| "Set Me Free" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Jermaine Stewart | ||||
| from the album Set Me Free | ||||
| Released | 1992 | |||
| Format | 12" single, CD single | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 3:44 | |||
| Label | Reprise | |||
| Writer(s) | Jermaine Stewart, Jesse Saunders | |||
| Producer | Jesse Saunders | |||
| Jermaine Stewart singles chronology | ||||
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"Set Me Free" is pop vocalist Jermaine Stewart's last single from his music career, released in 1992. The song is from the album of the same name "Set Me Free" which remains unreleased to date. The single saw Stewart entering a Hip Hop/House influenced sound that dominated the 1990s music decade.
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Since 1988, there had been a decline in Stewart's popularity, with the 1988 single "Don't Talk Dirty to Me" only reaching #61 in the UK.[1] Stewart's first 1989 single "Is It Really Love?" failed to chart in the UK at all.[2] "Tren de Amor" managed to just peak into the UK top 100, peaking at #97 and the 1990 single "Every Woman Wants To peaked at #95.[3]
"Set Me Free" was only released in America due to Stewart joining a new record label Reprise Records. The single was released to little success, failing to make any commercial impact at all. As a result of the single's failure, the same-titled album was shelved, despite being fully recorded. It was already mentioned on the cover of the single release that the same-titled album was to follow.
A promotional video was created for the single[4] which became Stewart's last music video. The video remained unreleased until it surfaced on YouTube.
"Set Me Free" was written by Stewart and Jesse Saunders. Saunders is a DJ, music and film producer, remix artist, promoter and entrepreneur. He is one of the pioneers of House music, often cited as "the originator of House music".
Saunders also produced the single, as well as the entire "Set Me Free" album.
The "Set Me Free" single version was a noticeably different remix of the unreleased album version as Stewart wished to use a remix for the official single. The album also features an acapella version of the song.[5]
For the single, various remixes of "Set Me Free" were released - aiming at clubs and DJ use. These remixes were created by David Shaw and Winston Jones.
For Stewart's 1989 album "What Becomes a Legend Most", a song written by Derek Bramble was also titled "Set Me Free" although the two songs are not the same.
After the album was shelved, Stewart lived in silence until the mid-1990s where he began recording a new album titled "Believe In Me". As Stewart was suffering from AIDS at the time, the album was never completed with Stewart dying of AIDS-related liver cancer on March 17, 1997 at age 39.
These tracks for "Believe In Me" were released on the compilation "A Tribute To 'Jermaine Stewart' "Attention"".[6] This compilation was created by Stewart's brother, Gene Stewart as a tribute to his music. Nine of the twelve tracks on the compilation were from after 1992's "Set Me Free".
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Dance/Club Play Songs Chart | 43 |
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