"(At Your Best) You Are Love" is a song by

the Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decade ...

, originally a radio hit in 1976. It was originally dedicated to their mother.

Personnel

* Ronald Isley: lead vocals, background vocals *

O'Kelly Isley, Jr. O'Kelly "Kelly" Isley Jr. (December 25, 1937 – March 31, 1986) was an American singer and one of the founding members of the family group the Isley Brothers. Biography The eldest of the Isley Brothers, Kelly started singing with his brothe ...

: background vocals * Rudolph Isley: background vocals *

Ernie Isley Ernest Isley (born March 7, 1952) is an American musician, best known as a member of the musical ensemble The Isley Brothers, and also the splinter group Isley-Jasper-Isley. Biography Ernie was born in Cincinnati, where his older brothers for ...

: electric guitar, acoustic guitars, drums, background vocals *

Marvin Isley Marvin Isley (August 18, 1953 – June 6, 2010)
– accessed June 2010 was the youngest member of the family music grou ...

: bass played by, background vocals *

Chris Jasper Christopher Howard Jasper (born December 30, 1951) Allmusic biography/ref> is an American singer, composer, and producer. Jasper is a former member of the Isley Brothers and Isley-Jasper-Isley and is responsible for writing and producing the ...

: acoustic piano, electric piano, keyboards, synthesizers, background vocals *Produced, written, composed and arranged by

The Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decade ...

and

Aaliyah version

"(At Your Best) You Are Love" was covered by American singer

Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton (; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer and actress. She has been credited for helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and " ...

for her debut studio album, '' Age Ain't Nothing but a Number'' (1994). The cover, titled "At Your Best (You Are Love)", was released as the second single from ''Age Ain't Nothing but a Number'' on August 22, 1994, by Blackground Records and

Jive Records Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, ...

. A commercial success, it peaked at number six on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number two on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

. Soon after its release, it was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

(RIAA).

Critical reception

"At Your Best (You Are Love)" received widespread critical acclaim. Damien Scott from ''Complex'' felt that the song was a nice departure from the hip hop and

new jack swing New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle, new jack swing wa ...

–inspired songs that comprised a large portion of ''Age Ain't Nothing but a Number''. He said that the song showed Aaliyah was "on the cusp of adulthood".

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

wrote in his weekly UK chart commentary: "Her second hit is in essence a beauty, a sparse but haunting rendition of an old Isley Brothers track, first written and recorded before she was even born." Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' rated it three out of five, adding that "this pretty Isley Brothers

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

is played on traditional instruments, and is sung by the striking young R Kelly protege in intimate and breathily pure style." In a retrospective review, Cydney Lee from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' praised Aaliyah's vocal delivery on the song and felt that she maintained the original song's "depth with a sense of maturity and grace that defined her emerging class of young R&B stars, like

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

and Monica, at the time".

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for "At Your Best (You Are Love)" was directed by

Millicent Shelton Millicent B. Shelton is an American music video, television and film director. Shelton began her career as a wardrobe production assistant on the Spike Lee film ''Do the Right Thing'' (1989). She went on to direct music videos for artists such ...

. It was shot back-to-back with R. Kelly's "

Summer Bunnies "Summer Bunnies" is a song written, produced and performed by American R&B musician R. Kelly. The song reached #55 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, #23 on the UK Top 40 and #20 on the US R&B chart. The song heavily samples the 1982 Gap Band song ...

" and both were released during the fall of 1994. The video uses the remix of the song and features Kelly, who produced it, in the video. It was published on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

in October 2009. As of September 2021, the video has amassed over 15 million views.

Track listings and formats

* US 12-inch vinyl # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Gangstar Child Remix) – 4:30 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Stepper's Ball Remix) – 3:05 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (album version) – 4:43 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Gangstar Child Remix) (instrumental) – 4:30 * US cassette single # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (album version) – 4:43 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Gangstar Child Remix) – 4:30 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Stepper's Ball Remix) – 3:05 * US maxi CD single # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (album version) – 4:43 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Gangstar Child Remix) – 4:30 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Stepper's Ball Remix) – 3:05 # " Back & Forth" (Ms. Mello Radio Mix) – 3:50 * UK 12-inch vinyl # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Gangstar Child Remix) – 4:30 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Stepper's Ball Remix) – 3:05 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (album version) – 4:43 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (UK Flavour Stepper's Mix) – 4:55 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (UK Flavour) – 4:57 * UK cassette and Japanese mini CD singles # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (album version) – 4:43 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Gangstar Child Remix) – 4:30 * UK maxi CD single # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (no intro) – 4:12 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Gangstar Child Remix) – 4:30 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (Stepper's Ball Remix) – 3:05 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (UK Flavour) – 4:57 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (UK Flavour Stepper's Mix) – 4:55 # "At Your Best (You Are Love)" (album version) – 4:43

Credits and personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of ''Age Ain't Nothing but a Number''. *

– lead vocals, backing vocals * R. Kelly – multi-instrumentation, production

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Notes

Other versions

*In the Philippines, the Aaliyah's version was covered by two artists:

MYMP M.Y.M.P. (or MYMP, short for Make Your Momma Proud) is an acoustic band from Quezon City, Philippines. They released their first album, ''Soulful Acoustic'' in 2003 and a double album, '' Beyond Acoustic'' which was a number six charting album, ...

on their album ''

Versions Version may refer to: Computing * Software version, a set of numbers that identify a unique evolution of a computer program * VERSION (CONFIG.SYS directive), a configuration directive in FreeDOS Music * Cover version * Dub version * Remix * ''Ve ...

'' and

Nina Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms * National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq * Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology * No income ...

from her love songs live album ''

Nina Live! ''Nina Live!'' is a live album and the third album by Filipina singer Nina, released in the Philippines on February 23, 2005, by Warner Music Philippines. The original release date for the album was scheduled on February 22, 2005, but it was mov ...

''. *Swedish artist El Perro Del Mar covered the song in 2009 as a special

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

release as well. *In 2010,

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

made a song with

Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. Signing to Def Jam Recordings in 2004, his major label debut, '' Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'', was released the followin ...

called "Unforgettable" using the same beat. *As well as "Activist" Written By Gucci Mane & Peewee Longway: Release Date, August 13, 2013 *In 2015,

Frank Ocean Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean ...

released a cover (You are Luhh) on his

Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to ...

account as a tribute to

, one day after what would have been her 36th birthday. A slightly different version was also included on his visual album ''

Endless Endless or The Endless may refer to: Business * Endless (private equity), a British firm * Endless.com, an e-commerce website selling shoes and accessories * Endless Computers, an American operating system company Film * ''The Endless'' (film ...

''. *In 2021, English singer Sinéad Harnett covered the song with a new music video to tribute to Aaliyah's version of the song.

Samples

Tamar Braxton Tamar Estine Braxton (born March 17, 1977) is an American singer and television personality. Braxton began her career in 1990 as a founding member of The Braxtons, an R&B singing group formed with her sisters. The Braxtons released their debut ...

sampled the song in her single with

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that current ...

, " Let Me Know".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:At Your Best 1975 songs 1994 singles Aaliyah songs The Isley Brothers songs Soul ballads Rhythm and blues ballads Songs written by Chris Jasper Song recordings produced by R. Kelly Songs written by Marvin Isley Songs written by Ernie Isley Songs written by Rudolph Isley Songs written by O'Kelly Isley Jr. Songs written by Ronald Isley 1970s ballads