In 1999, British singer George Michael and American singer Mary J. Blige lined the tune for Michael’s best hits album Girls & Gents: The Better of George Michael(1998). Launched exterior america on March 1, 1999, because the second single from the album, “As” turned a top-10 hit in Michael’s dwelling nation, reaching quantity 4 on the UK Singles Chart, and in addition charted inside the prime 10 in Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain.
“As” was not launched on the US model of Girls & Gents or as a single within the US. Michael cited Blige’s file firm president, Jay Boberg, for pulling the observe after Michael’s arrest for committing a lewd act in a public restroom. In 2019, Kirk Burrowes, who govt produced Blige’s fourth album Mary, informed Rated R&B that it was certainly Boberg’s determination to not launch “As” within the US: “[Boberg] didn’t wish to let George Michael, who initiated that unique manufacturing, use it as a single within the U.S. to launch his best hits album. It pissed everybody off at Sony. It pissed George Michael off. It pissed everybody off, however we couldn’t make Jay Boberg bend. He ought to have put it on the Mary album, however we couldn’t put it on the album within the states as a result of he wouldn’t let George Michael put it on the Girls & Gents [album] within the states.”