New hit revives interest in R&B singer Tank

04/15/2007 12:45 AM, Reuters
Gail Mitchell

Shooting up out of nowhere, R&B balladeer Tank's single "Please Don't Go" is his first major hit in six years. It's also shaping up to be the biggest single of his career.

Needless to say, Tank is excited. On the phone from Atlanta during his run in the recently closed stage play "Men, Money and Gold Diggers," he summed up his feelings in eight words, "I'm like a kid in a candy store."

Tank, a.k.a.-born Durrell Babbs, initially bulldozed his way into the R&B top 10 in 2001 with the sensual ballad "Maybe I Deserve." Peaking at No. 7 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. 38 on The Billboard Hot 100, the song propelled Tank's first album, "Force of Nature," to a No. 1 debut on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The set has sold 775,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"One Man" arrived the following year. Though it peaked at No. 4 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 20 on The Billboard 200, sales fell off to 246,000 units. Tank's highest-ranking R&B single from that project was the title track at No. 25.

That is, until now. "Please Don't Go," a ballad about love, trust and stepping out on a relationship," is currently No. 12 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

As for why the song is clicking, Tank says it's just a "typical Tank record" that relates to both sexes. "It's not strictly a woman's song where the guys have to catch on," the Milwaukee-born singer/songwriter says. Laughing when asked what personal experience triggered the song, he says only, "I took a situation and went general with it. The song says what guys wish they could say or had said, while women are saying, 'That's right, listen to him."'

The single's popularity bodes well for Tank's third album, the aptly titled "Sex, Love & Pain." The Universal Motown release is slated for mid-May. Crooning snippets of Motown songs, Tank describes the album as the "R&B I remember with Marvin (Gaye) and Smokey (Robinson). 'Let me celebrate my woman, let's cruise, I'm sorry, tell her she did me dirty' ... This album goes back to what R&B is supposed to talk about."

Having stayed busy between albums penning songs for Jamie Foxx, Omarion, Fantasia, Chris Brown and "Destiny's Child" singer Kelly Rowland's upcoming second set, Tank says, "R&B is re-emerging with something people want to be part of again. How about ending a night at the club by dancing to a couple of slow jams and getting to know someone that way versus hollering at her over (a booming car stereo)?"

Reuters/Billboard