His first hit song, "Love Is" (with Vanessa Williams) was recorded for the Beverly Hills, 90210 soundtrack in 1993, and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

His 1997 single, "You Should Be Mine (Don't Waste Your Time)" (featuring Mase) peaked within the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and led his third album, Anytime (1997)—his final release with Mercury before he signed with Motown.

His 1999 single, "Back at One" peaked at number two on the chart and remains his highest-charting song; it preceded the album of the same name (1999), which was the first of four of his albums—Superhero (2001), U Turn (2003), and Gemini (2005)—to consecutively debut within the top ten of the Billboard 200.

At the age of ten, McKnight and his family moved to Orlando, Florida, and began his musical ambitions in his early teens.

[8] His self-titled debut album Brian McKnight was released in 1992, and peaked at number 58 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Anytime, McKnight's final album with Mercury, sold over two million copies and was nominated for a Grammy.

[citation needed] After the release of his self-titled debut album, McKnight was part of the group Black Men United alongside Gerald Levert, his then-labelmate Joe, Christopher Williams, Boyz II Men, and others for the song "U Will Know", featured on the soundtrack to the film Jason's Lyric, released in late 1994, in which he produced it with D'Angelo.

Three singles were released from the album: "Find Myself in You" (which originally appeared on the soundtrack to the 2006 Tyler Perry movie Madea's Family Reunion), "Used to Be My Girl" and "What's My Name".

McKnight sang the National Anthem for MLB Opening Day in Cincinnati, Ohio with his sons Brian, Jr. and Niko on March 31, 2011.

Additionally, McKnight sang "God Bless America" in the 7th inning of Game 7 of the National League Champion Series in San Francisco on October 22, 2012.

[citation needed] On April 23, 2012, McKnight posted to YouTube "If You're Ready To Learn", which has been characterized by Billboard as a "filthy jam".

"[13] Other media outlets such as MTV, the Toronto Sun, and NewMediaRockstars[14] have also written about McKnight's recent, more adult-oriented efforts.

McKnight later explained that he wrote the parody as a commentary on the state of R&B, which he noted was in a period of degradation overall with famous radio station 98.7 Kiss FM shuttering and hit singles being inferior quality music, among other ailments.

[19] On September 23, 2016 (twenty years from the date of his studio album Anytime), McKnight released his first live CD, DVD and Blu-ray collection entitled An Evening with Brian McKnight (in partnership with independent recording label, SoNo Recording Group, via the Universal Music Group).

His grandfather was a pastor of a church, and his mother played the piano and sang in a gospel choir in Buffalo's Emanuel Temple.

In his second year, McKnight got into trouble for violating Oakwood's rules about dormitory visitors for having his girlfriend in his dorm room.