"Fortunate" is a

neo soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contempo ...

song from the 1999 motion picture ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

'' and was released on the film's

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

. The song was written, composed, produced and arranged by

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwid ...

and recorded by Maxwell. "Fortunate" was awarded Best R&B Single of the Year at the

Billboard Music Award The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

and Best R&B/Soul Single (Male) at

Soul Train Music Awards The Soul Train Music Awards is an annual music awards show which previously aired in national broadcast syndication, and honors the best in African-American culture, music and entertainment. It is produced by the makers of ''Soul Train'', the pro ...

. Maxwell was nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Male Vocalist and also nominated for a

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards The Blockbuster Entertainment Awards was a film awards ceremony, founded by Blockbuster Entertainment, Inc., that ran from 1995 until 2001. They were produced each year by Ken Ehrlich. Formation and first awards The awards were first held on Ju ...

for Favorite Song of the Year. The song, Maxwell's biggest hit to date, spent eight weeks at number one on the US R&B chart and peaked at number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It is his first number-one R&B hit, eventually followed by "

Pretty Wings "Pretty Wings" is a single by American singer-songwriter Maxwell, taken from his fourth studio album ''BLACKsummers'night''. It was written and produced by Maxwell and Hod David. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ...

" in 2009. According to R. Kelly, Maxwell didn't want to sing "Fortunate". Instead, he wanted to sing the song "

" - which Kelly gave to

K-Ci & JoJo K-Ci & JoJo is an American R&B duo, consisting of brothers Cedric "K-Ci" Hailey (born September 2, 1969) and Joel "JoJo" Hailey (born June 10, 1971). Natives of Monroe, North Carolina, they are also the lead singers of the chart-topping R&B g ...

. Kelly rejected Maxwell's idea because he felt that the neo-soul singer wouldn't have been believable singing a song from the perspective of a prison inmate.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 1999 singles Songs written by R. Kelly Songs written for films Music videos directed by Francis Lawrence 1998 songs Columbia Records singles Song recordings produced by R. Kelly Maxwell (musician) songs Contemporary R&B ballads Soul ballads 1990s ballads

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

See also

References