Artist:Black Men United
Song:U Will Know
Album:Jason's Lyric: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Black Men United (BMU) was an R&B all star group that was assembled to record one song for the 1994 film Jason's Lyric. It was a top 30 hit. Jason's Lyric was a 1994 film that was clearly aimed at black viewers. Stars included Allen Payne, Jada Pinkett, Bokeem Woodbine and Forest Whitaker. It has been described as an erotic psychological drama. I haven't seen it. The director was Doug McHenry. The studio was PolyGram owned Gramercy Pictures. They had a history of producing films for the black audience. PolyGram was mainly a record company so it's not surprising that they wanted to compile an all star R&B soundtrack. The centerpiece and the lead single was U Will Know by Black Men United. The song was written by Michael Archer and his brother Luther Archer. Michael Archer would soon become famous as D'Angelo. He didn't write it for the film. He says the song was his very first demo and his publisher pitched it like any other song and someone bought it for what turned out to be a high profile project. Soon afterwards, D'Angelo signed with EMI Records and would become a big star. The other producer on this record was R&B singer songwriter Brian McKnight. No doubt he was responsible for getting all the singers to come in. Those singers were Aaron Hall, Boyz II Men, El DeBarge, Gerald Levert, H-Town, Usher, Tevin Campbell and Tony! Toni! Tone!. You'll recognize all of them in the video. Recording engineer Bob Power assembled the band musicians. The single reached #5 on the R&B Singles chart and #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. The soundtrack album was certified Platinum. Black Men United looked more like a choir than a group when they performed U Will Know on the American Music Awards. The group that recorded the song was much smaller. Here's the video for U Will Know by Black Men United.
No comments:
Post a Comment