"nobody knows" is a song by r&b artist tony rich (then known as the tony rich project) from his 1996 debut album "words". released as his debut single, the song peaked at number two on both the "billboard" hot 100 and "billboard" hot adult contemporary tracks charts (in both cases behind celine dion's "because you loved me"). it also became a hit in several other countries, topping the irish singles chart for a week in june 1996 and reaching number two in australia and canada, number four in the united kingdom, and the top 20 in the netherlands, new zealand and sweden. rich received a nomination for the 1997 grammy award for best male pop vocal performance; he lost to eric clapton's "change the world".