| advertise add site services publishers database health videos | ![]() | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Alexander O'Neal (born November 15, 1953 in Natchez, Mississippi) is an American R&B singer. Some of his best-known songs are "Fake", "Saturday Love" and "Never Knew Love Like This", duets with R&B singer Cherrelle, and "Criticize".
[edit] BiographyO'Neal was born in Natchez, Mississippi, but moved to Minneapolis when he was 20. He joined a group called "The Mystics" and played the local coverband circuit. O'Neal spent a short time in a group "Enterprise" before being recruited into Flyte Tyme, a band that included Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Monte Moir. Later signed by Prince to the Warner Bros. label with their name changed to The Time, a disagreement with Prince led to O'Neal leaving the band and being replaced as lead singer by Morris Day. Allmusic profiler John Floyd asserts that O'Neal was ousted for "looking 'too black'".[1] O'Neal immediately formed a rock and roll band called Alexander and recorded a 12" single, "Playroom", for a Chicago-based independent label, followed by the release of "Attitude" on the Rich Records Label. Three years later, in 1984, O'Neal signed a deal with Clarence Avant's Tabu Records. He did some backing vocals for other artists on the same label, including The SOS Band and Cherelle. O'Neal released his self-titled debut album in 1985. It included three singles that reached the top twenty of the R&B Singles Chart. He also scored his first R&B top ten single with "Saturday Love", a duet with Cherelle. The song peaked at #2. It also reached the top ten of the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #6. In 1987, he released the album titled Hearsay. It yielded the #25 pop and #1 R&B single "Fake". The song also peaked at #7 on the dance chart. The follow up, "Criticize", peaked at #4 R&B and #70 pop. It also peaked at #4 on the UK Singles Chart. The third single, "Never Knew Love Like This", another duet with Cherelle, peaked at #2 R&B and #28 pop. In 1991, he released his third album, All True Man. The album's title single reached #5 on the R&B chart and #45 on the pop chart. In 1992, his first greatest hits album, This Thing Called Love: The Greatest Hits of Alexander O'Neal, was a top ten album in the UK. In 1993, his final album with the Tabu label, Love Makes No Sense, was released. It was the first album made without production from Jam and Lewis. In 1995, another greatest hits compilation, The Best of Alexander O'Neal, was released. In 1996, his first album with One World Records, Lovers Again, was released. In 2001, he released an album with Eagle Records, Saga of a Married Man. The album was produced by former Prince drummer, Bobby Z. In 2005, he recorded his first live album, Alexander O'Neal Live at Hammersmith Apollo. It is a collection of many of his songs from throughout his career. O'Neal participated on the reality British reality singing contest show Just the Two of Us in 2006 and 2007. In 2008, he released Alex Loves, his first studio album in six years. In 2008, O'Neal took part in a Wife Swap UK special, swapping his wife Cynthia with broadcaster and TV personality Jilly Goolden. [edit] Discography[edit] Studio albums
[edit] Compilation, holiday and live albums
[edit] Singles
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |