Born on October 4, Case Woodward grew up in New York City, New York, US listening to R&B legends like Smokey Robinson and Luther Vandross and striving to reach the success achieved by his influential peers Babyface and Mat J. Blige. Case started his music career performing in various R&B groups like Future and Black and progressed towards an occupation as a back up singer, working for pop mainstays such as Usher, Christopher Williams, and AI B. Sure. Case’s hard work behind the scenes finally earned him the opportunity to act as a solo artist. His first single was written by soul diva Faith Evans. The track grabbed the attention of Def Jam Records, eventually leading him into a recording contract with the label.
Case was shuttled into mainstream success with some of his earliest recordings. His single “Touch Me, Tease Me”, which featured appearances by rapper Foxy Brown and singer Mary J. Blige landed on the popular soundtrack to “The Nutty Professor”. The album entered the US Billboard 200 at No. 63 and the R&B Charts at No. 4. His self-titled debut also included this single as well as the hits “More to Love” and “I Gotcha”. The album shot to No. 7 on the R&B Charts and featured material primarily written by Mary J. Blige.
His next album Personal Conversation” went platinum and contained the 3 singles “Happily Ever After” (feat. Beyonce Knowles), “Faded Pictures” (feat. Joe) and “Think of You”. 2001 marked the release of his 3rd and most successful album to date “Open Letter”. The album was his first to reach gold status, though “Personal Conversation” would eventually go on to do so as well. This release contained the R&B chart topping single “Missing You”, which acted as a major commercial boost for the album, pushing it all the way to No. 5 on the US albums chart.
2009’s “The Rose Experience” did not do as well as “Open Letter” on the US charts; however, it matched it’s success on the R&B charts peaking at No. 2. The album was produced by Case and was self-released through his personal label Indigo Blue. Wu-tang member Ghostface appeared as a guest rapper on the track “Shoulda Known Betta”. Case’s follow up album “Here, My Love” came out on 15 June 2010 through Real Talk Entertainment.
Message to anyone born in the early 90’s; no matter what music you might be mainly into, chances are that you love early 2000’s R&B more than you think you do. Definitely more others would ever admit to at the very least. It’s extremely difficult not to, especially when one takes into account the nostalgia factor; for many this was their first exposure to pop music that was truly their own, and it would take someone truly churlish to give anyone stick for that. I suppose many would have moved on by now but looking back there are more than a few total classics that history doesn’t recall as well as Usher, R. Kelly and the like. Chief among them is New York City born crooner Case, also known as Case Woodard to his mum. Classic tracks of his like Happily Ever After, Missing You and Touch Me, Tease Me still hold up to this day, but are especially spectacular in a live setting, if only to see just how much legitimate passion Case can still bring with only his voice after nearly two decades of performing. He finds the sweet spot between histrionic and honest better than most of today’s top R&B singers and at this point, a show of his would be an intimate master class in performance. A true discovery for anyone who wrote the genre off before, and no doubt a treat for fans as well.