Mario Winans

Mario Winans
Mario Winans
	Winans in 2014
Background information
Birth name	Mario Mendell Brown
Also known as	Yellowman; Skeeter;
Born	August 29, 1974 (age 50); Orangeburg, South Carolina, U.S.
Genres	R&B
Occupations	Singer; songwriter; record producer;
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Bad Boy; Undeas; Worldwide; Atlantic; Universal; Motown;
Member of	Winans family; The Hitmen;

Mario Mendell Winans (né Brown; born August 29, 1974)^[1] is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer from South Carolina. An extended 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.

Prior, Winans signed with Dallas Austin's Rowdy Records as an in-house producer during the early-1990s, and received his first major credits for his work on R. Kelly's self-titled second album (1995) and Pebbles' Straight from My Heart (1995). As a recording artist, he signed with Motown and released his debut studio album, Story of My Heart (1997) to commercial failure. The following year, he contributed to Diddy's 1998 single "Come with Me", and thereafter served as in-house talent for his Bad Boy Records production team, the Hitmen. While receiving further credits on commercially successful releases, he saw mainstream attention for his guest performance on Diddy's 2000 single "Best Friend" as well as his 2002 single "I Need a Girl (Part Two)," both of which entered the Billboard Hot 100—with the latter peaking at number four—and Winans signed with Bad Boy, an imprint of Universal Records as a solo act. Moreover, "I Don't Wanna Know" served as the lead single for his debut studio album Hurt No More (2004), which peaked at number two on the Billboard 200. In the following year, he co-wrote CeCe Winans's song "Pray", which won Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards.^[2]^[3]

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.