Song:If You Were Here Tonight
Album:Icon
Alexander O'Neal is probably best known for his duets with labelmate Cherelle. But he also had success mostly on the R&B charts with hits like If You Were Here Tonight and Fake. He was born Nov. 15, 1953 in Natchez, MS. His father died before he was born. After attending Alcorn State University, he moved to Minneapolis and he was in The Mystics, Wynd Chymes and Enterprise. Then he joined Flyte Tyme led by Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and Monte Moir. Moir was in The Time who were popular at the time and the bands toured together. O'Neal was brought in as lead singer after Cynthia Johnson left. Flyte Tyme merged with The Time. O'Neal was replaced by Morris Day. Jam and Lewis left the Time in 1983 and became hotshot producers for Tabu Records. They signed O'Neal and his debut album Alexander O'Neal was released in 1985. If You Were Here Tonight was the second single. It reached #17 on the R&B Singles chart. Moir wrote the song. O'Neal continued to have success with duets with Cherelle. His biggest hit was the 1987 single Fake which topped the R&B Singles chart and reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. O'Neal continued to have success on the R&B charts until he left Tabu after the 1993 album Love Makes No Sense. You can get all his hits on this budget comp. Since then O'Neal has recorded occasionally but he seems to tour England a lot. I think he lives there now. Last year he released a remake of Fake with the British band Mamma Freedom. He seems to appear on British TV a lot most recently on Celebrity Big Brother in 2015. And in 2011, O'Neal and Cherelle were featured on TVOne's Unsung series. Here's the video for If You Were Here Tonight by Alxander O'Neal.
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