Sam Salter - The Little Black Book (2000)

Samuel Salter was born on 16 February 1975 in Los Angeles, and at a young age he won several local talent shows, with a vocal style that was influenced by Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. In 1997, after his demo tape found its way into the hands of L.A. Reid of LaFace Records, he was quickly signed to the label and he began to work on his debut album with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. He ended up working with Tricky Stewart and Laney Stewart who produced the majority of the album, as well as Tony Rich, Robin Thicke and Gordon Chambers, and the first single from the sessions was released in early 1997, with 'After 12, Before 6' becoming a Top 20 R&B hit. His debut album, 'It's On Tonight', was released on 23 September 1997 and garnered positive reviews, while a second single from the album, the ballad 'There You Are', was released and hit the Top 40 on the R&B charts. Around this time, he continued to work on his songwriting, providing songs for 98 Degrees, Aaron Skyy, and Kandi Burruss' solo debut. In 1999 Salter began preparing for his sophomore album with LaFace Records, and the lead single 'Once My Sh.. (Always My Sh..)' was released and featured a steamy music video, but the song only received moderate airplay. He completed work on the album, titled 'The Little Black Book', and it was set for release in 2000, but due to a re-shuffle at the label, along with some other issues, it was shelved. Despite this outcome, a few of the songs ended up being recorded by other artists such as Boyz II Men, who recorded 'Color Of Love', and Sisqó, who recorded the non-album song 'Incomplete'. With this validation that it was not the quality of the songs which was the problem, here is what would have been Salter's frankly superb second album for LaFace in 2000. 

Track listing

01 Intro  
02 Make Me Stay  
03 Once My Sh.. (Always My Sh..) 
04 Dime Piece 
05 Go Down 
06 Another Man's Got You 
07 Best Friend 
08 Did I Die 
09 Your Side Of The Bed  
10 Money Can't Buy You  
11 Color Of Love 
12 You Don't Have To Be Lonely 
13 Love Again