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
When it's your chance to step up to the plate, just hit it out of the park, and everybody will forget about everything that came before.
I'm not thinking about what needs to be on the radio. I'm not thinking about anything other than - I'm just going to let this music come out of me and not have any sort of preconceived notion of what I should do. I'm just going to do it.
I grew up in a time where anything was possible.
There's only one thing that everyone in this world has in common: whether you want to love somebody and you want to be loved in return.
I'll always write music. Whether I release a record, whether I let the public hear it or not, I'm always writing music.
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 think I've tried to stay true to my music since the beginning. It's kind of hard because of the access and technology but I just do what I do.
I kinda went back to that period between '88 and '94 where I felt like I was the most creative, without being hindered by powers that be. I was no longer going to try to hinder myself to what I thought was going to be on the radio.
By 17, I had a whole band that would go in and play. It was called Spontaneous Inventions, after a Bobby McFerrin album.
I was brought up to be a gentleman. That means you know how to walk, talk and dress the part.
I just want to be as creative as I possibly can.
I just do what I do and hope it's accepted by the public at large. It's different from when Marvin Gaye and Stevie revolutionized what music was 25 years ago. Now there's all this technology that's available to everyone. It's tough to be ahead of anyone.
I was a nerd academically. But I was also an athlete and a musician. I never wanted to be shut out of any situation. I think it was that more than anything.
It's just exciting to be part of something that is brand-new.