All My Life (K-Ci and JoJo song)
Encyclopedia
"All My Life" is a song recorded by American R&B duo K-Ci & JoJo. The track was produced and written by Joel "JoJo" Hailey and Rory Bennett for K-Ci & JoJo's debut studio album, Love Always
(1997). The song was released physically as from January 6, 1998 as the third single from the album through MCA Records
. "All My Life" is an R&B / soul
song. Music critics have claimed this as the duo's most successful song of their career.
"All My Life" was a commercial success, and topped the Billboard Hot 100
for two consecutive weeks. It was certified platinum
in the US, and was the duo's longest-running number-one single of their career. "All My Life" performed well internationally, reaching top ten in many countries, including Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, as well as the United Kingdom and achieving platinum status in Australia and gold status in Sweden.
The song's accompanying music video was directed by Lara Schwartz. The video mostly shows the two singing on a stage to women in the crowd. It was nominated for Best R&B Video at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, losing to Wyclef Jean
's "Gone Till November
". The song was also nominated for 2 Grammy Awards.
. Joel initially wrote the song, using his daughter as inspiration. "All My Life" was originally wrote by Joel Hailey for a female artist on A&M Records
, but ultimately decided to keep the song. "All My Life" was recorded at Audio Achievements in Torrance, California
. Rory Bennett contributed on the song by helping the writing and the production. The piano introduction contains an interpolation of "Cliffs of Dover
" by American guitarist Eric Johnson
.
ballad
, performed in slow groove. It is composed in the key
of D-flat major and is set to sixty-three beats per minute in the time signature of common time
. "All My Life" has been called classified as a contemporary R&B
, soul
, and hip-hop
song.
. The song was released in the United States and Canada on March 17, 1998 on as a CD single
. It was released on March 30, 1998 in Germany on a maxi single
. Don't Rush (Take Love Slowly)
was included as the b-side on all copies. In many European countries, "All My Life" was released on a maxi single without a b-side, but contained a radio edit as well as two remixes. On September 18, 2001, "All My Life" would be available to download digitally
via iTunes Store
, but "Tell Me It's Real" was included instead of "Don't Rush".
"All My Life" was praised by music critics and has classified the song as the duo's most successful song. Billboard
magazine writer Aliya King wrote that "All My Life" "cemented the duo's reputation as sensitive and soulful crooners." Steve Heuy of Allmusic calls "All My Life" a "sweet ballad" and claims the song "broke them big".
, the official singles chart of America, at number fifteen. It reached the chart's top spot the following week, tying the record for highest jump to number one, originally set by The Beatles
. "All My Life" would be the only K-Ci & JoJo song to reach number one in any country. The song stayed on the Hot 100 for thirty-five weeks "All My Life" achieved success on other Billboard charts, including the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
peaking at number one, the Rhythmic Top 40 peaking at number one, and the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
peaking at number twenty-six. It would also chart number 98 on Billboards Hot 100 Decade Chart.
Internationally, "All My Life" performed just as well, peaking inside the top ten in multiple charts. It peaked at number two on the Australian Top 100
and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
for shipments of 70,000 units in Australia. The song also peaked at number four on the Swedish Singles Top 60
and was certified gold by the IFPI
Sweden. "All My Life" also peaked at number 12 in Austria, number 3 in Belgium (Flanders), number 11 in Belgium (Wallonia), number 43 in France, number 1 in the Netherlands, number 1 in New Zealand, number 2 in Norway, number 4 in Switzerland, and number 8 in the United Kingdom,
Digital download
Curtis Moore Remix
France 12" Maxi Single
Love Always
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, James Mtume, and Jeff Redd...
(1997). The song was released physically as from January 6, 1998 as the third single from the album through MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
. "All My Life" is an R&B / soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
song. Music critics have claimed this as the duo's most successful song of their career.
"All My Life" was a commercial success, and topped the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
for two consecutive weeks. It was certified platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
in the US, and was the duo's longest-running number-one single of their career. "All My Life" performed well internationally, reaching top ten in many countries, including Australia, Belgium, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, as well as the United Kingdom and achieving platinum status in Australia and gold status in Sweden.
The song's accompanying music video was directed by Lara Schwartz. The video mostly shows the two singing on a stage to women in the crowd. It was nominated for Best R&B Video at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards, losing to Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean
Wyclef Jean is a Haitian musician, record producer, and politician. At age nine, Jean moved to the United States with his family and has spent much of his life in the country...
's "Gone Till November
Gone till November
"Gone till November" is the third single released from Wyclef Jean's debut solo album, The Carnival. It entered the UK Singles Chart at #3, its highest chart position, and went on to spend nine weeks on the chart. The song was also successful in the US, where it reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100...
". The song was also nominated for 2 Grammy Awards.
Background and writing
In 1997, K-Ci & JoJo traveled to various recording studios in California and New York with multiple relatively unknown record producers for recording of their debut album, Love AlwaysLove Always
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, James Mtume, and Jeff Redd...
. Joel initially wrote the song, using his daughter as inspiration. "All My Life" was originally wrote by Joel Hailey for a female artist on A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, but ultimately decided to keep the song. "All My Life" was recorded at Audio Achievements in Torrance, California
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city incorporated in 1921 and located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Torrance has of shore-front beaches on the Pacific Ocean, quieter and less well-known by tourists than others on the Santa Monica Bay, such as those of neighboring...
. Rory Bennett contributed on the song by helping the writing and the production. The piano introduction contains an interpolation of "Cliffs of Dover
Cliffs of Dover (song)
"Cliffs of Dover" is an instrumental composition by guitarist Eric Johnson which appeared on his 1990 Ah Via Musicom album. The album version of the song is composed in the key of G major, the song was played with a Gibson ES-335 through a B.K. Butler Tube Driver and an Echoplex plugged into a...
" by American guitarist Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson
Eric Johnson is an American guitarist. Though he is best known for his success in the instrumental rock format, Johnson regularly incorporates jazz, fusion, gospel and country and western music into his recordings...
.
Music and theme
"All My Life" is a slow-tempo love songLove song
A love song is about falling in love and the feelings it brings. Anthologies of love songs often contain a mixture of both of these types of song. A bawdy song is both humorous and saucy, emphasizing the physical pleasure of love rather than the emotional joy...
ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
, performed in slow groove. It is composed in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of D-flat major and is set to sixty-three beats per minute in the time signature of common time
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
. "All My Life" has been called classified as a contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
, soul
Soul
A soul in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing or object. Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans have souls, and others teach that all living things and even inanimate objects have souls. The...
, and hip-hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
song.
Release and reception
"All My Life" was released as the third single from the album Love AlwaysLove Always
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, James Mtume, and Jeff Redd...
. The song was released in the United States and Canada on March 17, 1998 on as a CD single
CD single
A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...
. It was released on March 30, 1998 in Germany on a maxi single
Maxi single
A maxi single or maxi-single is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an a-side song and a b-side song.-The first maxi singles:...
. Don't Rush (Take Love Slowly)
Don't Rush (Take Love Slowly)
- Charts :...
was included as the b-side on all copies. In many European countries, "All My Life" was released on a maxi single without a b-side, but contained a radio edit as well as two remixes. On September 18, 2001, "All My Life" would be available to download digitally
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
via iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
, but "Tell Me It's Real" was included instead of "Don't Rush".
"All My Life" was praised by music critics and has classified the song as the duo's most successful song. Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine writer Aliya King wrote that "All My Life" "cemented the duo's reputation as sensitive and soulful crooners." Steve Heuy of Allmusic calls "All My Life" a "sweet ballad" and claims the song "broke them big".
Chart performance
The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, the official singles chart of America, at number fifteen. It reached the chart's top spot the following week, tying the record for highest jump to number one, originally set by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. "All My Life" would be the only K-Ci & JoJo song to reach number one in any country. The song stayed on the Hot 100 for thirty-five weeks "All My Life" achieved success on other Billboard charts, including the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
peaking at number one, the Rhythmic Top 40 peaking at number one, and the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
peaking at number twenty-six. It would also chart number 98 on Billboards Hot 100 Decade Chart.
Internationally, "All My Life" performed just as well, peaking inside the top ten in multiple charts. It peaked at number two on the Australian Top 100
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...
and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
for shipments of 70,000 units in Australia. The song also peaked at number four on the Swedish Singles Top 60
Sverigetopplistan
Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....
and was certified gold by the IFPI
IFPI
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a not-for-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland...
Sweden. "All My Life" also peaked at number 12 in Austria, number 3 in Belgium (Flanders), number 11 in Belgium (Wallonia), number 43 in France, number 1 in the Netherlands, number 1 in New Zealand, number 2 in Norway, number 4 in Switzerland, and number 8 in the United Kingdom,
Accolades
"All My Life" was nominated for multiple awards. At the 1999 Grammy Awards, "All My Life" was nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance Nominated and Best R&B Song. Finally, the video was nominated for Best R&B Video at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.Music video
The music video for "All My Life" was filmed by Lara Schwartz. The video starts out by showing many of the people in the crowd, followed by a pianist playing the introduction. It eventually pans over the two as they begin singing into their microphones. Every so often, an outside scene of love will show up. Examples are of a mother loving her son, a man giving a homeless man food, and a couple holding hands and roller bladeing now a sidewalk. In between these scenes, the camera pans over the stage, as well as the people in the crowd and the musicians. At the end, the camera shows a sunset and pans away.Formats and track listing
12" Maxi Single- All My Life (Radio Edit) – 3:42
- All My Life (Album Version) – 5:31
- All My Life (Ignorants Remix) – 4:54
- All My Life (The Utopia Redd Remix) – 4:26
Digital download
- All My Life – 5:32
- All My Life (The Utopia Redd Remix) – 4:28
- Tell Me It's Real – 4:41
- Tell Me It's Real (Dave Jam Hall) – 3:50
Curtis Moore Remix
- All My Life (Curtis & Moore Club Mix) – 6:34
- All My Life (Curtis & Moore Instrumental) – 6:34
France 12" Maxi Single
- All My Life (Radio Edit) – 3:42
- All My Life (Album Version) – 5:31
Weekly charts
| Chart (1998–1999) | Peak position |
|---|
Year-end charts
| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... ) |
12 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... Flanders) |
41 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 Ultratop 40 singles, often just Ultratop 40, is the weekly chart of best-selling singles in Wallonia and Brussels Capital Region, the french-speaking parts of Belgium. Its equivalent covering the Flanders region is Ultratop 50. Both charts are produced and published by the Ultratop organization... Wallonia) |
69 |
| Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100 Mega Single Top 100 The Single Top 100 is a Dutch chart, based on official physical single sales and legal downloads and composed by MegaCharts. It is one of the three official charts, the other two being the Dutch Top 40 and the Mega Top 50. The difference is that these charts also include airplay data.The list is... ) |
11 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) | 39 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
7 |
End of decade charts
| Chart (1990-1999) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 98 |
Certifications
See also
- Dutch Top 40 number-one hits of 1998Dutch Top 40 number-one hits of 1998These hits topped the Dutch Top 40 in 1998 ....
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1998 (U.S.)
- List of number-one R&B singles of 1998 (U.S.)
- List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1990s