Marc Nelson (singer)

Marc Nelson (born January 23, 1971) is an American singer and songwriter. He was an original member of Boyz II Men while still attending Philadelphia's High School of Performing Arts. However, a management agreement forced Nelson to leave the group to pursue a solo career before the group released their debut album, Cooleyhighharmony.

Boyz II Men
After hearing New Edition's song "Boys to Men" on the radio, the group changed their name to Boyz II Men. In 1989, the group met Michael Bivins and began making arrangements to sign the group to a major label and begin recording. In the interim, the group encountered delays in recording their album. Prior to being discovered by Bivins, the members had all previously signed a management deal with a local company in Philadelphia. Marc Nelson, who was 18 years old at the time, faced difficulty breaking the contract with this company due to his age. The other members were all minors. Once everything was settled with Boyz II Men and Motown, Nelson still couldn’t be released from his previous management, forcing him to make a choice to pursue a solo career instead of continuing with the group. His solo album, I Want You, was released only a few months after Cooleyhighharmony in September 1991.

I Want You
After signing a solo deal with Capitol Records, Nelson scored a hit with a cover of Marvin Gaye's "I Want You", which hit No. 26 on the R&B charts. His follow-up, "Count On Me", reached No. 48 on the R&B charts. Nelson released his solo album, I Want You, in 1991.

Following the release of his solo album, Nelson began concentrating his talents as a songwriter. Drawing the attention of Babyface, Nelson wrote for artists like Toni Braxton, Brandy, Tamia, Tyrese and Jon B. Through Babyface, Nelson met the four members of the group Az Yet and was added to the line-up as second lead vocalist; the group was signed to LaFace Records.

Az Yet
As a member of Az Yet, Nelson found success. The group's self-titled debut album, released in 1996, went platinum. A single on the album, "Last Night", went gold and reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Their second single, "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" did even better, going platinum and reaching No. 8 on the Hot 100.

Chocolate Mood
Nelson left Az Yet and began writing intensely. Subsequently, he released his second solo album, Chocolate Mood, in 1999. The album featured Nelson's biggest solo hit, "15 Minutes", which reached No. 4 on the R&B charts and No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also featured on the duet "After All is Said and Done" with Beyoncé, on the soundtrack to the motion picture The Best Man (1999).

On January 9, 2007, SESAC honored Nelson at their third Jazz Awards Luncheon, for his authorship on "It's On Tonight" by Brian Culbertson. The event honored jazz writers whose works achieved Top 5 status on the jazz charts from January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2006.

Marc: My Words
Nelson released his first independent project, Marc: My Words (Lyric Masters 911) on July 24, 2007. Nelson wrote or co-wrote the lyrics on all 15 tracks of the album. He also produced or co-produced all of the tracks on the album. Nelson extracted the material for the release from his existing catalog of songs written between 2001 and 2007, and began recording the material in 2006. The album features the original version of "I Don't Wanna Be In Love" (co-written by jazz artist Brian Culbertson) which also appears on the 2007 release Crystal City by Andre Ward.

Blayse
Nelson was also a founding member of the R&B super-group Blayse, with fellow R&B veterans Tony Grant of Az Yet, Gary "Lil G" Jenkins of Silk (group), and Terrell Phillips of Blackstreet. Although the group managed to record several songs, the recordings were never publicly released, the album was never completed, and the group disbanded in December 2007. Lil G returned to Silk, Nelson returned to Az Yet, and Tony Grant toured in the Tyler Perry stage production The Marriage Counselor (from January 2008 through May 2008).

Additional projects
Nelson released the R&B/Soul single "Wishing You The Worst" on July 24, 2017. The song was released independently via his production company Focused Artist Entertainment.

Nelson was nominated for an Emmy Award, for penning the theme song to the 2016 animated Christmas television film Snowy Day. The title song was performed by Boyz II Men.

Singles

 * "I Want You" (1991)
 * "Count on Me" (1992)
 * "Last Night" with Az Yet (1996)
 * "Hard To Say I'm Sorry" with Az Yet & featuring Peter Cetera (1996)
 * "That's All I Want" with Az Yet (1997)
 * "15 Minutes" (1999)
 * "Too Friendly" (2000)
 * "Love's Not Love" (2000)
 * "Wishing You The Worst" (2017)

Stage play appearances

 * Love Ain't Supposed to Hurt - Part II: The Wedding
 * Tell Hell I Ain't Coming
 * King Solomon Lives
 * Men Cry in the Dark
 * In-Laws From Hell