RL (singer)
| RL | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Robert Lavelle Huggar |
| Born |
April 2, 1977 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels |
Arista (1997-2000) |
| Associated acts | Tyrese, Ginuwine, Case, Deborah Cox, Erick Sermon |
| Website | |
Robert "RL" Lavelle Huggar (born April 2, 1977, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American R&B singer, record producer and songwriter. He is best known for being the lead singer of the R&B group Next.[1][2]
Early life
RL was born in 1977 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Robert and Toni Huggar. Growing up, he was exposed to a variety of musical styles that helped influence his sound. His admiration of artists like Prince and Michael Jackson and music producers such as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis encouraged him to pursue music.
Next
Fronted by R. L. Huggar, brothers Terry Brown and Raphael Brown, Next originally performed under the name "Straight4ward." For broader commercial appeal, the name was changed to "Next". The group was introduced to producer and DJ artist KayGee from Naughty By Nature. Subsequently, they signed with KayGee's newly formed Divine Mill record label, which, at the time, was distributed through Arista Records.
Solo
RL first distinguished himself outside of Next with his duet with Deborah Cox on the song “We Can’t Be Friends” as well as other feature projects. RL followed up that effort with “The Best Man I Can Be”, the super-group track from the The Best Man movie soundtrack which also featured Ginuwine, Tyrese and Case. By the time RL’s soulful “Good Love” (from The Brothers movie soundtrack) and his hook to Tupac’s Until the End of Time were released, he had created an artistic persona distinct and separate from Next. RL: Ements is RL’s debut solo project and was released on J Records. It spawned the singles "Got Me A Model" (featuring Erick Sermon) and "Good Man".
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | U.S. R&B[3] | ||
| 2002 | RL: Ements
|
53 | 6 |
Singles
| Year | Song | Peak chart positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | |||
| 1999 | "The Best Man I Can Be" (with Ginuwine, Tyrese and Case) | 67 | 15 | The Best Man (soundtrack) |
| "We Can't Be Friends" (Deborah Cox featuring RL) | 8 | 1 | One Wish | |
| 2001 | "Good Love" | - | 58 | The Brothers (soundtrack) |
| 2002 | "Got Me a Model" (featuring Erick Sermon) | - | 76 | RL: Ements |
| "Good Man" | - | 48 | ||
Songwriting
| Year | Song | Artist | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | |||||||||||||
| 1999 | "Party Tonight" | 3rd Storee | — | 66 | 3rd Storee | |||||||||
| 2000 | "Whatever" (featuring Lil' Mo) | Ideal | 47 | 11 | Ideal | |||||||||
| 2000 | "Where I Wanna Be" (featuring Nate Dogg & Kurupt) | Shade Sheist | 95 | 49 | Informal Introduction | |||||||||
| 2001 | "Just In Case" | Jaheim | 52 | 15 | Ghetto Love | |||||||||
| 2002 | "Anything" | 28 | 6 | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. | ||||||||||||||
Other notable songwriting credits
| Year | Song | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | "Weekend Thing" | Koffee Brown | Mars/Venus |
| "Bring Your Heart to Mine" | Luther Vandross | Luther Vandross | |
| "U R the One" | Usher | 8701 | |
| 2005 | "Storm (Forecass)" | Jamie Foxx | Unpredictable |
| 2008 | "I Can Change Your Life" | Lloyd | Lessons in Love |
| "The Floor" | Keith Sweat | Just Me | |
| "Sexiest Girl" | |||
| "Teach Me" | |||
| 2009 | "Show Off" | Ginuwine | A Man's Thoughts |
| "Open the Door" | |||
| "Orchestra" | |||
| "Touch Me" | |||
| "Even When I'm Mad" | |||
| 2012 | "60 Seconds" | "Q" Parker | The Manual |
| 2013 | "Ready for Love" | Mindless Behavior | All Around the World |