Keith Sweat News

(8/26/02, 12 p.m. ET) -- R&B vocalist Keith Sweat has turned in his ninth solo album, titled Rebirth, released August 13 on Elektra. The first single from the set is the uptempo "One On One," featuring rappers Lola Troy & Lade Bac, which is climbing R&B airplay charts.

Sweat has recorded steadily since his 1987 debut, the Teddy Riley-produced Make It Last Forever, which spawned the smash Number One new jack swing classic "I Want Her," as well as "Something Just Ain't Right" and the Jacci McGhee duet on the title track, "Make It Last Forever." Sweat has logged several more hit singles through the years, building a fan base that counts on his begging balladry and cutting-edge dance jams.

Sweat told LAUNCH that he definitely kept the formula of his platinum debut album in mind while recording Rebirth. "I mean, it's just a reinvention of myself, a starting anew, it wasn't a theme or a concept. It was like, people been asking me to get close to that first album type of vibe, and Rebirth was like, OK, I'm back again, I'm trying to reinvent Keith on the 2002 tip but keep the music as similar as I possibly can because everybody's still feeling that album. So I wanted to get as close to that as I possibly can but still do it in this time and era."

Trying to create an album that delivers his unique brand of R&B without repeating himself was a challenge but never a burden, as Sweat told LAUNCH. "People kind of want me to always stay in my vein and stay true to what they know about what I've done or what they heard in the past or what they hear me do. That's flattering to me as an artist, because every song I do is not the same. But, like 'Nobody' did not sound like 'Make It Last Forever,' and 'I Give All My Love' didn't sound like 'Right And A Wrong Way.' So I'm still able to kind of keep that same feel and that same melodic-ness, but different songs. It's still a Keith Sweat song."

-- Janine Coveney, Los Angeles

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