Success Of All-4-One Goes Around The Globe

With this week’s release of “And The Music Speaks,” vocal quartet All-4-One is primed to continue its worldwide reign of success that began in 1994.

Its first single, “So Much In Love,” reached No. 5. “I Swear” topped the Hot 100 Singles chart for 11 weeks, and its self-titled debut album, which peaked at No. 7 on The Billboard 200, has sold more than 1.9 million copies, according to SoundScan.

The group’s success hasn’t been limited to America. Its first album has gone gold in Japan (100,000 copies sold), platinum in Norway (50,000) and Malaysia (40,000), and double platinum in South Korea (100,000) and Singapore (80,000). “I Swear” went gold in France (250,000), double platinum in Australia (140,000), and platinum in Germany (500,000), Austria (50,000), and England (600,000).

Back in America, “I Can Love You Like That,” the first single from the group’s new album, shipped to radio in early May, has garnered airplay on more than 54 top 40 stations, according to Broadcast Data Systems. Coincidentally, the song is also a country hit for John Michael Montgomery. He also scored a country hit with “I Swear” prior to All-4-One’s pop success with the tune.

All-4-One’s Delious, who prefers to go by one name, says the group didn’t know about Montgomery’s version of “I Can Love You Like That” when it recorded the song. “We got it last summer, and we supposedly put a hold on it,” he says. “How it got out to John Michael we will never know.”

Says Atlantic Group president Val Azzoli, “A good song is a good song, and the two formats don’t run into each other … The two versions are totally different, so it’s a nonissue.”

The sophomore album “And The Music Speaks” will be crucial for the group, which has been compared to Boyz II Men and Color Me Badd. While Boyz II Men flourished with its second official album, “II,” Color Me Badd was not able to repeat the success of its debut.

Azzoli points out that All-4-One is in a different situation. “We didn’t wait two or three years between albums,” he says. “The first album is still selling. We haven’t lost any momentum.”

In addition to Delious, the vocal group features Tony Borowiak, Jamie Jones and Alfred Nevarez. The three Lancaster, Calif.residents met self-proclaimed “Air Force brat” Delious at a local talent show. None of the four had vocal training, but they cite their church choir as a major influence.

The group’s tour plans reflect its global popularity. It will begin its tour in July in the United States before heading off to the Far East in October. Upon the group’s return, it will hit the States again through Christmas before venturing on its first European tour in mid-January.