Peabo Bryson - "If Ever You're in My Arms Again"

(Debuted May 12, 1984, Peaked #10, 25 Weeks on the Chart)

To pop fans, Peabo Bryson was best known for his duet with Roberta Flack called "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love," which had hit #16 in 1983. However, he'd been singing -- as part of several groups as well as a solo act -- since he was a teenager in the 1960s. He was part of Michael Zager's Moon Band in the 1970s and sang on their minor hit "Do it With Feeling." Despite a handful of pop singles that either "bubbled under" or missed the Top 40 altogether, he had greater success on the R&B charts, where he cultivated a more sophisticated-sounding "urban contemporary" sound that sprung up after the decline of Disco.

Besides his penchant for duets, perhaps Bryson's ultimate ballad was "If Ever You're in My Arms Again," a song written by Michael Masser, Cynthia Weil and Tom Snow. A song about realizing what you once had after it's slipped away, it was crafted to suit Bryson's style well, with emotional bridges before the choruses that allowed him to use his vocal range, and became his first Top 10 pop hit (and his only one that wasn't a duet). It also went to #5 on the R&B chart and topped the adult contemporary chart. It was one of his finest moments on record.