Brian McKnight Tickets

While Brian McKnight is sometimes thought as a soothing sultry R&B voice, he is actually much more than that, and has been since he was a teen. The multi-instrumentalist excels at nine instruments: piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums, percussion, tuba, trombone, trumpet, percussions and French horn, and he was penning instrumentals long before he was heard on the radio.

The singer began singing at the Seventh-Day Adventist church in Amherst, NY. After arrange instrumentals in his teens, he scored publishing deal. He also excelled at performance, and signed his first recording contract with Mercury Records at the age of 19, and released "Brian McKnight" in 1992. During this time, he was most popular for his single "Love Is," a duet with Vanessa Williams that was featured on Beverly Hills 90210. He sold three more albums before his breakthrough disc, "Anytime" which was released from Mercury Records. After a move to Motown, he released "Back at One" in 1999, including the title single and "3, 6, 12."

McKnight is known for his soft, soothing voice and thoughtful lyrics, usually centered on love. Notably, he has found a way to mix his voice that allows him a four-octave range, letting him reach higher notes without performing falsetto, and with minimal strain. He has offered his talents to collaborate with a number of musicians throughout his career, including Sean "Puffy" Combs, Mary J. Blige, Quincy Jones, Christina Aguilera and Mariah Carey.

While a divorce and a stint with the California ABA basketball team the Ontario Warriors kept McKnight from his musical interests for a few years, he released "Gemini" in 2005 and "Ten" in 2006.