Harlem-born R&B singer and radio host Keith Sweat releases new album
Singer was shaped by Harlem’s celebrated nightlife and cultural institutions
Singer Keith Sweat is celebrating 24 years since he released his platinum-selling debut album, but he hasn’t forgotten where he got his start: Keith Sweat.
Sweat, 50, raised by a single-mother with two brothers and two sisters in the Grant Houses on W. 125th St., told the Daily News it was his Harlem upbringing that led to success.
“Harlem has made me the man that I am today,” said Sweat, who last month released his 11th studio album, “Til the Morning.”
“Growing up in Harlem for me was the pinnacle,” he said. “I didn’t have a whole lot. I loved it here, but I wanted to find a way up out of here. When you grow up in those types of areas you always want to have something better for yourself.”
Sweat credited his mother with keeping him in line.
“My whole thing was trying to achieve to make sure my mom didn’t think I was a disappointment to her,” he said. “To make her proud of me.”
And he did.
Sweat, who began singing as a kid, performed at the Apollo Theater, just down the block from his home, and as he got older he performed on the “Chitlin-circuit.” He bounced around from nightclubs and restaurants, like the original Red Rooster.
He continued to perform at night, while working on Wall Street during the day. Sweat, who graduated from City College, worked for Paine Webber, all while trying to shop around his demo tape.
But Sweat said he was even faced with constant rejection.
“Someone told me ‘I Want Her’ wasn’t a hit,” he recalled. That song would later become his biggest hit, and it carried his 1987 debut album, “Make It Last Forever,” to triple-platinum status. The album, produced by another Harlem native Teddy Riley, was also among the first in the New Jack Swing music movement.
“I probably wouldn’t be the man that I am if you would have signed me,” said Sweat, reflecting on those who didn’t give him a chance.
The R&B crooner, who now lives in Atlanta, also encouraged others growing up in Harlem not to give up on their dreams, despite where they live or who turns them down.
“I’m living proof you can excel regardless of where you come from,” he said. “If you fall, get back up. That’s what life is about. You gotta’ be strong in this game.”
In addition to releasing a new album last month, Sweat hosts a syndicated evening “slow jam” radio show, “The Keith Sweat Hotel,” that can be heard on 107.5 WBLS in New York. He’s also working on a book, named after his first album, that will be released next year.
Despite the changing sound of R&B, Sweat is confident there’s a place for his soulful new album among the current artists, like Ne-Yo, Chris Brown and Trey Songz.
“I’m not mad at what they’re doing. It’s not as R&B as what we did, but they’re good at what they do,” he said, noting he listens to music from the current chart-toppers. “R&B is never going to be dead, it’s just going to evolve.”
Sweat, who performed on Nov. 22 at the Shadow Nightclub as a part of a special showcase for New York radio station WBLS, rocked the crowd, just as he did when he first entered the business.
“I could still perform the same way I performed back in the day,” he said. “It ain’t time for me to retire. I wasn’t thinking 24 years back then…I just wanted the world to hear what I do.”
And he certainly doesn’t take his success for granted.
“I treat my career like it just happened yesterday,” he said.
BY Michael J. Feeney
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS