Will Downing has been around long enough to be one of the few Grammy- nominated singers left in his lane. After 26 albums, (including his latest, “Pieces”) the R&B singer is fine with where his career, which began in the 1980s, has put him.

In his signature honey-tinged baritone voice, Mr. Downing acknowledged having withstood the test of time.

“Yeah, I’m one of the last ones standing that do R&B the way adults or a slightly older demographic remembers,” he said from his New Jersey home recently.

As his local fans will tell you, Mr. Downing has strong ties to Richmond. He attended Virginia Union University and decided to become a singer after attending a concert at the Richmond Coliseum that featured the group D-Train. He looks forward to seeing familiar faces when he comes to the Greater Richmond Convention Center on June 16. Guest vocalist Leela James also will perform.

In addition to his music and next album, Mr. Downing discussed a recent family tragedy and pandemic audiences.

Richmond Free Press: Talk to me about the new single.

Will Downing: Well, it’s a single that I didn’t necessarily think I would ever record. We were working on another single at the time, ... called “Love on You.” And then at the top of January, my daughter passed away. And that sort of inspired me to record this song in memory of her. And it just took everything in a whole ‘nother direction. Obviously, our family is going through a litany of emotions here. So it was good, from my standpoint, to kind of release what I was feeling inside from a song standpoint.

Richmond Free Press: You’ve been called the “prince of sophisticated soul.” Who else would you put in that genre?

Will Downing: Oh, well, hopefully there’s only one – me. (Laughs) I think that I’m one of the last sole survivors that kind of do the style of music that I do. And that’s what I was raised on. It seems to be the foundation of R&B, but R&B has changed over the years, to whatever it is now.

Richmond Free Press: Were you ever tempted to crossover?

Will Downing: Nah. That’s not my thing. My thing is, you know, I’m a straight up R&B vocalist. I have jazz overtones to what I do. But I’m primarily an R&B vocalist.

Richmond Free Press: Have you used AI (artificial intelligence) in your creative process?

Will Downing: We did it for something that I had to do the other day for, like a letter that had to be written. And we just did it as a joke, really, just to see how it really worked. And it came out better than anything that I could write. Now, would I use it musically? No. [Laughs]

Richmond Free Press: Can you talk a little bit about how live shows have changed since the pandemic?

Will Downing: When we first started coming back, you know, it was interesting, because, there’s obviously this thing of, you know, you can’t get close to people, some folks are still wearing masks, some people purchased tickets, and didn’t come to the show. So, it would look like grandma’s teeth out there, people just felt they were in a straitjacket so they really wouldn’t enjoy themselves. Now folks are out and about and doing their thing. The bad thing is, that everybody’s back to work and now the market is saturated.

Richmond Free Press: Are you working on a new album?

Will Downing: I’m working on number 27 even as we speak. So hopefully that’ll be out ... if I keep going at this pace, probably like October or November. The latest album is titled “Pieces,” this (new one) would be “Mo’ Pieces”

Richmond Free Press: What can people expect from your show this week?

Will Downing: They can expect the best of what I’ve done for the last 35 years. I mean, we take all of the songs that were very popular, and I call them hits, you know, (and) we string them all together. We have a lot of fun during the show, we go down memory lane together. When people come to see me, it’s like putting on a nice warm jacket, it makes you feel comfortable. It’s like home. Will Downing comes to the Greater Richmond Convention Center on June 16 at 7 p.m. Leela James opens. Tickets are $94.50, Jsaffair.com.