Avant

In 2000 MCA Records hailed Avant as "the new voice of ghetto soul," yet the singer has far surpassed that promise by sustaining a two-decade run as a reliable architect of intimate, slow-burning R&B. Across the 2000s this seasoned vocalist and composer assembled five consecutive Top Ten R&B/hip-hop albums, each bolstered by an equivalent run of pop singles that breached the Top 40, among them "Separated" (2000), "Makin' Good Love" (2002), and "Read Your Mind" (2003). Following a brief interval at Verve, he reentered the R&B/hip-hop Top Ten on his own imprint with Face the Music (2013) and The VIII (2015). Since then Avant has maintained his allegiance to soul-steeped contemporary R&B on Can We Fall in Love (2020).

A Cleveland native, Myron Lavell Avant first surfaced in 1998 with the Paytown single "I Wanna Know," issued by manager Eric Payton’s Chicago-based label. The track gained traction locally and secured Avant’s debut contract with Magic Johnson’s MCA-backed imprint Magic Johnson Music. His initial MJM/MCA release, "Separated," surfaced on the 1999 MCA compilation Summer Heat and reached stores as a single the next April. The song ascended to the summit of the R&B/hip-hop chart, crossed into the pop Top 40, and anchored his first album, My Thoughts. Beyond a Top 40 duet with Keke Wyatt revisiting René & Angela’s 1983 quiet storm standard "My First Love," every track was jointly written by Avant and producer Steve Huff; the album ultimately achieved platinum certification.

Avant issued three further projects on MJM, each driven by a major single. Ecstasy arrived in 2002 and was powered by "Makin' Good Love," the artist’s third Top Ten R&B/hip-hop entry. The expansive Private Room, routed through Geffen rather than MCA, delivered another Top Ten R&B hit in 2003 with "Read My Mind." Three years afterward Director matched that success via the equally potent "4 Minutes." A subsequent move to Capitol left his upward trajectory intact; the self-titled 2008 album again landed inside the R&B/hip-hop Top Ten, matching the chart placement of his prior four LPs, before he shifted once more, this time to Verve Forecast, for the 2010 release The Letter.

Establishing his own outlet, Mo-B Entertainment, Avant activated it in 2013 with Face the Music. The album included another cameo from Keke Wyatt; their duet "You & I" became his second R&B/hip-hop chart-topper. The VIII followed in 2015 and marked his seventh Top Ten appearance on the R&B/hip-hop album chart. After a lengthy hiatus he resurfaced in 2019 with the single "Not Gone Lose," then previewed the next album via the early-2020 track "Edible" before unveiling his ninth studio effort, Can We Fall in Love.