Various Artists News

Relaxing after a mixing session for his forthcoming live DVD, R&B singer Eric Benet recalls the conversation that inspired his latest single, "You're the Only One."

"I was sitting with my longtime production partner Demonte Posey and my cousin, writer/producer George Nash Jr. We were talking about how well crafted R&B songs used to be; those by groups like Blue Magic and the Stylistics," the Milwaukee native remembers. "That conversation turned into this jam. Then the next thing you know, we had a song ... a song that sounds like a classic you haven't heard in a long time."

The timeless, romantic underpinnings of "You're the Only One" have helped Benet garner his first top 20 R&B hit since 1999. The singer-songwriter notched his first and only top 10 hit to date on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 1999 with "Spend My Life With You," featuring Tamia. "You're the Only One" is the lead single from Benet's fourth album, "Love & Life," on Friday/Reprise/Warner Bros. (September 9).

Benet calls "Love & Life" the "purest representation of me creatively. It's almost a journey of the kind of music that made me fall in love with music."

Integrating gospel, jazz and Latin rhythms within its R&B framework, the 12-track album showcases Benet's unmistakable tenor. There's the sensual and spiritual "Chocolate Legs," the '90s R&B-vibed "Don't Let Go" and the sexually energized "The Hunger," the second single. Other notable tracks include the poignant "Everlove" with Terry Dexter (memorably featured on a remix of Benet's aforementioned "Spend") and "Still I Believe," a personal treatise on love and hope with Benet's 16-year-old daughter India handling background vocals.

After the public firestorm surrounding his divorce from actress Halle Berry, Benet released his third album, the aptly titled "Hurricane," in 2005. Although it spun off two singles, "Pretty Baby" and "I Wanna Be Loved," the pop- and folk-laced album didn't fare well saleswise. According to Nielsen SoundScan, "Hurricane" has sold 170,000 units. 1999's "A Day in the Life" is at 897,000 and 1996's "True to Myself" has moved 295,000.

"To be honest, I was nervous about coming back with 'Hurricane,"' Benet admits. "It was a departure from my expected genre and some people even described it as a little too apologetic."

Now on the other side of the hurricane, Benet says he felt early on that "Love & Life" would be something his core fans would love. "Now I feel I might get a halfway decent shot at more people discovering who I am musically," he says.

Reuters/Billboard