Love Always is the debut album of American R&B duo K-Ci & JoJo, released on June 17, 1997, by MCA Records. It was recorded at various studios in New York and the Los Angeles area in 1996 and 1997. It was produced by JoJo and several others, including DeVante Swing, Jon-John Robinson, James Mtume, and Jeff Redd. The duo were originally a part of Jodeci before this album.
The album peaked at number six on the US Billboard 200 and also appeared on international charts. The single "All My Life" charted number one in multiple countries, and all four of the album's singles peaked above the top 25 in the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and the New Zealand Top 40 Singles. Love Always was received favorably by critics, who praised the brothers' singing ability and the production. The album has been certified three times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and gold by Music Canada and IFPI Sweden. It had sold more than 3 million copies in the United States.
Background Previously, K-Ci & JoJo had been members of the group Jodeci, which consisted of them and another pair of brothers, DeVante Swing and Mr. Dalvin. Under Uptown Records, the group released three studio albums certified platinum by the RIAA: Forever My Lady (1991), Diary of a Mad Band (1993), and The Show, the After Party, the Hotel (1995).
Jodeci has been inactive since 1996. K-Ci & JoJo, seeking to shed Jodeci's "bad boy image", began working on other projects. They appeared as featured artists in songs including Tupac Shakur's "How Do U Want It", which topped the Billboard Hot 100 and E-40's Rapper's Ball, which peaked 29th on the Hot 100. They recorded their first songs as a duo, "If You Think You're Lonely Now" and "How Could You", for the soundtrack albums Jason's Lyric and Bulletproof, respectively. Both singles reached the top 20 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs.
Production, writing, and recording
JoJo told Ebony that he and K-Ci "wrote 75 percent" of Love Always. The brothers said they wanted to make an album that everyone, including their Christian mother, would be able to listen to. K-Ci told Ebony, "We want to write songs that women can listen to. [...] You can listen to this in the car, riding with the folks." Contrasting the album with the brothers' work with Jodeci, K-Ci told Billboard, "With Jodeci, we might sing 'Freek'n You', and with K-Ci & JoJo, we don't use the word 'sex.
Love Always was the first album K-Ci & JoJo produced. Referring to DeVante Swing, who produced many of Jodeci's songs, K-Ci told Billboard, "We couldn't just say, 'Oh, DeVante's gonna make sure it's mixed right.' We had to do it." Other contributors to the album included Rory Bennett, James Mtume, Jorge Corante, Mike Smoov, Fred Rosser, Jeff Redd, Joey Wlias, Laney Stewart, Gerald Baillergeau, DeVante Swing, Derrick Garrett, Craig Brockman, Victor Merrit, Jon-John Robinson, Andrew Braxton, and Bradley Spalter. Mike Smoov, Jimi Randolph, Derrick Garrett, Thom Cadley, and Mikael Ifverson engineered the album.
Recording took place in 1996 and 1997 at recording studios in New York and the Los Angeles area:
New York ACME Recording Studio in Mamaroneck Battery Studios in New York City Hit City Studio in Bronx Sony Music Studios in New York City Sony Recording Studio in New York City Sound Track Studio in New York City Startrak in New York City
Southern California Audio Achievements in Torrance Boulevard Recording Studio in Carson Classroom Studio in Hollywood Tracken Place in Los Angeles Tickle Box Studios in Los Angeles Westlake Studio in Los Angeles
Content Love Always is written and performed in the R&B and soul styles. It consists of slow jams and love songs. The album's opening track, "HBI", is a short introduction and is followed by "Last Night's Letter", a slow jam about broken hearts. The next song, "Baby Come Back", was written by K-Ci about his past relationship with singer Mary J. Blige. "Love Ballad" is a cover of the L.T.D. song.
Release and promotion Love Always was released in the United States and Germany on June 17, 1997, in Canada on June 24, 1997, and in the United Kingdom on March 20, 1999. It was released in Australia in August 1998 packaged with six bonus remixes of "How Could You", "Last Night's Letter", "All My Life", and "You Bring Me Up". The album was released on CD, cassette and LP, except in Australia, where it was only released on CD.
Singles Four songs on Love Always became singles. All four appeared in the top 25 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and the New Zealand Singles Chart. The first single, "You Bring Me Up", was released on May 27, 1997. It peaked at 26th on the Billboard Hot 100, 15th on R&B/Hip Hop Songs, 15th on the New Zealand Singles Chart, and 21st on the UK Singles Chart. A remix was made featuring Snoop Dogg. The second single, "Last Night's Letter", was released on September 16, 1997. It peaked at 46th on the Hot 100, 15th on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and 16th on the New Zealand Singles Chart.
The third single, "All My Life", was released on March 17, 1998. JoJo wrote the song about his daughter but originally intended it for another artist. In an interview with MTV, he said, "The song was originally supposed to be used for… another artist, a female artist on A&M Records. But we listened to it after we got out of the studio and it was like, 'I'm keeping this, this is too hot. "All My Life" peaked at number one on the Hot 100 and R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, tying a record set by The Beatles by jumping from 15th to first on the U.S. charts. It was also a number-one song in Australia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. It peaked at second on the Norwegian Singles Chart, third on the Flanders Belgium Singles Chart, fourth on the Swedish Singles Chart and the Swiss Singles Chart, eighth on the UK Singles Chart, 11th on the Wallonia Belgium Singles Chart, 12th on the Austrian Singles Chart, and 43rd on the French Singles Chart. It was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association and gold by IFPI Sweden. "All My Life" was nominated for Best R&B Video at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.
The fourth and final single, "Don't Rush (Take Love Slowly)", was originally the B-side to "All My Life"; it was released as a single in July 1998 after it achieved more airplay than "All My Life". It peaked at 24th on the US Rhythmic Top 40, 46th on Hot R&B Airplay, 16th on the UK Singles Chart, 25th on the Dutch Singles Charts, and 26th on the New Zealand Singles Chart.
Reception Commercial performance The album debuted at 24th on the US Billboard 200, and went on to peak at sixth. It peaked at second on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. On July 9, 1998, Love Always was certified three times platinum by the RIAA, for shipments of three million copies in the United States. It spent 90 weeks on the Billboard 200 and 91 weeks on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Type "K-Ci" into Artist, "Love Always" into Title and click Submit. As of June 1999, Love Always had sold 2.9 million copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Love Always charted internationally, as well. It peaked at 26th in Canada, and on June 30, 1998, it was certified platinum by Music Canada, for shipments of 100,000 copies in Canada. In Australia, the album debuted at 44th, before peaking the next week at 37th. In 1998, Love Always was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), for shipments of 35,000 copies in Australia. It peaked at fifth in New Zealand, 19th in the Netherlands, 28th in Switzerland, 51st in the UK, and 56th in Sweden.
Critical response
Love Always has received favorable reviews from music critics. Alex Henderson of AllMusic called "Love Ballad" the "best thing the Hailey brothers have ever done – inside or outside of Jodeci". Henderson called the album's ballads and slow jams "above average" and noted a lack of new jack swing and R-rated lyrics of the sort he had observed in Jodeci's music. He liked the songs "Now and Forever", "Still Waiting", and "Baby Come Back" and appreciated the 1970s soul music feel.
Vibe magazine's Michael Gonzalez gave the album a favorable review, writing, "Love Always is a marvelous musical testament to black love in the '90s." He enjoyed the production, especially from Rory Bennett, and compared the duo to Frankie Lymon. He noticed K-Ci's lyrics in "Baby Come Back" were about his relationship with Mary J. Blige stating "[K-Ci] wails like a man driven crazy by his missteps." Gonzalez also liked the songs "Don't Rush (Take Love Slowly)", and "You Bring Me Up".
Track listing Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
Notes signifies a co-producer signifies an additional producer
Sample credits "Baby Come Back" contains a sample of "Whatever You Got I Want", written by Mel Larson, Jerry Marcellino, and Gene Marcellino, as performed by The Jackson 5.
Personnel Credits for Love Always adapted from album's liner notes.
Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey – lead and background vocals , vocal arrangement , executive producer Joel "JoJo" Hailey – lead and background vocals , producer , co-producer , vocal arrangement , executive producer
Musicians
Richard Adcock – cello Anas Allaf – guitar , electric guitar Robert Becker – viola Rory Bennett – instrumentation Charlie Bisharat – violin Andrew Braxton – keyboards Darius Campo – violin Jorge "G. Man" Corante – keyboards and programming Makeda Davis – background vocals Basil Fearrington – bass Juliann French – violin Rob Fusari – additional programming Berj Garabedian – violin Garth Gayle – guitar Harris Goldman – violin Endre Granat – violin Mimi Granat – viola Reggie Griffith – guitar Alan Grubfeld – violin Reggie Hamilton – bass Paula Hochhalter – cello Norman Hughes – violin Peter Kent – violin Razdan Kuyumjian – violin Ennis Melchan – violin Ed "Tree" Moore – guitar James Mtume – keyboards Jim Mussien – drums Derek Nakamoto – strings and arrangement Robbie Nevil – guitar Emanuel Officer – vocal arrangement , background vocals Genard Parker – keyboards and drums Dunn Pearson – keyboards Kizi Pitfika – viola Barbara Porter – violin Steve Richards – cello Jon-John Robinson – drums and piano Anatoly Rosinsky – violin Fred Rosser – drums Bob Sanov – violin Peter "Ski" Schwartz – strings Sheila E. – percussion Bradley Spalter – keyboards and programming Laney Stewart – instrumentation Raymond Tischer – viola Randy Waldman – strings arrangement and conducting Ken Yerke – violin
Production
Steve B. – assistant engineer Gerald Baillergeau – producer, engineer, and mixing Rory Bennett – producer Kyle Bess – assistant mix engineer Allen Bishop – engineer Stuart Brawley – assistant mix engineer Andrew Braxton – additional production Craig Brockman – co-producer Thom Cadley – engineer Bill Carr – assistant engineer Cecil T. Chambers – production coordination Rob Chiarelli – mixing Jorge "G. Man" Corante – producer Tom Coyne – mastering Martin Czembor – assistant mix engineer Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing Joey Elias – co-producer Derrick Garrett – producer and engineer Jon Gass – mixing Bryan Golder – assistant engineer Chris Habeck – Pro Tools transfer Mikael Ifversen – engineer Mauricio Iragorri – assistant mix engineer Damon Jones – executive producer Adam Kagen – engineer Adam Kudzin – mixing Ernie Lake – engineer Tommy Lockheart – assistant Pro Tools transfer Charity Lomax – assistant engineer Manny Marroquin – engineer Victor Merrit – producer, engineer, and mixing James Mtume – producer and engineer Greg Mull – engineer Rene Ochoa – project coordinator Emanuel Officer – producer Genard Parker – producer and mixing Kelvin Parker – engineer David Pelman – engineer Dave "Hard Drive" Pensado – mixing Jimi Randolph – engineer Jeff Redd – producer , executive producer