After signing with
LaFace Records as an artist, Rich began work on his debut album. Under the
moniker "The Tony Rich Project," he released his debut album
Words in early 1996. and "You're a Winner" to the
Rhythm of the Games: 1996 Olympic Games Album compilation. The following year, Rich received four
Grammy Award nominations including
Best New Artist,
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("Nobody Knows"),
Best R&B Album ("Words"), and
Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("Like a Woman"), winning the award for
Best R&B Album. A third single, "Leavin'" was released in 1997 from his debut album and peaked at No. 88 on the Hot 100 and No. 53 on the R&B chart. Also that year, he did some songwriting/production work on albums by
Sam Salter,
Michael Bolton, 4.0, and
Aaron Neville. He made his feature film debut, portraying
Duke Ellington in the 1997 crime drama
Hoodlum. He recorded the track "Harlem is Home" for the movie soundtrack. After the success of his debut, Rich began work on his next album. The album's first single "Silly Man" was released in 1998 and gained some airplay. His second album
Birdseye was released on August 8, 1998, and peaked at No. 66 on the
Billboard R&B chart. It was critically praised, but failed to generate much commercial success. Due to some label issues/mergers, his album was caught in limbo. That same year, he was commissioned to produce a few remixes for the
Spice Girls hit single "
Viva Forever" in addition to doing some appearances/production work on albums by
CeCe Winans and
Eric Clapton. With his
Birdseye album's cycle cut short, he took some time off to work on various projects. For the next few years, he would write and compose songs for a couple of gospel artists such as Anointed and The Wordd. He also contributed a few tracks to the
Guy reunion album
Guy III of which "Why You Wanna Keep Me from My Baby" was released as a single and peaked at No. 50 on the R&B charts. In 2003, Rich returned with his third album
Resurrected which marked his first release as an independent artist. Carrying a very different styles, the album featured Rich influenced by Rock music, focusing on his guitar work, in addition to various styles of music. The set's lead single "Traveling Alone" became an Urban AC hit and also became a huge hit in the Brazilian market as covered by the artist Luisa Possi and the album had a follow-up single with the track "Red Wine." In 2006, Rich released his fourth album,
Pictures which featured the theme of snapshots of a relationship. It garnered a positive response from his fans, who marked the return to a R&B-focused genre than his previous release. In 2007, he signed with Hidden Beach Recordings, and began work on his fifth solo album
Exist. The first single from the album "Part the Waves" was released as a digital single, and the album soon followed on September 23, 2008. Following the promotion of the album with some tour dates and televised performances, his album track "Sweet Addiction" was featured on Hidden Beach Recordings'
Hidden Beach Valentines Vol. 1: Love, Passion & Other Emotions compilation. In 2009, he began preparations to release a new studio album titled
Speak Me with Hidden Beach Recordings. However, it wasn't until 2013 that the album was then scheduled to be released on March 19, 2013. The album's lead single "Fade Away" was pushed to Smooth Jazz / Smooth AC radio. The album was later pushed back to a summer release but eventually shelved. However, snippets of the album were made available through Hidden Beach Recordings' SoundCloud account. The latest release from The Tony Rich Project is
Encaustic, released in October 2017. ==Discography==