Precious (Chanté Moore album)

Encouraged by her then-boyfriend to pursue a professional music career,,{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_k_J7hDAy0|title=Questlove Supreme Podcast: Chanté Moore|via=YouTube|date=April 19, 2023|access-date=April 18, 2025}} Moore caught the attention of talent manager Benny Medina and signed with Warner Bros. Records at the age of 19. Although she began working on an album titled Listen to My Song,{{cite web|first=Brendan|last=Frederick|url=https://www.complex.com/music/a/brendan-frederick/brian-alexander-morgan-swv-interview|title=Interview: Brian Alexander Morgan, the '90s Mastermind Behind SWV, on His History & Return to Music|magazine=Complex|date=September 22, 2014|access-date=April 18, 2025}} the project was shelved late in its development, and she was eventually released from the label. In February 1991, after A&R director Madeleine Randolph shared several of Moore's demos from the shelved sessions,{{cite magazine|first=David|last=Nathan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CxAEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl|title='Precious' Time: Silas Gives Chanté Debut Extar Effort|magazine=Billboard|date=July 10, 1993|access-date=April 18, 2025}} she was offered a deal with Silas Records, a new imprint founded by MCA executive Louis Silas Jr. and backed by MCA. As the label's first signed artist, Moore quickly began work on her debut solo album, featuring production from Simon Law, BeBe Winans, Laney Stewart, Vassal Benford, and George Duke, some of whom would become frequent collaborators. That same year, in October, her duet with R&B singer Keith Washington, "Candlelight and You," was featured on the soundtrack for the MCA-backed comedy film House Party 2.

Silas Records issued several singles in support of the album. "Love's Taken Over" was released as Precious{{'}}s lead single on July 28, 1992. The song peaked at number eighty-six and number thirteen on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, respectively.{{cite magazine|title=Chanté Moore - Billboard Chart History - Hot 100 Chart|url=http://www.billboard.com/artist/298935/chant-moore/chart?f=379|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=3 July 2017}}{{cite magazine|title=Chanté Moore Billboard History R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart|url=http://www.billboard.com/artist/298935/chant-moore/chart?f=367|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=3 July 2017}} A second single, "It's Alright," failed to make impact on the Billboard Hot 100, but peaked at number thirteen on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Two further singles were subsequently released from the album, including "Who Do I Turn to" and "As If We Never Met," though only the former managed to chart.

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web|title=Precious – Chanté Moore|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/precious-mw0000086315|website=AllMusic|accessdate=October 4, 2020}}

|rev2=Rolling Stone

|rev2Score= {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|first=Michael Eric|last=Dyson|title=Album Reviews: Precious|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/chantemoore/albums/album/169507/review/5940890/precious|magazine=Rolling Stone|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423083733/https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/chantemoore/albums/album/169507/review/5940890/precious|accessdate=October 4, 2020|archive-date=2009-04-23}}

}}

Rolling Stone{{'}}s Michael Eric Dyson wrote that on Precious, "ranging from the exhilarating stride she measures on the title track to the infectious groove of "Who Do I Turn To," Moore explores the sweet entanglements of contemporary love with a supple soprano that floats over and into songs [...] Moore's superb singing and writing will unquestionably win her a satisfied audience." Billboard described the album as "a collection of soul-satisfying, jazz-inflected tunes" and further noted that the "singer's light but supple soprano floats like a breeze but delivers maximum emotional intensity."{{cite magazine|title=Album Reviews|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2REEAAAAMBAJ|magazine=Billboard|date=October 24, 1992|accessdate=July 28, 2023}} In a review of her June 1992 concert at the Henry Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles Times critic Dennis Hunt commented on the album: "Nearly all her material, mostly from her 1992 debut album, Precious, is beneath her talents and her band, handcuffed by woefully pop-ish arrangements, did nothing more than weigh the material down with pedestrian pop trimmings. In person she showed she can sing with much more fire than on the album."{{cite web|first=Dennis|last=Hunt|title=POP MUSIC REVIEW : Material, Sound Problems Bury Moore’s Vocal Power|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-06-26-ca-7209-story.html|website=AllMusic|date=June 26, 1993 |accessdate=April 18, 2025}} AllMusic rated the album three out of five stars.

Precious first debuted on Billboard{{'}}s US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in the week of October 24, 1992. It spent 61 weeks on the chart and eventually peaked at number 20 on the March 20, 1993. The same week, the album also peaked at number 101 on the US Billboard 200, having previously debuted on January 30, 1993. On November 14, 1994, Precious was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments figures in excess of 500,000 copies.

{{Track listing

| headline = Precious track listing

| extra_column = Producer(s)

| total_length = 64:15

| title1 = Love's Taken Over

| writer1 = {{hlist|Chanté Moore|Simon Law}}

| extra1 = {{hlist|Lee "Patches" Hamblin|Law}}

| length1 = 6:39

| title2 = Precious

| writer2 = {{hlist|Carol Duboc|Darrell Smith}}

| extra2 = George Duke

| length2 = 5:52

| title3 = It's Alright

| writer3 = {{hlist|Moore|Vassal Benford}}

| extra3 = Benford

| length3 = 5:37

| title4 = Finding My Way Back to You

| writer4 = {{hlist|Darryl Ross|Diane Quander}}

| extra4 = Duke

| length4 = 4:51

| title5 = Listen to My Song

| writer5 = {{hlist|Moore|Jay Lincoln}}

| extra5 = Duke

| length5 = 5:30

| title6 = As If We Never Met

| writer6 = Jud Friedman

| extra6 = Duke

| length6 = 3:25

| title7 = Candlelight And You

| note7 = featuring Keith Washington

| writer7 = {{hlist|Moore|Phillip L. Stewart II|Tony Haynes}}

| extra7 = Laney Stewart

| length7 = 5:19

| title8 = Who Do I Turn To

| writer8 = {{hlist|Moore|Stewart II|Haynes}}

| extra8 = Stewart

| length8 = 4:42

| title9 = I Wanna Love (Like That Again)

| writer9 = {{hlist|Moore|Michael J. Powell|Vernon Fails}}

| extra9 = Duke

| length9 = 5:07

| title10 = Sexy Thang

| writer10 = {{hlist|Moore|Rodney Fareed Purdy}}

| extra10 = Duke

| length10 = 5:46

| title11 = Because You're Mine

| writer11 = BeBe Winans

| extra11 = Winans

| length11 = 4:24

| title12 = Love's Taken Over

| note12 = Quiet Storm Mix

| writer12 = {{hlist|Moore|Law}}

| extra12 = {{hlist|Patches|Law}}

| length12 = 6:40

}}

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for Precious}}

{{Certification Table Entry|type=album|region=United States|artist=Chanté Moore|title=Precious|award=Gold|certyear=1994|accessdate=July 4, 2017|date=July 4, 2017|refname="RIAA"}}

{{Certification Table Bottom | nosales=true}}

{{Chanté Moore}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Precious (Chante Moore album)}}

Category:1992 debut albums

Category:Chanté Moore albums

Category:Albums produced by Simon Law