Before You Walk Out of My Life

"Before You Walk Out of My Life"
Single by Monica
from the album Miss Thang
Released	August 3, 1995 (1995-08-03)
Length	4:53
Label	Rowdy Arista
Songwriter(s)	Andrea Martin Carsten Schack Kenneth Karlin
Producer(s)	Soulshock & Karlin
Monica singles chronology
"Don't Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)" (1995) "Before You Walk Out of My Life" / "Like This and Like That" (1995) "Why I Love You So Much"/"Ain't Nobody" (1996)

"Before You Walk Out of My Life" is a song by American R&B singer Monica. It was written by Andrea Martin, Carsten Schack, and Kenneth Karlin, with production helmed by Schack and Karlin under their production moniker Soulshock & Karlin. Initially helmed for fellow R&B singer Toni Braxton's Secrets (1996) album, it was left unused and later re-recorded by Monica for her debut album Miss Thang (1995). Built around drum machine-backed rhythms and a saxophone-laced beat, the mid-tempo R&B ballad was released as the album's second single on August 3, 1995, with "Like This and Like That" serving as its other half on a double A-side stateside. It is considered to be one of her signature songs.

In the United States, "Before You Walk Out of My Life" became Monica's second number-one hit on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart, spending two weeks at number-one. It also reached the top ten on the US Billboard Hot 100, the New Zealand Singles Chart, and the UK R&B chart. Additionally, the song was ranked number thirty-eight on the 1996 Billboard year-end chart and certified platinum by the RIAA.^[1] "Before You Walk Out of My Life," alongside previous single "Don't Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)," made the singer the youngest recording artist to have two consecutive number-one hits on Billboard's R&B chart at the age of fourteen.