Mario (singer)

Mario

Mario Dewar Barrett (born August 27 1986) is an African-American R&B and pop singer. He is best known for his hit singles "Just a Friend 2002" (2002) and "Let Me Love You" (2004), which won him two Billboard awards, as well as for appearing in the films Step Up and Freedom Writers. His latest album, Go! was released on December 11 2007 in the United States, but was released in South Africa on October 9 2007 under Gallo Records. On February 18, 2008, it was announced Mario will be appearing on Season 6 of Dancing with the Stars. His partner is Karina Smirnoff, who was paired with Mario Lopez in Season 3 of the series.

Biography

Early life

Mario was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in Pikesville, Randallstown, Gwynn Oak and other working-class neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland. He grew up with his grandmother in different areas of Baltimore, Maryland, she also raised him while his single mother struggled with a drug problem. Mario said at the age of four that he wanted to become a singer. His mother supported his dream and bought him a karaoke machine. Mario joined a musical group in high school with the oldest son of comedienne Mo'nique. He was always dedicated to having a musical career. He learned to play the piano and used that skill as the basis for his melodies and songs. He was discovered at age eleven and signed by producer Troy Patterson , after singing "I'll Make Love to You" at a Coppin State College talent show. Mario attended Milford Mill Academy up until the tenth grade where he was inspired by his music teacher, during his early teen years, and was offered a record deal at the age of fourteen, signing with Clive Davis' J Records. His musical influences include Stevie Wonder, Fernando & Q-Bah, Shay and Claire from FunX Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole, Brian McKnight, Boyz II Men, Usher, and Joe. His first introduction to the music industry was the Dr. Dolittle 2 movie soundtrack in 2001. He sang a captivating performance of the Stevie Wonder classic "You and I" at Clive's Grammy party in 2002, and began recording an album.

Mario (2002)

Mario began recording his debut album Mario at age fifteen, a year before releasing it in July 2002. The lead single "Just a Friend 2002" , which was a cover of Biz Markie's hit, was an instant success, peaking at #4 on the charts. Follow up singles were "Braid My Hair" & "C'mon" . He was the opening act on the Scream Tour 3, which featured Bow Wow, Nick Cannon, B2K & Marques Houston. As of 2006, his debut album has sold over 700,000 copies. During this period, he became a draw in the teen market.

Turning Point (2004)

After his debut album was released, Mario wanted to record an album that was more mature. He enlisted a number of well-known producers to help him, such as Scott Storch & Lil' Jon. He released his second album, Turning Point, in December 7, 2004. The album was more successful than his first, mainly because of the hit single "Let Me Love You". The single, described by reviewers as "melodic and sweetly lilting, reminiscent of Michael Jackson's vintage romantic ballads", was successul, peaking at the number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for nine consecutive weeks. Other follow up singles include "How Could You" co-written by J. Valentine, with a cameo appearance in the video by rapper Cassidy, "Here I Go Again", which video starred upcoming model and singer Cassie, and "Boom" featuring Juvenile. To date, Turning Point has gone double-platinum.

In February 2006, Mario filed a lawsuit against his former manager, Troy Patterson, alleging that Patterson had paid him $50,000 for the sale of more than 3 million records. Mario's new manager is J. Erving and he was chosen by Mario. Mario has homes in Baltimore, Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Go (2007)

Mario's third album Go is dedicated to his mom Shawntia Hardaway and was released in South Africa under Gallo Records on October 9, 2007, in the U.S. on December 11, 2007. The album includes collaborations with Jermaine Dupri, Ne-Yo, Janice Robinson, Eric West, Scott Storch, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Timbaland, Bryan-Michael Cox, The Neptunes, Jim Jonsin, Akon, Dre & Vidal, Warryn "Baby Dubb" Campbell, Sean Garrett and Mr. Collipark. Mario, who has described the album as "sex... more personal... more passionate", had more creative control on Go than on his previous two albums. The first single to be lifted from the album was "How Do I Breathe" which was released in May. The second single was "Crying Out For Me" after a poll on his website. On December 13, 2007, Mario was on "106 & Park" where he stated that the third single off the album will be "Music for Love". The entire album was made available for the public to listen to on his Myspace page before its release. He also has a new song that came out on December 11, "Do Right".

In an interview with DJ "Z", Mario stated that problems with the record label caused the album launch to be pushed back 6-8 months.

Mario is currently shooting the video for new single "Music for Love". It is rumoured that dance partner, from Dancing with the Stars, Karina Smirnoff will appear in the video.

Mario fourth album (2008)

In an interview with Billboard and DJ Booth, Mario stated that he is going to tour and work with singers on their projects and start recording a new album "by the time school starts back up, like after next summer." For his next album, Mario says he's "probably gonna work with no more than four producers, maybe two or three, but no more than four." He also confirmed he is working on records with Plies & Ciara. "You can imagine how many different concepts and things I had," the 21-year-old explains. "But there's really even more than that, because I'm gonna start recording, like, [at] the end of January." The singer also explained that he had about 70 songs concepts on his mind before doing "Go", and he only used few of them, so he’s planning on putting the rest on this album.

The album is likely to include production from fellow Knightwritaz member Oak. So far there have been three confirmed tracks including "Me And My Girl" and "Love" (Produced by Warren "Oak" Felder) and "Crazy Kind Of Love" produced by Stargate and written by Phil "Taj" Jackson. The album has a tentative release date of September 2008.

Knightwritaz

Knightwritaz is a production team of which Mario is a part. The production team includes Mario, Sterling Simms, Warren "Oak" Felder and Marsha of Floetry. Aside from producing songs for Mario's album Go!, the team has written and produced songs for Jennifer Lopez, Chris Brown and Raven-Symoné. Mario claims to be more of the songwriter in the team.

Mario says one difference between "Go" — which follows 2004's double-platinum "Turning Point" — and the next album will be fewer collaborators. "Go" features a different producing and writing team on every track, including Akon, Timbaland, the Neptunes and Stargate.

Needless to say, he's looking ahead to a busy 2008. With "Music For Love" due out in late January, Mario plans to start a tour in February or March. "I want to do a big production tour now," he says. "But it's gonna take creating videos and visuals that make people want to come out and see a show." To that end, the video for "Music For Love," he says, "is gonna like you're watching a performance. That's the sense I get from that record, so that's gonna draw people out to the shows."

"Of course I want to pursue it and read some more (scripts) and try to find something where I can break in between albums," he says. "It's kind of hard to juggle, but I'm very much excited about that part of my career, too."

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003685564

MTV special

MTV aired a special on October 21, "I Won't Love You to Death: The Story of Mario and His Mom," which dealt with his mother's heroin addiction. The documentary is about how the singer strives for help to stop his mother's addiction. While doing this, he seeks help from family and friends. Mario wrote a letter to his mother stating how appreciative he is and begs her to stop her addiction. At the end of the letter he says, "I love you, but I won't love you to death."

Mario has also written a song titled Do Right that is dedicated to his mother. This song explains his mother's addiction and how it affected his childhood, and highlights how much he looks up to her. The song is featured on his third album Go.

Dancing with the Stars

Mario was allegedly linked in a romantic relationship with dance partner Karina Smirnoff. On the first week of the show the pair scored 24 out of 30 for dancing the Cha-Cha, the highest score of the night. On the second week's show, the pair did better, scoring 26 out of 30 to the Quickstep. In the third week, they scored their current lowest score, 21 out of 30, for the Tango. (Mario's week was very busy, with quite a few personal appearances, and he did not have much time for practice.) In the Paso Doble they scored 24 out of 30, the Samba 27 out of 30, and then, despite getting their highest score, 28 out of 30, ended up in the bottom two along with the eliminated contestant Marlee Matlin.

Discography

Further information: [[:Mario discography]]

Albums

• 2002: Mario
• 2004: Turning Point
• 2007: Go!

Singles

Year	Title	Chart Positions								Album
		U.S.	U.S. R&B	UK	AUS	NZ	GER	ITA	IRE
2002	"Just a Friend 2002"	4	3	18	—	15	—	—	—	Mario
	"Braid My Hair"	74	18	—	—	—	—	—	—
2003	"C'mon"	—	61	28	—	—	—	—	—
2004	"Let Me Love You"	1	1	2	3	1	1	2	5	Turning Point
2005	"How Could You"	52	14	—	37	—	—	—	—
	"Here I Go Again"	—	—	11	15	36	50	50	16
	"Boom (featuring Juvenile)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2007	"How Do I Breathe"	46	18	21	33	17	49	—	45	Go
	"Crying Out for Me"	33	5	—	—	—	—	—	—
2008	"Do Right" ¹	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Music for Love"	TBA	50	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA

¹ Song released to promote show about mother.

Featured singles

• 2003: "I'll Move On" (Bow Wow featuring Mario)
• 2005: "Kick It Wit You" (Cassidy featuring Mario)
• 2005: "In Between The Sheets" (Cassidy featuring Mario)
• 2006: "All Girls Cheat"(Rhymefest featuring Mario)
• 2006: "For The Love"(Drew Sidora featuring Mario) (Step Up Soundtrack)
• 2007: "Tell Me"(Smitty featuring Mario and Chris Brown)

Acting career

Mario starred alongside Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan in Step Up, a dance-themed film released on August 11 2006. For his next film, Freedom Writers he acted opposite Academy Award-Winner Hilary Swank and Patrick Dempsey of Grey's Anatomy. The film was a drama about inner-city school kids. It was released on January 5, 2007. Mario did not take acting classes before undertaking the role. Mario has stated that he would like to own his own film production company entitled "Inside Paris Productions" and become a director. He was turned down for the upcoming film Dragon Ball.

Filmography

Films

• Step Up (2006)
• Freedom Writers (2007)
• Destination Fame (2008)

Television

• Big Time (2004)
• Soul Train
• Punk'd
• One on One
• The View
• An All-Star Salute to Patti LaBelle: Live from Atlantis
• Mad TV
• 106 & Park: BET's Top 10 Live (2004-2007)
• MTV Goes Gold: New Year's Eve (2007)
• The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2007)
• I Won't Love You to Death: The Story of Mario and His Mom (2007)
• The Oprah Winfrey Show (2008)
• Dancing with the Stars (2008)
• Regis & Kelli Show (March 2008)

External links

• Mario's Official website
• Mario at MySpace

Interviews

• The DJ Booth: Mario Interview (June 2007)
• The DJ Booth: Mario Interview (November 2007)
• Pop-Junkie.com: Mario Interview (December 11, 2007)
• HHNlive.com (December 2007)
• thatgrapejuice.net (November 2007)