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Brian McKnight performs "Anytime" on CNN's Showbiz Today Full audio performance: 950k MPEG-3 Audio clip: 300k WAV Video clip: 1.7Mb QuickTime File format info Please enable JavaScript

Web posted on:
Friday, February 19, 1999 5:17:42 PM EST

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- R&B artist Brian McKnight is up for a Soul Train award next month and is a Grammy nominee for Best Male Vocal Performance in both the R&B and pop categories. But McKnight says he never set out to create music with crossover appeal.

"I never tried to categorize what I did. I write music and then I put it out and whoever decides to latch on to it, they do. ...It is a testament to the hard work because it is difficult to crossover for lots of different reasons," McKnight says.

The title song of his album, "Anytime," has won him a pop nomination, while "The Only One for Me" earned him a nomination in the R&B category.

McKnight crosses over into another area as well: He is an actor with a recurring role on the WB's "Sister, Sister." He'd like to do more acting.

"It's always something I've been interested in," McKnight says. "People are asking me if that's what I want to do. I'm like, well, I want to be prepared. I've been taking acting classes and been with a coach for a couple years now."