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In 1987, she released her debut album All By Myself which featured the hit single "Show Me The Way" which reached # 2 on the R&B charts. In 1989, Belle released her second album, "Stay with Me". Going gold, the album was packed with several strong and catchy songs. "Baby Come To Me", the album`s first single, topped the R&B charts at # 1 and was followed by "What Goes Around" which reached # 3. The album featured two additional popular singles, "This Is Love" which reached # 7 and "Make It Like It Was" which was another # 1 single on the R&B charts and # 5 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The album included another hit, a song by the celebrated songwriter Diane Warren, "All I Want Is Forever", a duet with former Kool & the Gang lead singer James "J.T." Taylor, which made the Top Ten.
Belle recorded a duet in 1991 with singing superstar Johnny Mathis, "Better Together" which appeared on his album Better Together: The Duet Album. Continuing her success with duets, Belle teamed up with Peabo Bryson for the song "A Whole New World", which was the featured pop single from the soundtrack to the 1992 Disney movie "Aladdin". It was composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Tim Rice. The song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, went gold, won the Grammy Award in 1993 for "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and a "Best Song" Oscar in the same year.
During the same year, Belle released her third album, "Passion". Going Gold, the album featured the previously mentioned "A Whole New World", "Dream In Color" and "If I Could" - the same song had been recorded previously by Regina`s mentor, jazz diva Nancy Wilson, and later by Canadian peer Celine Dion - which reached # 9 on the R&B charts. Both did well on the A/C chart. A fourth single, "The Deeper I Love" was released but it did not chart.
The biggest crime of "Passion" is that "A Whole New World (Aladdin`s Theme)" didn`t do the same thing for Belle`s career that "Beauty and the Beast" did for Celine Dion`s. Dion`s duet with Peabo Bryson is the song that truly got her career off the ground, and the Canadian diva went on to become a multi-platinum singer of movie hits and pop classics.
Sadly, even with Belle`s pairing with Bryson becoming a #1 pop record, Belle`s post-Disney success was mostly relegated to the R&B charts, with crossover success wrongly out of reach. Then again, if a gorgeously-produced and perfectly-performed album is any consolation, then "Passion" is all the reward Regina will ever need.
In the late `80s-early `90s, Regina Belle blossomed as a vocal phenomenon and a shining star responsible for such classics as "Baby come To Me", "A Whole New World", "Make Like It Was","What Goes Around" and the gorgeous "If I Could". In those days, Anita Baker and Regina Belle were the true Queens of R&B/Soul music and literally they ruled all Billboard charts.
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