RL (singer)

Robert "RL" Lavelle Huggar (born April 2, 1977, in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American R&B singer, record producer and songwriter. He is best known for being the lead singer of the R&B group Next.[1][2]

Early life
RL was born in 1977 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Robert and Toni Huggar. Growing up, he was exposed to a variety of musical styles that helped influence his sound. His admiration of artists like Prince and Michael Jackson and music producers such as Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis encouraged him to pursue music.[citation needed]

Next
Main article: Next (group)

Fronted by R. L. Huggar, brothers Terry Brown and Raphael Brown, Next originally performed under the name "Straight4ward." For broader commercial appeal, the name was changed to "Next". The group was introduced to producer and DJ artist KayGee from Naughty By Nature. Subsequently, they signed with KayGee's newly formed Divine Mill record label, which, at the time, was distributed through Arista Records.

Solo
RL first distinguished himself outside of Next with his duet with Deborah Cox on the song “We Can’t Be Friends” as well as other feature projects. RL followed up that effort with “The Best Man I Can Be”, the super-group track from The Best Man movie soundtrack which also featured Ginuwine, Tyrese and Case. By the time RL’s soulful “Good Love” (from The Brothers movie soundtrack) and his hook to Tupac’s Until the End of Time were released, he had created an artistic persona distinct and separate from Next. RL: Ements is RL’s debut solo project and was released on J Records. It spawned the singles "Got Me A Model" (featuring Erick Sermon) and "Good Man".