Mario Winans

United States • b. 1974-08-27

Biography

Mario Mendell Winans (né Brown; born August 29, 1974) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from South Carolina. A member of the Winans musical family, he is best known for his 2004 single "I Don't Wanna Know" (featuring Enya and P. Diddy), which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. In the early 1990s, Winans signed with Dallas Austin's Rowdy Records as an in-house producer and received early credits on R. Kelly's self-titled second album (1995) and Pebbles' Straight from My Heart (1995). He later signed with Motown to release his debut studio album, Story of My Heart (1997), which was commercially unsuccessful. After contributing to Diddy's 1998 single "Come with Me," Winans subsequently joined Bad Boy Records' production team, the Hitmen. He also appeared on Diddy's 2000 single "Best Friend" and his 2002 single "I Need a Girl (Part Two)," both of which entered the Billboard Hot 100, with the latter peaking at number four. He then signed with Bad Boy, an imprint of Universal Records, as a solo artist. "I Don't Wanna Know" served as the lead single from his second studio album, Hurt No More (2004), which peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. The following year, he co-wrote CeCe Winans' song "Pray", which won the Grammy Award for Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. Winans's recording work accompanies a career in production and songwriting, from which he has been credited on releases for artists including the Weeknd, Kanye West, the Notorious B.I.G., Ice Spice, Lil' Kim, Destiny's Child, Jennifer Lopez, Pusha T, Busta Rhymes, and Trey Songz, among others.

Bio from Wikipedia