Mario Winans

Mario Winans
Birth name	Mario Brown
Born	August 27, 1974 (1974-08-27) (age 37)
Origin	Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States
Genres	R&B
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, Producer
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Bad Boy, Worldwide, Atlantic, Universal
Website	www.myspace.com/officialmariowinans

Mario Winans is an American R&B singer, songwriter, music producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Born Mario Brown, he is the son of gospel recording artist Vickie Winans (née Bowman) and her first husband, Bishop Ronald Brown. He is also the stepson of his mother's second husband, gospel singer, Pastor Marvin Winans whom she married in 1978. Marvin and Vickie Winans had a son, Marvin Winans Jr. (Mario's half brother.) Vickie and Marvin Winans divorced in 1995 and she has since remarried.

Mario Winans began learning piano, keyboards, and drums while still in grade school in Detroit, Michigan and learned how to work in a recording studio at an early age. He began producing gospel music professionally after graduating high school, eventually working with gospel music artists Fred Hammond, The Clark Sisters and various members of the Winans gospel music family.

Musical career

Story of My Heart: (1995–1997)

In the mid-1990s, Mario was signed to a production deal with Dallas Austin's Rowdy Records thru producers Tim & Bob. He lived with the duo at their house studio until his breakthrough came as a Christian songwriter, musician and co-producer on R. Kelly's "I Can't Sleep Baby" and "You Remind Me Of Something" (plus three more songs) from the R. Kelly album in 1995. He also worked with Pebbles and 98 Degrees.

Winans eventually released his debut album Story of my Heart on Motown in 1997. While the song "Don't Know" reached the US R&B top 50, the album failed to chart.

Soon after, Winans teamed up with P. Diddy and his Bad Boy roster, playing drums on "Come With Me" by Diddy and Jimmy Page, based on the classic Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir" from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.

Over the next several years Winans amassed a sizeable list of production credits for Bad Boy artists including Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G., Lil' Kim, Faith Evans, Loon, Black Rob, and 112. He has also worked with notable artists outside Bad Boy including Destiny's Child, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Tamia, and Brian McKnight.

Winans co-wrote the 2-part song "I Need a Girl" with P. Diddy and appeared on the "Pt. 2" version with Loon, Ginuwine, and Diddy, which became a hit recording in 2002. He also produced the Bad Boy remix compilation We Invented The Remix in 2002.

Hurt No More: (2001–2005)

Winans recorded his second album Hurt No More in 2001, 2002, and 2003 in between his busy schedule working with other artists. The album is based on stories of love and betrayal.

The first single "I Don't Wanna Know" was based on a sample of the Fugees' 1996 hit single "Ready Or Not", which itself was based on a slowed-down sample of the instrumental track "Boadicea" by Enya from her 1987 self-titled album. Enya and her representatives became angry since Winans did not seek her approval for the sample, as he was unaware that the Fugees sample he had used had itself been a sample. So, a compromise was reached to credit the single as "Mario Winans featuring P. Diddy and Enya". [1] The song features a rap by P. Diddy and radio programmers and club DJs started playing the track when it started appearing on mixtapes. The song was released as the single in early 2004 and became a worldwide hit going to #1 in Germany and on the rhythmic top 40 radio chart in the United States; to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, on the US R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart, and on the world internet download charts; and to #3 on a composite world R&B chart (based on the R&B charts in the US, UK, Germany, France, and Australia) and on both the Australian and Norwegian singles charts. It also reached the top ten on a composite European singles chart.

Hurt No More was released on April 20, 2004 in the US and, by early June 2004, had reached #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, #2 on the Billboard 200, and #3 on the UK's album chart.

The album's second single, "Never Really Was", used a sample of the orchestrated beginning of Madonna's 1986 hit, "Papa Don't Preach", as its background music. However, the song failed to chart in America. A remix version was released as a single featuring rapper Lil Flip.

The song "This is the Thanks I Get" began to chart on billboard and was stated to be the album's third and final single but no official release was set. The song went on to peak on Billboards R&B Chart at #112.

My Purpose: (2006–Present)

Winans appeared on Diddy's album, Press Play producing, writing and singing on "Through The Pain (She Told Me)" and the hit single "Last Night" with Keyshia Cole. "Last Night" was originally intended for his own album, which he had apparently been recording for release in 2007, this never occurred.

Winans also recently executive produced Diddy's new Dirty Money album "Last Train To Paris" which was released in late 2010 and Trey Songz' 2010 single "Can't Be Friends" which has topped the American R'n'B charts for over 10 weeks.

In May 2011, Winans stated that his 3rd studio album titled "My Purpose" would drop in Summer 2011.

Discography

Albums

Year	Album	Chart positions		RIAA Certification
		U.S.	US R&B
1997	Story of My Heart	-	-	Uncertified (148,034 copies sold)
2004	Hurt No More	2	1	Platinum (1,300,000 copies sold)
2011	My Purpose	TBA	TBA	N/A

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions			Album
		U.S.	US R&B	UK Singles
1997	"Don't Know"	108	48	—	Story of My Heart
2004	"I Don't Wanna Know" (feat. Diddy & Enya)	2	2	1	Hurt No More
	"Never Really Was" (feat. Lil' Flip)	—	90	44
2005	"This Is the Thanks I Get" (feat. Black Rob)	—	112	—
2010	"Mine" (feat. Sahara aka Andrea Teodora)	—	—	—

As featured performer

Year	Title	Chart positions					Album
		U.S.	US R&B	US Rap	Rhythmic Top 40	UK Singles
1999	"Best Friends" (Diddy featuring Mario Winans)	59	3	9	—	2	Forever
2002	"I Need a Girl (Part Two)" (Diddy feat. Ginuwine, Loon)	4	2	1	1	4	We Invented the Remix Vol. 1
2003	"Down 4 Me" (Loon feat. Mario Winans)	103	28	19	—	—	Loon
	"Crush on You" (Mr. Cheeks feat. Mario Winans)	—	52	—	—	—	Back Again!
2005	"You're the One" (Guerilla Black feat. Mario Winans)	77	43	24	23	—	Guerilla City
2007	"Through the Pain (She Told Me)" (Diddy feat. Mario Winans)	—	107	—	—	50	Press Play
	"Hey Baby (After the Club)" (Ashanti feat. Mario Winans)	—	87	—	40	—	The Declaration
2008	"Forever" (Timati feat. Mario Winans)	—	—	—	—	—	The Boss
2009	"Dream" (Massiv feat. Mario Winans)	—	—	—	—	—	Meine Zeit

Non-singles

• "Put Ya Arm Around Me" (#16 US, #7 UK)
• "Thanks I Get"
• "Mr Cool" (Tamia ft. Mario Winans)
• "Get Away" (Rick Ross ft. Mario Winans)
• "Ridin" (Belly ft. Mario Winans)
• "Rock the Party" (Benzino ft. Mario Winans)
• "Save Your Love" (Mams Taylor ft. Mario Winans & Stephen Michael)
• "Ever Wonder" (Faith Evans ft. Mario Winans)

Videos

• "Don't Know"
• "Don't Know (Remix)" (Featuring: Mase)
• "I Don't Wanna Know" (Featuring: P.Diddy)
• "Never Really Was" (Featuring: Lil' Flip)
• "I Need a Girl Part.II" (Featuring: Ginuwine)
• "You're the One" (guest appearance)
• "Down 4 Me" (guest appearance)
• "Best Friend" (guest appearance)
• "Rock the Party" (guest appearance)
• "Through the Pain (She Told Me)" (guest appearance)
• "Tell Me" (guest appearance)
• "Ridin" (guest appearance)
• "Forever" (guest appearance feat. Timati)
• "Dream" (guest appearance feat. Massiv)
• "Mine" (feat. Sahara)

Awards and nominations

• Grammy Awards
  • 2005, Best Contemporary R&B Album: Hurt No More (Nominated)
• Image Awards
  • 2005, Outstanding New Artist: Hurt No More (Nominated)
• MOBO Awards
  • 2004, Best Song: "I Don't Wanna Know" (Nominated)
  • 2004, Best Ringtone: "I Don't Wanna Know" (Winner)
• Vibe Awards
  • 2004, R&B Song of the Year: "I Don't Wanna Know" (Nominated)

References

External links

• Official website
• Mario Winans at Billboard.com
• Allmusic Mario Winans article^{[dead link]}
• VH1 Mario Winans page
• Mario Winans on Myspace
• Bad Boy Online

Persondata
Name	Winans, Mario
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 27, 1974
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death