Shooting up out of nowhere, Tank`s single "Please Don`t Go" is his first major R&B hit in six years. It`s also shaping up to be the biggest single of his career. Needless to say, Tank is excited. On the phone from Atlanta during his run in the stage play 'Men, Money and Gold Diggers,' he summed up his feelings in eight words, "I`m like a kid in a candy store."

Tank initially bulldozed his way into the R&B top 10 in 2001 with the sensual ballad "Maybe I Deserve." Peaking at No. 7 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. 38 on The Billboard Hot 100, the song propelled Tank`s first album, 'Force of Nature,' to a No. 1 debut on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The set has sold 775,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

'One Man' arrived the following year. Though it peaked at No. 4 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and No. 20 on The Billboard 200, sales fell off to 246,000 units. Tank`s highest-ranking R&B single from that project was the title track at No. 25.

That is, until now. "Please Don`t Go," a ballad about love, trust and stepping out on a relationship, comes in this week at No. 12 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

As for why the song is clicking, Tank says it`s just a "typical Tank record" that relates to both sexes. "It`s not strictly a woman`s song where the guys have to catch on," the Milwaukee-born singer/songwriter says. Laughing when asked what personal experience triggered the song, he says only, "I took a situation and went general with it. The song says what guys wish they could say or had said, while women are saying, 'That`s right, listen to him.'"

At R&B/hip-hop WKKV Milwaukee, where "Please Don`t Go" has been in power rotation since before Christmas, PD Bailey Coleman underscores Tank`s assessment. "Listeners love it. Men are telling their wives to listen and vice versa. The song speaks to real-life situations that happen all the time."

The single`s popularity bodes well for Tank`s third album, the aptly titled 'Sex, Love & Pain.' The Good Game/Blackground/Universal Motown release is slated for mid-May. A small group of fellow producers, including the Underdogs and Lil Jon, lent their skills. Crooning snippets of Motown songs, Tank describes the album as the "R&B I remember with Marvin [Gaye] and Smokey [Robinson]. 'Let me celebrate my woman, let`s cruise, I`m sorry, tell her she did me dirty' . . . This album goes back to what R&B is supposed to talk about."

Given the album`s traditional R&B slant and Tank`s long chart absence, Blackground executive VP Jomo Hankerson says the label opted to start the record at adult R&B despite the singer`s young age. The strategy is paying off, as the cut is No. 4 on that chart. It debuted at No. 95 four weeks ago on the Hot 100 and has since risen to No. 92.

"That`s why we took that approach," Hankerson says. "He`s basically a new artist again who has to get out there and hit every radio station possible."

Tank has been doing just that, piggybacking station visits and performances onto his nearly two-month-long stint in 'Men, Money and Gold Diggers,' which closed April 1. Also starring Robin Givens and singer Ginuwine (with whom Tank got his start as a background vocalist), the play has traveled to such markets as Cleveland and Detroit.

Having stayed busy between albums penning songs for Jamie Foxx, Omarion, Fantasia, Chris Brown and Kelly Rowland`s upcoming sophomore set, Tank says, "R&B is re-emerging with something people want to be part of again."

Taken from M&C