Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight
Brian McKnightis an American R&B singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, and musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays eight instruments including piano, guitar, bass guitar, percussion, trombone, tuba, flugelhorn and trumpet. He is one of the very few leggiero tenors in the pop genre. McKnight is perhaps most recognized for his strong falsetto and belting range. McKnight's work has earned him 16 Grammy Awards nominations, though he has never won. He is second only to Snoop Dogg for the record of most...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionR&B Singer
Date of Birth5 June 1969
CityBuffalo, NY
CountryUnited States of America
It feels really great to be popular.
I've worked with jazz artists, country artists, classical artists, pop artists. I never wanted there to be categories, because when I was a kid there weren't.
I am at my core a singer/songwriter a la James Taylor or a la Billy Joel. It's not that I don't want to work with people, but I do just love doing my own thing.
I'm creating music - it doesn't matter if anyone else likes it.
You'd hear Willie Nelson, then Earth, Wind & Fire, then Chicago, then Billy Joel on the same radio station. Nowadays, everything is compartmentalized.
There's no substitute to being successful on an actual chart.
I hate the pigeonholing that's happened in the music business in the last 30 years.
Everything I have now is so real, so vivid.
I've always been serious about music. After you've done it for so many years, you get back to the basics.
I've been a jazz artist playing pop and R&B my entire career.
When somebody shows up and they believe in you, it makes all the difference.
You know, most of my career I wrote about moments in time. All of us have felt one thing or another and it didn't last very long. Now I'm drawing from real experience. It's a huge difference.
I am just like all the jerks and idiots you know. I am just a guy that watches sports all day.
Whenever I fill out the job description I put 'songwriter,' never 'singer' or 'artist.' Singers come and go.