Robert Lavelle Huggar, better known by his initials RL, is an American singer and songwriter who gained fame as the lead singer of the R&B group Next.[1]
RL | |
|---|---|
 RL in 2019 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Robert Lavelle Huggar |
| Born | Minnesota, U.S. |
| Genres | R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | Arista (1997–2000) J (2001–2002) |
| Website | www |
Early life
Next
Fronted by Huggar and brothers Terry Brown and Raphael Brown, Next was introduced to producer and DJ artist KayGee from Naughty by Nature. Subsequently, they signed with KayGee's newly formed Divine Mill record label, which, at the time, was distributed through Arista Records.
Solo work
RL first distinguished himself outside of Next with his duet with Deborah Cox on the song "We Can't Be Friends" as well as other feature projects. RL followed up that effort with "The Best Man I Can Be", the super-group track from The Best Man movie soundtrack which also featured Ginuwine, Tyrese and Case. By the time RL's soulful "Good Love" (from The Brothers movie soundtrack) and his hook to Tupac's Until the end of Time were released, he had created an artistic persona distinct and separate from Next. RL: Ements is RL's debut solo project and was released on J Records. It spawned the singles "Got Me a Model" (featuring Erick Sermon) and "Good Man".
Personal life
Huggar has a son, Charles, with his first wife.[3]
In October 2017, he married Lena Danielle.[4] Their daughter was born in January 2018.[5][6]
Discography
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US | U.S. R&B[7] | ||
| 2002 | RL: Ements
| 53 | 6 |
Singles
| Year | Song | Peak chart positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | |||
| 1999 | "The Best Man I Can Be" (with Ginuwine, Tyrese and Case) | 67 | 15 | The Best Man (soundtrack) |
| "We Can't Be Friends" (Deborah Cox featuring RL) | 8 | 1 | One Wish | |
| 2001 | "Good Love" | - | 58 | The Brothers (soundtrack) |
| 2002 | "Got Me a Model" (featuring Erick Sermon) | - | 76 | RL: Ements |
| "Good Man" | - | 48 | ||
As songwriter
| Year | Song | Artist | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | |||||||||||||
| 1999 | "Party Tonight" | 3rd Storee | — | 66 | 3rd Storee | |||||||||
| 2000 | "Whatever" (featuring Lil' Mo) | Ideal | 47 | 11 | Ideal | |||||||||
| 2000 | "Where I Wanna Be" (featuring Nate Dogg & Kurupt) | Shade Sheist | 95 | 49 | Informal Introduction | |||||||||
| 2001 | "Just in Case" | Jaheim | 52 | 15 | Ghetto Love | |||||||||
| 2002 | "Anything" | 28 | 6 | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. | ||||||||||||||
Other notable songwriting credits
| Year | Song | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | "Weekend Thing" | Koffee Brown | Mars/Venus |
| "Bring Your Heart to Mine" | Luther Vandross | Luther Vandross | |
| "U R the One" | Usher | 8701 | |
| 2005 | "Storm (Forecass)" | Jamie Foxx | Unpredictable |
| 2008 | "I Can Change Your Life" | Lloyd | Lessons in Love |
| "The Floor" | Keith Sweat | Just Me | |
| "Sexiest Girl" | |||
| "Teach Me" | |||
| 2009 | "Show Off" | Ginuwine | A Man's Thoughts |
| "Open the Door" | |||
| "Orchestra" | |||
| "Touch Me" | |||
| "Even When I'm Mad" | |||
| 2012 | "60 Seconds" | "Q" Parker | The Manual |
| 2013 | "Ready for Love" | Mindless Behavior | All Around the World |