Kenny G Releasing Greatest Hits Album
“Greatest Hits,” the first best-of collection by Kenny G, is due from Arista this week, but when executives at the label started tossing the idea around back in July, the sax man wasn’t sure he had what it takes to put out a greatest-hits album.
“I’d never thought about doing that kind of a collection. I didn’t know if I had enough of what you would call hits,” Kenny G says. “It meant a lot to me to know that my friends at the label believed in me and my music enough to go through with a project like that.”
That’s awfully modest for the 10th-best-selling artist in the SoundScan era; SoundScan has been tracking sales since 1991. His 1994 album, “Miracles,” is the No. 1-selling holiday album at 5.6 million copies sold, according to SoundScan. It spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and was No. 1 on The Billboard 200 for three weeks.
His nonseasonal albums pack a similar punch.
His last set of original material, “The Moment,” spent 50 weeks at No. 1 on Top Contemporary Jazz Albums and reached No. 2 on The Billboard 200. The 1996 album sold more than 2.4 million copies, according to SoundScan.
“Breathless,” released in 1992, had even better longevity, as it remained on The Billboard 200 for 214 weeks, peaking at No. 2, and spent 213 weeks on Top Contemporary Jazz Albums with a six-week reign at No. 1.
It’s the 10th-best-selling album in the SoundScan era, with more than 7.5 million units sold.
“There are artists and then there are artists. Kenny is the genuine article. He cuts across age, race, and genre barriers,” says Arista president Clive Davis, who discovered the musician and gave him his first solo recording contract 15 years ago.
“‘Greatest Hits’ is the culmination of all his hard work and creativity. This package is a milestone event with a huge audience awaiting its arrival.”
The album contains two new tracks, “Loving You” and “Baby G”; a duet with Toni Braxton previously available on her “Secrets” album; a cover of “You Send Me” with Michael Bolton; and a different mix of the “All The Way/ One For My Baby” duet with Frank Sinatra.