Keith Sweat

Keith Sweat is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and producer whose three-decade career has produced multiple late-1980s and 1990s American R&B hits and made him one of the figures of the "new jack swing" R&B subgenre of the late 1980s. He was born Keith Crier on July 22, 1961, in Harlem, New York City. He worked as a Wall Street stock-broker assistant through his early twenties before signing his first record deal in 1986.

His 1987 debut album Make It Last Forever (released through Vintertainment/Elektra Records) sold over 3 million copies and produced the title track and the single "I Want Her" — which reached the Billboard Hot 100 top 5 and the R&B chart #1. The album's combination of deep-vocal R&B with the synth-driven "new jack swing" production style (developed primarily by producer Teddy Riley) shaped the late-1980s American R&B sound.

His late-1980s and 1990s commercial peak produced multiple R&B chart hits. The 1990 album I'll Give All My Love to You sold over 2 million copies. The 1991 album Keep It Comin' sold over 1 million copies. The 1996 album Keith Sweat produced the single "Twisted" — which reached the Billboard Hot 100 top 5 and became one of the 1996 American R&B singles. He also formed the R&B supergroup LSG with Levert and Gerald Levert in the 1996 — the group released two albums (1997 and 2003) with crossover R&B chart success.

Beyond music, Sweat has been a American radio personality through the syndicated The Sweat Hotel (launched 2007) — the late-night R&B-and-romance radio program that has been continuously syndicated across American R&B-format radio stations for over 17 years. He has continued to record and tour selectively into his sixties.

His name Keith is from the Scottish Gaelic place-name meaning "forest" or "woodland" — referring to the historic Keith region in Banffshire, Scotland. Keith has been continuously among the most-popular American boys' names for over half a century.