R&B crooner Joe will release his third album, "My Name Is Joe," on April 18.

The singer scored some success with his two previous albums, 1993's "Everything" and 1997's "All That I Am," and he stands to expand on his fan base with his new album, which includes appearances by a couple of pop music's heavy-hitters.

Mariah Carey recently featured Joe on her hit single, "Thank God I Found You" (on which 98 Degrees also guested). The remix of that song, featuring both Joe and Nas, is included on "My Name Is Joe."

But despite his pop music connections on this new album, Joe says he is still staying true to his R&B roots.

"I guess [my music is] tryin' to be hardcore R&B," Joe said. "Like that real passionate R&B, like [what] Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder [did]. That real soulful, sensual, passionate R&B that was back then. I think that's what I'm really looking to bring back, that realism. Because there's a lot of fake cats out there that's not representing for R&B like they should." [RealAudio]

Joe will stop in on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" on Monday to perform his first single, "I Wanna Know."

She'kspere, Xscape's Kandi Burruss, and Teddy Riley all contributed to the tracks on "My Name Is Joe." Joe produced the majority of the songs and also played guitar on the LP.