UB Soul Friday: Celebrating Avant’s 20th Anniversary

This weeks “UB Soul Friday” spotlight’s a singer/songwriter who emerged 20 years ago as the the face of ghetto soul, Avant.

Today is the 20th Anniversary of Avant‘s debut album “My Thoughts.” Originally released May 9th, 2000.

“UB Soul Friday,” spotlighting artists, albums, singles and videos that left a mark in R&B and Soul music!

The anniversary comes right on time, as we’ve been celebrating R&B male artists these last weeks; Johnny Gill, Carl Thomas, Freddie Jackson, and last week our first UB Soul Friday Interview with RL.

Avant‘s respect for the art of classic black music can be traced to his childhood in Cleveland, Ohio, where he sang in the church. A raw, natural talent.

As the youngest son in a family of six, he watched his mom sacrifice mightily to provide the best for her children. Money might have been tight, but her affection never faltered.

She encouraged Avant to develop his musical gifts and played classic R&B artists like Smokey Robinson, The Supremes and Marvin Gaye who later influenced his creative direction.

Avant loved the great ones, but to him, his uncle, the late Andrew Pittman was the ultimate performer. “My uncle was the inspiration for me to be in the music game doing what I do,” Avant stated in a bio. “I would watch him perform with his group when I was 5 years old and I wanted to be like him.”

Avant’s uncle never made it in the record business, but Pittman’s experience played a huge part in teaching Avant valuable lessons about discipline and hard work.

At 14, an age when most teen boys are preoccupied with sports, video games and girls, Avant began penning his own songs. “I started writing songs when I realized the different ways a person can approach love. I had just begun to understand what love is, and I wanted people to hear my voice and see my vision as an artist.”

Avant honed both his vision and his voice at the Cleveland School of the Arts, where he learned to integrate his smooth tenor, songwriting ability and dramatic flair into a sultry stage persona.

Avant entered and won innumerable talent shows, but unfortunately, Cleveland just couldn’t provide any professional outlets for his budding talent.

After graduation, Avant worked a few factory jobs holding fast to his dreams of music industry success. “I would sometimes get discouraged,” he admitted. “But, I recognized that this was a stepping stone to the next phase in my life.”

Avant continued to make music, using downtime at work to write material and a friend’s studio to record after hours. “I had a bunch of sleepless nights.” Avant would often bring a change of clothes and head directly back to work.

His big break came in 1998 when Avant made his professional debut with the independent release of his first single “Separated.”

Chicago’s WGCI jumped on the record and its success eventually led to Avant signing with Magic Johnson Music.

The airplay that “Separated” received on WGCI Chicago along with the earlier success of Avant’s independently released single, “I Wanna Know” (Paytown Entertainment) – which was released in January 1998 in the Midwest area.

Avant was also excited about being Magic Johnson‘s debut artist. “That’s really special to me,” he said to Billboard. “Magic is a great person. And with MCA behind us 100 %, I feel really blessed.”

His debut album, “My Thoughts,” released today 20 years ago, sold over a million copies and garnered the singer legions of devoted fans.

The first year of the new millennium and his professional music career certainly resembled a “magic” carpet ride.

The year 2000 saw the release of his first album, “My Thoughts,” embraced by fans and critics alike.

Avant designed “My Thoughts,” he scripted songs to reflect the beginnings of a relationship.

“I was in a relationship at a young age, and I got my heart broken,” recalled Avant. “Fortunately, the Lord blessed me by letting me put my feelings down on paper.”

The first single, “Separated,” soared to the top of the Billboard R&B charts, and was quickly followed that with the across the board smash remake of Rene & Angela’s 1989 #1 “My First Love.”

“We decided to remake `My First Love’ because the song has a certain effect on people, or at least on me,” stated Avant. “You always remember that first person. They set up the way the rest of your romantic life will go – good or bad.”

On top of all of this, Avant dropped the “Separated Remix,” featuring Kelly Rowland.

For good measure, Avant ended the year with a Platinum certification for his “My Thoughts” album and a Soul Train Music Award nomination.

Avant also honed his skills as a producer, making tracks for KeKe Wyatt and R&B legends Charlie Wilson and Ronald Isley.

Avant returned the favor on Wyatt’s 2001 album debut, “Soul Sista,” pairing up with her on the hit “Nothing in This World.”

Being formally signed to Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s self-titled label (distributed by MCA), Avant has the highest respect for the National Basketball Association legend and highly influential entrepreneur. “He doesn’t interfere or suggest that I should do this or do that, while I’m in the studio. But, he owns a bank, among other business ventures, so I can’t ignore his business mind. His assists never stop!”

As the first artist to debut on Magic Johnson Music, Avant was only 22 years old, and label executives had high hopes for him. Those executives included Marilyn Batchelor, senior director of marketing for MCA, who deemed the singer “the new voice of ghetto soul.”

“My Thoughts” also offered the sultry fan-favorite “Ooh Aah,” “When I wrote `Ooh Aah,’ I was in a dimly lit room, and I just had this sexual vibe,” Avant said. “The song is about remembering when you were with a former lover and what that experience was like. That’s why the chorus is just `ooh aah.’ I want to leave it up to the listener’s interpretation to remember what his own `ooh aah’ was.”

After scoring platinum with “My Thoughts,” Avant released two more platinum-certified albums, “Ecstasy” in 2002, featuring the singles “Makin’ Good Love” and “Don’t Say No” and “Private Room” (2003).

Which notched several more Top 10 singles: “Makin’ Good Love,” and “Read Your Mind.”

Avant‘s fourth album “Director,” was released in 2006 and featured the hit “4 Minutes.”

UB spoke to Avant about the release of “Director” and asked him then, what made it different than any of his previous albums; “I think that this album is different because of the various producers that I have on it. I’m also doing all the writing on the album and this album has me at the helm of it. That’s why I titled the album ‘Director’ because I’m calling a lot of the shots as far as the songs go this time around. I’m giving that R&B; as usual but I also threw in some Hip-Hop with the different collaborations.”

We also asked him what he thought of the current state of R&B? “Well, I’m going to say this only because I’ve been out for a while; I feel like it has gone down big time. When I came on the scene in 2000, there were so many big dawgs out.” Avant went on to say; “But it’s all good because we know that we have to bring it back and I plan on doing just that with the ‘Director’ and the ‘Duets’ album with Ke-Ke Wyatt. I’m not all about putting the next black man down because we’ve done that enough. It’s all about empowerment and getting things back to where they used to be.”

Two years later, he segued to Capitol for a fifth, self-titled album that yielded the Top 20 single “Break Ya Back.”

In 2010, Avant released “The Letter,” and co-wrote and co-produced several of the tracks. Avant revitalized his music without sacrificing his primary sound: “love ballads and mood records in the vein of Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, and Luther Vandross. “These guys gave me the drive to write and sing about the way relationships should go.”

Acknowledging the career-evolving fear factor artists face with each new album, Avant notes, “You don’t want to let your fans down, but you don’t want to come off like you’re trying to be someone else. At the same time, you want to stay relevant without sounding boring. For me, it’s about giving people great music. And I feel I’ve got that niche.”

At the forefront was the lead single “Kiss Goodbye,” a Top 20 Billboard R&B hit.

“Face the Music” was released in February of 2013. Inspired by the R&B legends—Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Luther Vandross and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, who have been guiding lights in Avant’s career.

But the set did more than just pay homage to R&B masters. Thanks to Avant’s inventiveness, “Face the Music” cooked up a tantalizing blend of contemporary and traditional sounds.

“It’s a taste of new school and old school,” explained Avant in the bio. “You might hear a piece of, say, Stevie Wonder or Babyface, then I spin right back around and offer up some new age R&B. It’s a well-rounded album with something for everyone. At the end of the day, Face the Music is about who we are and what we live by; it’s about respecting that as well as the music.”

The lead single “You & I,” was Avant’s long-anticipated reunion with duet partner Keke Wyatt. A #1 Billboard’s R&B chart hit. The searing ballad revisits the natural magic Avant and Wyatt conjured on their first hit together, “My First Love.”

“Keke was only 16 when we did ‘My First Love,’” recalled Avant. “I’d never heard a voice like that coming from someone so young. She still possesses that same amazing spirit and soul when she sings.”

Having recorded with such diverse acts as Nicole Sherzinger and Lil Wayne, Avant isn’t afraid to stretch his vocal wings. He also partnered with contemporary jazz artist Brian Culbertson on the single “Skies Wide Open.”

Avant was also among the select group of singers chosen to pay homage to the late R&B legend Frankie Beverly on “Silky Soul Music … An All-Star Tribute to Maze featuring Frankie Beverly.”

“The different textures of music excite me,” stated Avant. “The dabbling in other genres inspires my writing.”

“The VIII” came in 2015, followed by “Can We Fall in Love” in 2020.

He was once hailedv as the “new voice of ghetto soul.” No more. Avant can now be hailed as the “the voice of modern soul.”

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