Mario Winans Biography

The Winans name is one of the biggest in the world of gospel, and Mario Winans is the most well-known of the talented Winans clan outside of the gospel community. Obviously raised in a musical atmosphere, Mario Winans gravitated toward percussion early on. Mario played the piano throughout high school and began a production career upon graduation, recording within the family and also for various other gospel artists such as the Clark Sisters, the Anointed and Fred Hammond.Mario Winans had already made a name for himself as a producer, composer, drum programmer and percussionist when he made the difficult crossover into secular music. His first forays into the secular music world were assisting in studio sessions for R&B singers R. Kelly and Pebbles, and Mario unintentionally began a career as a solo artist during that time. He signed with Motown Records and released his debut album, Story of My Heart, in 1997. The album only spawned one Top 50 R&B/hip-hop single, Don't Know, and was otherwise unsuccessful though Mario continued to lend his hand to other artists in the way of instrumental work, programming and production (often working with artists on Bad Boy for P. Diddy, back then known as Puff Daddy.)P. Diddy and Mario Winans broadened their production relationship to include Winans as an artist on the Bad Boy roster. His sophomore album and Bad Boy debut, Hurt No More, was released in 2004 and earned instant success with I Don't Wanna Know, which snuck into the Top Five of Billboard's Hot 100. Critics compared the track to late '80s Enya and gave Winans props for handling the production and instrumental duties on his own. After years of producing for an impressive array of artists, Mario Winans has launched a solo career that is truly going places.