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Eric Benet, known for his sexy swagger and smooth R&B vocals, has also been marked by his messy divorce from actress Halle Berry and accusations of sex addiction.
Now things are looking up for the musician: He has a new album and a new woman.
"I'm happy," he said in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. "I love dancing and laughing and cracking jokes and making love."
He will bring his new attitude and latest hits to the Attucks Theatre in Norfolk on Friday.
Benet's latest album, "Love & Life," hit stores last month, and the lead single, "You're the Only One," is in the top 20 on a Billboard chart.
It's a huge leap from his melancholy 2005 release, "Hurricane."
"They tell me that it feels good, you know, and that's really, really complimentary because I'm feeling good right now," he said.
The Milwaukee, Wis., native recorded his latest album in his hometown.
"That has a lot to do with why the record feels so good, because I had so many loved ones around me. I was able to walk along, you know, the streets where I spent a lot of time with my first girlfriend - stir up all these emotions and memories from back in the day."
Benet's 12-track project opens with "Love Patience & Time," a horn-driven, mid-tempo track about a fatherless girl, a war vet and others. In the song, Benet stresses that love, patience and time will help them cope. It's his attempt to be "socially conscious without trying to hit people over the head with a message."
Later, he ditches that vibe for a few dance tracks and plenty of ballads.
"I can't really pick a favorite song on the album, but, so far, the track that's really fun to perform is 'Chocolate Legs.' "
The song hasn't hit radio yet, but Benet's concert-goers seem to love it at first listen.
"By the time I get to the first chorus, they're reacting strongly, and that's rare. That's rare for a song. Usually, radio stations gotta play a song 5,000 times before people be like, 'That's my jam.' "
On this album, Benet didn't deal with the manufactured beats that are often only paired with lyrics toward the end of the writing process.
He wanted a classic sound, so he had to "sit down at the piano, pick up the guitar, construct a melody and a chord structure and have them be conceived at the same time so they complement and they're kind of married to each other."
What about music outside of his own? He tells us he's still hooked on the classics - Ella Fitzgerald, Donny Hathaway, Al Green and Steely Dan. As for new artists, he's into Chri-sette Michele and Jazmine Sullivan.
For his own show Friday in Norfolk, Benet promises to bring "straight, raw, real emotion."
"It's just gonna be sexy. Shouldn't expect any dancers onstage, pyrotechnics or anything like that. Just expect me being at the best I've ever been at my game."
DeAnne Bradley, (757) 222-3897, deanne.bradley@link757.com
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