Happy birthday to Eric Benet, born October 15, 1966.
Eric Benét has been one of the most successful and enduring male vocalists of the past three decades. With both the looks and an incredible tenor voice, Benet has stayed relevant in a business where artists over 50 have difficulty continuing to connect. But his albums have been consistently strong, playing to his modern adult soul audience while delivering classic melodies and arrangements.
The Mobile, Alabama-born Benét was raised in Milwaukee as the youngest of five. While in his early 20s, he teamed with his sister Lisa and cousin George Nash for form the group Benét, which signed with EMI Records and issued an album in 1992 with some success. But real notoriety came four years later, when Benét issued is Roger Troutman-produced album, True To Myself, which boasted the hit “Femininity.”
Clearly a rising star, Benét shot all the way to #1 in 1999 with the hit “Spend My Life With You,” and the excellent accompanying album, A Day In The Life.
Unfortunately, personal drama put Benét in the headlines over the next few years, including tabloid fodder over his rocky marriage with actress Halle Berry.
Benét’s next album didn’t arrive until 2005, but Hurricane didn’t have the overall success of its predecessor, despite having a single hit with “I Wanna Be Loved.”
Over the next decade, Benét released several strong albums that demonstrated his firm sense of his career and his musical foundation. Love & Life, Lost In Time were excellent, and The One won for him a SoulTracks Readers’ Choice Award for Male Vocalist of the Year. He followed it three years later with the album Eric Benet.
Over a career that has spanned more than three decades, Eric Benet has proven himself an artist who has consistently delivered the goods, on record or in concert. And we look forward to hearing more from him. Happy birthday, Eric!
By Chris Rizik