Mario Winans

Mario Winans was born in Orangeburg, South Carolina. He grew up in Detroit and is part of gospel music's Winan Family. Mario is the son of Marvin Winans and Vickie Winans and is the nephew of BeBe and CeCe Winans.

Mario Winans learned how to play piano, keyboards, and drums in school. His mother helped him learn the recording end of things when she bought him a wide variety of recording equipment.

With his new equipment and knowledge, Mario Winans started producing gospel groups while in high school and soon gained recognition on albums from Fred Hammond, The Anointed and various Winans family member albums.

It was in the mid-1990s that Mario Winans had the opportunity to move into more mainstream genres. Signing a production deal with Rowdy Records, Winans had credits on R. Kelly's 'I Can't Sleep Baby' and 'You Remind Me Of Something.' Following this work, Winans produced for Pebbles and 98 Degrees.

In 1997, Mario Winans had the chance to release his own solo album with Story of my Heart. The album was released on Motown and featured the single 'Don't Know.'

After releasing a solo album, Mario Winans began to do a lot of work with P. Diddy and the Bad Boy label. He played drums on the track 'Come With Me' by Diddy. He also was credited with production for artists including The Notorious B.I.G., Lil' Kim, Faith Evans, Loon, Black Rob and 112. Beyond Bad Boy, Winans' has worked with Destiny's Child, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston and Brian Mcknight.

His solo career picked up again in the 2000s as Winans began working on a second album, Hurt No More. The first single, 'I Don't Wanna Know,' was released in early 2004 and became a hit. The track reached #1 in Germany and #2 on the U.S. Hot 100. The album topped the R&B charts and reached #2 on the Billboard 200. Both the album and the single went gold by the end of the year.