Marc Nelson

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Marc K. Nelson (born January 23, 1971)^{[citation needed]} is an American singer and songwriter. His mother was the late American singer Phyllis Nelson, best known for the songs "I Like You" and "Move Closer".^{[citation needed]} He was an original member of Boyz II Men while still attending Philadelphia's High School of Performing Arts.^{[citation needed]} However, Nelson left the group to pursue a solo career before they released their first album.

Career[]

Boyz II Men[]

Nelson attended the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, in Pennsylvania. There, he and his friend Nathan Morris, joined later by Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, and Michael McCary, formed the singing group Unique Attraction. After hearing New Edition's song "Boys to Men" on the radio one evening, the group changed their name to Boyz II Men. In 1989, the group met Michael Bivins and began making arrangements to sign the group to a major label and begin recording. In the interim, the group encountered delays in recording their album. Nelson grew impatient and left the group and began recording his debut solo project.^{[citation needed]}

Solo[]

After signing a solo deal with Capitol Records, Nelson scored a hit with a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Want You", which hit #26 on the R&B charts.^{[citation needed][when?]} His follow-up, "Count On Me", reached #48 on the R&B charts.^{[citation needed][when?]} Nelson released his solo album, I Want You, in 1991.^{[citation needed]}

Following the release of his solo album, Nelson began concentrating his talents as a songwriter. Drawing the attention of Babyface, Nelson wrote for artists like Toni Braxton, Brandy, Tamia, Tyrese, and Jon B. Through Babyface, Nelson met the four members of the group Az Yet and was added to the line-up as second lead vocalist; the group was signed to LaFace Records.^{[citation needed]}

Az Yet[]

As a member of Az Yet, Nelson found success. The group's self-titled debut album, released in 1996, went platinum.^{[citation needed]} A single on the album, "Last Night", went gold and reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.^{[citation needed]} Their second single, "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" did even better, going platinum and reaching #8 on the Hot 100.^{[citation needed]}

Chocolate Mood[]

Nelson left Az Yet and began writing intensely. Subsequently, he released his second solo second album, Chocolate Mood, in 1999. The album featured Nelson's biggest solo hit, "15 Minutes", which reached #4 on the R&B charts and #27 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also featured on the duet "After All is Said and Done" with Beyoncé, on the soundtrack to the motion picture The Best Man (1999).^{[citation needed]}

On January 9, 2007, SESAC honored Nelson at their third Jazz Awards Luncheon, for his authorship on "It's On Tonight" by Brian Culbertson. The event honored jazz writers whose works achieved Top 5 status on the jazz charts from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006.^[2]

Marc: My Words[]

Nelson released his first independent project, Marc: My Words (Lyric Masters 911) on July 24, 2007. Nelson wrote or co-wrote the lyrics on all 15 tracks of the album. He also produced or co-produced all of the tracks on the album. Nelson extracted the material for the release from his existing catalog of songs written between 2001 and 2007, and began recording the material in 2006. The album features the original version of "I Don't Wanna Be In Love" (co-written by jazz artist Brian Culbertson) which also appears on the 2007 release Crystal City by Andre Ward.^{[citation needed]}

Blayse[]

Nelson was also a founding member of the R&B super-group Blayse, with fellow R&B veterans Tony Grant of Az Yet, Gary "Lil G" Jenkins of Silk_(group), and of Blackstreet. Although the group managed to record several songs, the recordings were never publicly released, the album was never completed, and the group disbanded in December 2007. Lil G returned to Silk, Nelson returned to Az Yet, and Tony Grant toured in the Tyler Perry stage production The Marriage Counselor, from January 2008 through May 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Solo[]

On July 24, 2017, Nelson returned with a new R&B/Soul single entitled "Wishing You The Worst".^[3] The 2017 song was released independently under his newly founded production company, Focused Artist Entertainment.^{[citation needed]}

Nelson was nominated for an Emmy Award for penning the theme song to the 2016 animated Christmas television film "Snowy Day".^{[citation needed]} The song he penned was performed by Boyz II Men and was also the title song.^{[citation needed]}

Nelson acted in a number of stage plays and film productions dating back to 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Discography[]

Studio albums[]

Contributions[]

Singles[]

• 1991: "I Want You"
• 1992: "Count on Me"
• 1996: "Last Night" (alongside Az Yet)
• 1996: "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" (alongside Az Yet featuring Peter Cetera)
• 1997: "That's All I Want" (alongside Az Yet)
• 1999: "15 Minutes"
• 2000: "Too Friendly"
• 2000: "Love's Not Love"
• 2017: "Wishing You The Worst"

Stage play appearances[]

• Love Ain't Supposed to Hurt - Part II: The Wedding^{[citation needed]}
• Tell Hell I Ain't Coming^{[citation needed]}
• King Solomon Lives^{[citation needed]}
• Men Cry in the Dark^{[citation needed]}
• In-Laws From Hell

References[]

External links[]

• Marc Nelson's Official website
• Marc Nelson French Interview