Days Go By

Days Go By is the debut studio album of jazz singer and URAPS Idol contestant Riley Brendan. It was released on December 27th, 2010, two weeks prior to its lead single "Nothing Hurts Like Love". The album debuted at #6, but peaked at #4 with the help of biggest UK hit "Excuse You". It spent 25 weeks on chart in total, and is certified platinum with sales of over 470k. The album has been certified platinum in America, having spawned three gold-certified hits.

Background & Recording
After being the first eliminated from Uraps IDOL season 11, Riley was invited to record a song for the IDOL: Encore compilation album. He recorded "Haven't Met You Yet" by Michael Bublè, which he sang for his audition. This was his first time in a recording studio, and it was not a favourable experience. Despite this, Riley self-funded additional recording sessions for material that would go on his single release of "Haven't Met You Yet". Later that year he met with producer Dermott Elderwood and together they began work on Riley's album. Riley's alcoholism became a major issue throughout the recording process, with Riley drinking copious amounts of wine in the recording studio just to keep himself mellow. Riley chose to record cover songs for half of the album's material, while the other half of the album would be made up of Riley's original songs. Riley made the executive decision not to include "All I Need" and "Knight Fall" (b-sides on the "Haven't Met You Yet" single) on the album. Riley signed with Blacklight Records during the recording process.

In March, both Riley's US and UK labels wanted Riley to go on tour; Blacklight's condition for the UK tour was that Riley should release a tour edition of the album so that they would allow him to release another single in the UK. Riley agreed to their terms, and recorded six additional songs for the tour edition of the album, which was released alongside "Eternity". Riley followed the same pattern of half covers and half originals. The tour edition of the album contains 18 tracks - 9 of them are covers and the other 9 are original songs. Riley collaborated with Loretta Lambert, Genevere Johnson and Kleo on tracks for the album. Riley's sound for the album was a mixture of jazz stylings, adult contemporary and pop music.

Collaborations
Aside from having to pay royalties for the large number of covers that he recorded, Riley recorded some duets with some of his female contemporaries. He wrote the song "Tangoette" as a duet with Elice Claire; but because she was in retirement at the time, she regretfully declined the offer. It was then shopped around and Loretta Lambert was chosen to record the female part instead. Loretta's slight husk offset Riley's smooth tone well on the track, which was popular with critics. Riley also recorded with the winner of his IDOL season; he recorded the song "Nothing 'Bout Love Makes Sense" with Genevere Johnson, because her soulful vocals also combined well with Riley's voice. Later, when recording the additional tracks for the tour edition of his album, Riley worked with then-newcomer Kleo, who came to his attention after her debut single "The Girl's A Mess" featured jazz influences. Kleo appeared on a cover of "Broken Strings" by James Morrison and Nelly Furtado. Riley invited Kleo on tour with him as his support act, and to perform some duets with him during the show.

Tracklisting
All songs produced by Dermott Elderwood, except track 3 which was produced by Bob Rock.

Chart Performance
"Days Go By" debuted at #6 on the UK albums chart with sales of 58,542 copies, and it reached a new peak of #4 eleven weeks later when Riley's single "Excuse You" became a top 5 hit. The album was supported by three singles in the UK, plus a special edition released to coincide with Riley's UK tour. The album spent 25 weeks on chart and sold over 470k in that time, to be certified platinum. In the US, the album debuted in the top 20, and peaked in the top 10 following a high-profile performance of US single "Be Good To Me". The album reached platinum in the US as well, selling in excess of a million copies.

Chart Run
TOTAL: 474,299
 * Week 1: #6 - 58,542
 * Week 2: #9 - 36,184
 * Week 3: #15 - 27,217
 * Week 4: #22 - 14,784
 * Week 5: #24 - 13,865
 * Week 6: #32 - 10,534
 * Week 7: #31 - 8,738
 * Week 8: #29 - 9,763
 * Week 9: #23 - 11,732
 * Week 10: #18 - 19,450
 * Week 11: #4 - 60,763
 * Week 12: #9 - 29,447
 * Week 13: #16 - 17,889
 * Week 14: #22 - 11,765
 * Week 15: #27 - 8,756
 * Week 16: #37 - 3,983
 * Week 17: #37 - 4,231
 * Week 18: #37 - 3,570
 * Week 19: #34 - 7,045
 * Week 20: #9 - 39,755
 * Week 21: #7 - 31,959
 * Week 22: #13 - 19,361
 * Week 23: #23 - 13,307
 * Week 24: #37 - 4,420
 * Week 25: #35 - 7,239 (RE-ENTRY)