Songwriter Brian McKnight loves being with lovestruck Pinoys

His smooth voice may have helped people have one last cry, but Brian McKnight wants to be remembered as a songwriter. 

 

“I was a songwriter first, and my first deal was as a songwriter before I was an artist,” he said, “[and] hopefully, when they write my tombstone, they will say when I was born and when I died, and then they'll add that 'he wrote a few good songs.'” 

 

McKnight gave these remarks at a press briefing for his latest two-concert series in the Philippines, which will be held at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum this Friday and at the Harborfront Hotel in Cebu City on Saturday. 

 

The R&B singer-songwriter, known for such hits as "One Last Cry" and "Back at One," brought his sons, Niko and Brian Jr, for the visit. The two are known for the song "Marry Your Daughter," which Brian Jr. composed, and whose video has received around 27 million hits on YouTube. 

 

The father and sons sang an excerpt from the song at the press conference at the request of one reporter. “It's awesome,” says the junior McKnight of the video, “I didn't expect it to blow up so huge.”

 

McKnight's concert, which features singer Angeline Quinto, will mark his fourth time in Manila. He admits that it is always a good thing to be in town. “I love being in the Philippines,” he said at the conference, “People like love songs here. It's right to be here.” 

 

He mentioned Martin Nievera and Gary Valenciano as among the local performers he knows and respects, and praised singer Regine Velasquez. “I told Mariah [Carey] that if she comes over here and sings [one of] your song[s], you're not going to sing it anymore,” he said, “I told her that I was kidding, but I wasn't kidding.” 

 

McKnight also spoke of the new song he wrote for R&B singer Kyla Rivera, whose work he has endorsed to his Twitter followers after he saw a video of Kyla singing his song “Another You.”

 

What may be surprising to some of his fans is that McKnight has had some stage experience. He says he has acted in “a couple plays before portraying defense lawyer Billy Flynn in the hit musical Chicago in 2007. 

 

So how has theater helped him as a performer? "What [my experience] did is that it helped me with the more theatrical aspects of the show, how a show is to flow," he said, saying that at first he felt that it was all about the music. But his time in Chicago showed that “to be on the stage...really showed me another side of what doing a show should really be about.”

 

McKnight continues to write music, and is aware of the challenges faced by new technology. “I really didn't want to start in social media,” he says. “[But] we live in a day and age where if you are not on top of social media, you are forgotten.” 

 

He says that for artists, being engaged in social media is a good thing. “As an artist, you have to be proactive about your career...You do what you have to do to stay relevant.” 

 

Apart from his social media strategy, his plans includes having  a live web feed from his studio, where fans can watch him and other musicians work. He also wants to release one new song every month.

 

A prolific songwriter of his caliber draws inspiration from legends.  After name-checking jazz legend Miles Davis, I asked him about his musical influences, and he gave a long list of people. 

 

Mozart, Duke Ellington, and Stevie Wonder were mentioned alongside Steely Dan, David Foster, James Ingram, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane and country musicians Randy Travis and the Rascal Flats.

 

“If you're going to be a writer,” he advised, “and if you'd want to stay in this business, you kind of have to know a lot of music.” And to this day, McKnight admits, he still listens to the same records he heard at the age of fifteen. For him, the jury is still out on the newer breed of musicians.

 

Finally, he is looking forward to his first Cebu appearance on Saturday, in a place one of his friends has been recommending with enthusiasm. “Martin [Nievera] has been saying, 'You have to go to Cebu! You have to go! It's great' And this time, I'll get to go.” — KG/ELR, GMA News