a doctor, a video game programmer and even play for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA. It was his brother, Claude, a member of multi-Grammy award winning band Take 6, who inspired him to get in the music business, "Once my brother got in, then I thought if he can do it, I can do it."
Fifteen years on and with 12 CDs under his belt, McKnight is still creating beautiful music and soothing millions with his silky smooth vocals.
While he's in an industry of fast-turnaround acts, and where hip hop and R&B music dominate the charts, the soul singer said he has absolutely no regrets sticking to his genre of music.
"I sing, and singing is a lot different from rapping. Rappers have their thing and it's great what they do. But when you go to a concert where someone is singing, there is no way to touch people that way just by talking."
And come Tuesday night, audiences can look forward to an "emotional ride" when MnKnight performs at the Esplanade Concert Hall. His Singapore concert is part of the 10-day Mosaic Music Festival which ends March 22.
"The songs speak from themselves but the stories, the way the songs came about and the way I weave them in and out, there’s happiness, there’s sadness, there’s comedy. There’s just everything. And hopefully, by the time you leave the show you have a different idea about who I am and maybe even who you are," he said.
"Even if you don’t speak English, even if you’re from a different economic background, we all want one thing. And that is to love someone and to be loved back in return the same way, and I think that that transcends everything else."
- CNA/ap/il
|
