Mario Winans Nowadays Albums | SoulAndFunkMusic.com

Bio

Mario Winans is an R&B and gospel music producer, writer and singer. He is best known for his 2004 top five album in the UK and US "Hurt No More" and top five smash "I Don't Wanna Know".

Early Career

Mario Winans was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina but grew up in Detroit. He is a member of gospel music's most notable family, the Winans being the son of Marvin Winans and Vicki Winans. He is also the nephew of gospel singers BeBe Winans and CeCe Winans.

Winans started out learning music in school learning piano, keyboards and drums. His mother Vicki Winans brought him a roomful of recording equipment and he learnt the function of every piece of equipment. He started producing gospel groups straight out of high school and soon accumulated credits for Fred Hammond, the Anointed, and the Clark Sisters as well as various Winans family member albums.

In the mid-1990's, he signed a production deal with Dallas Austin's Rowdy Records. His breakthrough came with credits on the tracks "I Can't Sleep Baby" and "You Remind Me Of Something" on R. Kelly's R. Kelly album in 1995. Work with Pebbles and 98 Degrees soon followed.

Winans 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. His first work with Bad Boy was playing drums on "Come With Me" in 1998 by Diddy and Jimmy Page, based on the classic Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir" from their 1975 album Physical Graffiti.

Over the past few years, Winans has racked a sizeable list of production credits for Bad Boy artists including Diddy, The Notorious BIG, Lil' Kim, Faith Evans, Loon, Black Rob and 112. He has also worked with notable artists outside Bad Boy including Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Ice Cube, Jennifer Lopez and Brian McKnight.

Winans co-wrote the song "I Need a Girl" with P. Diddy which became a hit record in 2002 for Diddy. He also produced the Bad Boy remix compilation We Invented The Remix in 2002.

Solo Success

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 "Boadicea" by Enya from her 1987 self-titled album. The Fugees also sampled this track for their song "Ready or Not" from The Score album . 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 become a worldwide hit going to #1 in Germany and the US Rhythmic Top 40, #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, US R&B/ Hip Hop and world Internet download charts and #3 on a composite world R&B chart (based on the US, UK, Germany, France and Australia), Australian and Norwegian charts. It also reached the top ten of a composite European chart.

Hurt No More was released on April 20, 2004 in the US and as at early June 2004, had reached #1 on the Billboard r&b/hip hop charts, #2 on the US Billboard 200 and #3 in the UK.

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