Maxwell's highest-charting Hot 100 hit was written by “R. Kelly”
R. Kelly wrote and produced "Fortunate" for the Life soundtrack. It gave Maxwell eight weeks at No. 1 on the R&B chart and a No. 4 Hot 100 peak.
"Fortunate" arrived on March 3, 1999 as part of the soundtrack to Life, the prison comedy starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. R. Kelly wrote, arranged and produced it for Columbia, Rockland and Interscope. Maxwell supplied the vocal, but his name is absent from the writing and production credits.
Maxwell was between albums. Embrya had come out in 1998 and Now would not follow until 2001, so "Fortunate" became his first new single of that gap. Its restrained drums and electric piano frame his falsetto, while the songwriting credits belong entirely to Kelly.
“According to R. Kelly, Maxwell didn't want to sing "Fortunate". Instead, he wanted to sing "Life", which Kelly gave to K-Ci & JoJo.”
— As reported in Wikipedia, citing Keith Murphy's April 2013 Vibe Q&A with R. Kelly
Kelly's reason, in that same account: he did not think Maxwell would be believable singing from a prison inmate's point of view. So Maxwell got the love song. K-Ci & JoJo got the title track. "Fortunate" reached No. 4 on the Hot 100, higher than any of Maxwell's other singles.
- Song
- Fortunate
- Artist
- Maxwell
- Writer / producer
- R. Kelly (Robert Kelly)
- Album
- Life: Music Inspired by the Motion Picture · 1999
- Released
- March 3, 1999
- Hot 100 peak
- No. 4 (peak week May 29, 1999; 25 weeks on chart)
- Hot R&B/Hip-Hop
- No. 1 for 8 weeks
- 1999 year-end Hot 100
- No. 24
- RIAA
- Gold
"Fortunate" entered the Billboard Hot 100 on April 10, 1999, reached No. 4 and spent 25 weeks on the chart. It led Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for eight weeks, becoming Maxwell's first R&B No. 1. He did not return to that summit until "Pretty Wings" in 2009. Billboard ranked it No. 24 on the 1999 year-end Hot 100, and the RIAA certified it Gold.
At the 1999 Billboard Music Awards, "Fortunate" won R&B Single of the Year. It also won Best R&B/Soul Single (Male) at the Soul Train Music Awards and earned Maxwell a Grammy nomination for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.
The soundtrack credit still catches listeners out. Maxwell sang his highest-charting Hot 100 single, but the words and music came from R. Kelly.
