British born reggae fusion artist Maxi Priest already had three full-length albums under his belt when he dropped the hit first single on his album Bonafide. One of only two British reggae songs to accomplish the feat, Close To You topped the Billboard Hot 100 for a week in October of 1990. Surprisingly the song was not as big of a hit in Maxi’s own country: it peaked at #7 on the U.K. Singles chart.

Part of Close To You’s appeal might have been its sound, which leans even closer to Pop/R&B than most of Maxi Priest’s reggae fusion catalogue.