Singer Maxwell has entered the Billboard Top 200 at #1 this week with his long-awaited fourth studio album, BLACKsummers'night, one of the year's most heavily-anticipated event records. With first week's sales of 316,499, according to SoundScan, BLACKsummers'night is enjoying the highest debut sales week, and best overall sales week of Maxwell's career. BLACKsummers'night is #1 on the SoundScan Album Retailer chart and is #1 on the Current R&B chart. Released on Tuesday, July 7, on CD and in a Limited Edition Deluxe CD/DVD set, BLACKsummers'night is the first full-length Maxwell release since Now, his critically-acclaimed third studio album, also debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 in August 2001.Maxwell recently returned to the top of the nation's singles charts when "Pretty Wings," the first single from BLACKsummers'night, rocketed to the #1 slot on America's Urban Adult radio stations less than eight weeks after its release after completing an earlier run as the nation's #1 Greatest Gainer/Most-Added song at the Urban Mainstream format. "Pretty Wings" has spent four weeks in the #1 slot of Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart, where it's closely followed by "Cold," another single from BLACKsummers'night. Each a chart-topper on iTunes, BLACKsummers'night reached #1 on the iTunes R&B Albums chart while "Pretty Wings" hit #1 on the iTunes R&B Singles chart. "Bad Habits," the lead track and second single from BLACKsummers'night, is the nation's #1 Most Added song at Urban Adult radio according to Mediabase, the music industry's first mass-airplay monitoring service.
Maxwell began redefining classic soul music for a new generation with the release of his critically-acclaimed debut album, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite, in April 1996. Fueled in part by the RIAA gold single, "Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)," the Grammy-nominated Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite was certified platinum in March 1997, less than a year after its release, and achieved double platinum status, in recognition of sales of more than 2 million copies in the US alone, in 2002. Maxwell followed up with his MTV Unplugged EP, released in July 1997 and certified gold in September 1999. His second full-length album, Embrya, was released in June 1998 and certified platinum in May 1999. Another Maxwell single, the hit "Fortunate," was certified gold in June 1999. His third studio album, Now, entered the Billboard 200 at #1 in August 2001. To date, Maxwell has achieved 10 gold and platinum certifications from the RIAA for his albums and singles.
BLACKsummers'night reunites Maxwell with long-time collaborator Hod David, who serves as co-producer and co-writer of the album. Striving for an emotional authenticity and real world sound for the album, Maxwell and Hod recorded the entire album live in the studio with an a-list ensemble of elegantly sympathetic musicians. BLACKsummers'night is the opening installment of the artist's monumental BLACKSUMMERS'NIGHT trilogy. (The trilogy's subsequent chapters, blackSUMMERS'night and blacksummers'NIGHT, are set for release in 2010 and 2011 respectively.)
Maxwell - BLACKsummers'night North American Tour - Summer 2009
July 15 - Columbus, OH @ Palace Theatre
July 16 - Cleveland, OH @ Allen Theatre
July 18 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Heinz
July 19 - Buffalo, NY @ Sheas PAC
July 21 - Albany, NY @ The Palace
July 22 - New Jersey @ NJPAC
July 24 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata
July 25 - Foxwoods @ Foxwoods
July 27 - Norfolk, VA @ Chrysler Hall
July 28 - Savannah, GA @ Johnny Mercer
July 30 - Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall
July 31 -Miami, FL @ Waterfront Theatre at the American Airlines Arena
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