Monie Love

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Monie Love
Birth nameSimone Johnson[1]
Born (1970-07-02) 2 July 1970 (age 52)[1]
Battersea, London, England
GenresProgressive rap[2]
Occupation(s)
  • Rapper
  • actress
Years active1987–present
Labels
Websitetwitter.com/DaRealMonieLove

Simone Johnson[1] (born 2 July 1970),[1] better known by her stage name Monie Love, is a British rapper, actress and radio personality from London. Best known for her singles during the late–1980s through the 1990s, Monie Love currently serves as a radio personality for urban adult contemporary station KISS 104.1 WALR-FM in Atlanta, Georgia. Love is a two-time Grammy Award nominee, making her the first British female hip hop artist to hold that distinction.[3]

Career[edit]

Music[edit]

Love's debut album, Down to Earth was released on 6 November 1990, spawned the singles "Monie in the Middle" (a track dealing with a woman's right to determine what she wants out of a relationship) and "It's a Shame (My Sister)" (which sampled the (Detroit) Spinners' "It's a Shame", written for the band by the US musician Stevie Wonder) and featured house-music vocalist and then-labelmate Ultra Naté. The album reached No. 26 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[4] Love also appears on the song titled "United" from Inner City's third album, Praise, and raps a clapback from the woman's perspective on a 1989 remix of the Fine Young Cannibals hit, "She Drives Me Crazy".[5]

Love was featured on the LA Reid & Babyface remix of Whitney Houston's R&B hit "My Name Is Not Susan" in 1991, and appeared in the music video alongside Houston. Love's 1992 single "Full-Term Love", from the Class Act movie soundtrack, reached No. 7 on the Hot Hip-Hop Singles chart.[6] Love collaborated with Marley Marl on her second album, In a Word or 2 (1993), which featured the Prince-produced single "Born To B.R.E.E.D." (which reached No. 1 on the Hot Dance Music chart and No. 7 on the Hot Rap Singles chart), as well as a re-release of "Full-Term Love".[6] The same year, Prince asked her to write lyrics for a few songs on a side-project, Carmen Electra's eponymous album, Carmen Electra. Love's last release as lead artist was the single "Slice of da Pie" in 2000. In 2013, she was featured on the track "Sometimes" by Ras Kass, from his album Barmageddon, and in 2021, she released a single called “Divine”, featuring Skyzoo and a friend of theirs called Tuff.

US Radio[edit]

From 2004 until the week of 11 December 2006, Love was the morning drive host on Philadelphia's WPHI-FM 100.3. The December 22, 2006, edition of the Philadelphia Daily News confirmed that Love left WPHI-FM on amicable terms after contract negotiations stalled.[7] Love's departure from WPHI followed soon after her December 2006 interview with Young Jeezy, where the two argued over whether hip hop is dead.[8] Love is also an official MySpace.com DJ, according to her Myspace page. She has a radio show on XM Satellite Radio called Ladies First Radio with Monie Love. It airs Thursdays 6 PM ET and Sundays 8 PM ET. In 2015, Love became a DJ on Philadelphia's Boom 107.9, hosting a morning show from 6 am to 10 am. In 2016, Love co-hosted with Ed Lover on the Ed Lover Morning Show for "Boom 92" KROI in Houston, Texas. In 2018, Monie Love did the workday and lunch break from 10am-3pm on 106.7 WTLC in Indianapolis, Indiana.[9] In May 2019, she began hosting afternoons at "KISS 104.1" WALR in Atlanta.[10]

Personal life[edit]

Born in England, Love moved to America; settling in New York City in March 1988. Years later, Love has four children.[11][12] She has been married twice and is a single parent. [13] Her family is African-Jamaican.

Discography[edit]

Studio albums[edit]

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions
Title Album details Peak chart positions
UK
[14] 		AUS
[15] 		AUT
[16] 		SWI
[17] 		US
[18] 		US
R&B
/HH
[19] 		US
Heat.
[20]
Down to Earth 30 114 29 32 109 26 —
In a Word or 2
  • Released: 23 March 1993
  • Label: Warner Bros. (US)
    Chrysalis/EMI (EU)
  • Formats: CD, LP, Cassette, digital download
 — — — — — 75 39
"—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.

Singles[edit]

As lead artist[edit]

List of singles, with selected chart positions, showing year released and album name[21]
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
US Hot 100
[22] 		US Dance
[23] 		US R&B
[24] 		US Rap
[25] 		AUS
[26] 		AUT
[16] 		BEL
[27] 		FRA
[28] 		GER
[29] 		IRE
[30] 		NED
[31] 		NZ
[32] 		SWI
[17] 		UK
[14]
"I Can Do This" 1988 — — — — — — — — — — 18 — — 37 Down to Earth
"Grandpa's Party" 1989 — — — — 93 — — — — 23 51 33 — 16
"Monie in the Middle" 1990 — 7 28 1 — — — — — — — — — 46
"It's a Shame (My Sister)"
(featuring True Image) 		26 2 8 1 90 12 24 50 11 — 9 17 6 12
"Down 2 Earth" — — 75 30 152 — — — 33 — 29 — 15 31
"Ring My Bell"
(with Adeva) 		1991 — — — — 35 — 44 — 25 — 15 13 8 20 Love or Lust and Down to Earth
"Work It Out" — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Boyz n the Hood Soundtrack
"Full Term Love" 1992 96 — 47 7 — — — — — — 58 — — 34 Class Act Soundtrack and In a Word or 2
"Born 2 B.R.E.E.D." 1993 89 1 56 7 98 — — — — — — 21 35 18 In a Word or 2
"In a Word or 2" — — — — — — — — — — — — — 33
"Never Give Up" — — — — — — — — — — — — — 41
"Slice of da Pie" 1997 — — — — — — — — — — — — — 29 Non-album single
"Divine"
(featuring Skyzoo & Tuff)[33] 		2021 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Non-album single
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released.

Featured singles[edit]

  • "Ladies First" (Queen Latifah featuring Monie Love)
  • "My Name Is Not Susan" (Whitney Houston featuring Monie Love) – My Name Is Not Susan (Power Radio Mix With Rap)

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Room, Adrian (10 January 2014). Dictionary of Pseudonyms: 13,000 Assumed Names and Their Origins, 5th ed. McFarland. p. 296. ISBN 9780786457632 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Johnson, Kevin C. (23 December 2011). "Q&A: Local artists pay tribute to Native Tongues rap acts". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Monie Love". Grammy.com. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b Henderson, Alex. "Down To Earth Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 November 2006.
  5. ^ "FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS - "She Drives Me Crazy" (Monie Love Remix) [1988]". YouTube. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b Henderson, Alex. "In A Word Or 2 Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 November 2006.
  7. ^ Conrad, Laurie T. (22 December 2006). "Tattle: No mo' Monie". Philadelphia Daily News. Retrieved 25 December 2006.[dead link]
  8. ^ Bolden, Janee (22 December 2006). "Monie Love Gets None, Officially Off The Air in Philly". SOHH.com. Archived from the original on 1 January 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2007.
  9. ^ Beasley, Lauren (2 January 2018). "Monie Love Joins WTLC!". wtlcfm.com.
  10. ^ Ho, Rodney. "Hip-hop legend Monie Love takes over Kiss 104.1 afternoon slot". Ajc.com. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  11. ^ "Ladies First: Monie Love Discusses Being A Mother In Hip-Hop (Audio)". Ambrosiaforheads.com. 12 May 2019.
  12. ^ "Hip Hop Moms". Essence.com. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
  13. ^ Osorio, Kim (13 August 2014). "Monie Love Still in the Middle...Of Motherhood". Madamenoire.com. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  14. ^ a b "Monie Love in UK Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  15. ^ "Bubbling Down Under Week Commencing 1 July 1991". Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  16. ^ a b "Monie Love on the Austrian charts". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  17. ^ a b "Monie Love on the Swiss charts". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  18. ^ "Monie Love Chart History". Billboard 200. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  19. ^ "Monie Love Chart History". Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  20. ^ "Monie Love Chart History". Top Heatseekers. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  21. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 357. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  22. ^ "Monie Love - US Hot 100". billboard.com. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  23. ^ "Monie Love - US Dance Club Songs". billboard.com. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  24. ^ "Monie Love - US R&B/Hip-Hop Songs". billboard.com. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  25. ^ "Monie Love - US Hot Rap Songs". billboard.com. Retrieved 6 September 2021.
  26. ^ Australian (ARIA Chart) peaks:
  27. ^ "Monie Love – Ultratop". ultratop.be. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  28. ^ "Monie Love – French Chart". lescharts.com. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  29. ^ "Monie Love – German Chart". charts.de. Retrieved 3 April 2014.[dead link]
  30. ^ "Monie Love – Irish Singles Chart". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  31. ^ "Monie Love – Dutch Chart". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  32. ^ "Monie Love – Recorded Music NZ". charts.nz. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  33. ^ "Divine - Monie Love feat. Skyzoo & Tuff - Release Info". Apple Music.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monie_Love&oldid=1096077764"