Monie Love
| Monie Love | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Simone Johnson |
| Also known as |
|
| Born |
July 2, 1970 Battersea, London, UK |
| Origin | London, England, UK |
| Genres | Hip hop, British hip hop, new jack swing |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Labels |
Warner Bros. Cooltempo/Chrysalis/EMI Records Tuff Groove |
| Associated acts | Native Tongues, Dave Angel, Queen Latifah, De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Big Daddy Kane, Tupac Shakur |
| Website | Monie Love Twitter |
Monie Love (born Simone Johnson; July 2, 1970) is an English rapper and radio personality in the United States. She is a well-respected figure in British hip hop, and made an impact with American hip-hop audiences as a protégé of American emcee Queen Latifah, as well as through her membership in the late-1980s/early-1990s hip-hop group Native Tongues. Love was one of the first BritHop artists to be signed and distributed worldwide by a major record label. Love was born in the Battersea area of Wandsworth, London. She is the daughter of a London-based, jazz musician father.
Contents
Musical career[edit]
Love began her musical career as an emcee in the British Jus Bad crew, which featured DJ Pogo, Sparki, and MC Mell'O'. The group released the single "Free Style/Proud" on the independent Tuff Groove record label in 1988. Manager Steve Finan was introduced to her by Rodney P. Steve Finan signed Monie Love to Danny D and Peter Edge at Cooltempo Records in the UK, and then Benny Medina at Warner Brothers in the United States. Monie Love first gained critical and commercial notice in the United States in 1989 for her cameos on Queen Latifah's Grammy Award-winning and pro-feminist single "Ladies First", on Adeva's "Ring My Bell", on the Jungle Brothers' single "Doin' Our Own Dang" and on De La Soul's hit single "Buddy". The acclaim led her to a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records, making Love one of the few British hip-hop efforts released by a major label. She also has a place in hip-hop history as a member of the Native Tongues, a collective that included Queen Latifah, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, and a number of other acts. Her versatility was demonstrated with her involvement in the emerging popularity of house music with her own single "Grandpa's Party" as well as providing rap vocals for the Dancin' Danny D Remix of Adeva's house hit "Respect".
Love's debut album, Down To Earth, spawned two Grammy-nominated hits, "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 Stevie Wonder) and featured house-music vocalist and then-labelmate Ultra Naté. The album reached #26 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[1] Love also appears on the song titled "United" from Inner City's third album, Praise.
Love was featured on her brother Dave Angel's 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 #7 on the Hot Hip-Hop Singles chart.[2]
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 #1 on the Hot Dance Music chart and #7 on the Hot Rap Singles chart), as well as a re-release of "Full-Term Love".[2] 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.
Radio career[edit]
From 2004 until the week of 11 December 2006, Love was the morning drive host on Philadelphia's WPHI-FM 100.3. The 22 December 2006 edition of the Philadelphia Daily News confirmed that Love left WPHI-FM on amicable terms after contract negotiations stalled.[3] 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.[4] Love is also an official MySpace.com DJ, according to her Myspace page. Love resides in Indianapolis,In. and is a single mother to four children.[5] 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. Monie Love is now a co host with Ed Lover on the Ed Lover Morning Show for Boom 92.1 in Houston, Texas.
Discography[edit]
Albums[edit]
| Year | Title | Chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. | U.S. R&B | ||
| 1990 | Down to Earth
|
109 | 26 |
| 1993 | In a Word or 2
|
– | 75 |
Singles[edit]
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [6] |
IRE | NED | BEL (FLA) |
FRA | GER [7] |
AUT | SWI | AUS [8] |
NZ | US [9] |
US R&B [10] |
US Dance [11] | |||
| 1988 | "I Can Do This" | 37 | — | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Down to Earth |
| 1989 | "Grandpa's Party" | 16 | 23 | 51 | — | — | — | — | — | 93 | 33 | — | — | — | |
| 1990 | "Monie in the Middle" | 46 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 28 | 7 | |
| "It's a Shame (My Sister)" (featuring True Image) | 12 | — | 9 | 24 | 50 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 90 | 17 | 26 | 8 | 2 | ||
| "Down 2 Earth" | 31 | — | 29 | — | — | 33 | — | 15 | — | — | — | 75 | — | ||
| 1991 | "Ring My Bell" (vs. Adeva) | 20 | — | 15 | 44 | — | 25 | — | 8 | 35 | 13 | — | — | — | |
| "Work It Out" (US only) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Boyz n the Hood OST | |
| 1992 | "Full Term Love" | 34 | — | 58 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 96 | 47 | — | In a Word or 2 |
| 1993 | "Born 2 B.R.E.E.D." | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 35 | 98 | 21 | 89 | 56 | 1 | |
| "In a Word or 2" | 33 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Never Give Up" | 41 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2000 | "Slice of da Pie" | 29 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | single only |
| "—" 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" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Houston Feat. Monie Love) - My Name Is Not Susan (Power Radio Mix With Rap)
References[edit]
- ^ a b Henderson, Alex. "Allmusic Down To Earth Review". AllMusic.com. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
- ^ a b Henderson, Alex. "Allmusic In A Word Or 2 Review". AllMusic.com. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
- ^ Conrad, Laurie T. (2006-12-22). "Tattle: No mo' Monie". Philadelphia Daily News (philly.com). Retrieved 2006-12-25.[dead link]
- ^ 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.
- ^ Osorio, Kim (2014-08-13). "Monie Love Still In The Middle...Of Motherhood". Madamenoire.com. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
- ^ "Official Charts Company: Monie Love". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
- ^ "Monie Love - German Chart". charts.de. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
- ^ Australian (ARIA Chart) peaks:
- Top 50 peaks: "australian-charts.com > Monie Love". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2015-10-21.
- Top 100 peaks from January 1990 to December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
- "Grandpa's Party": "Chartifacts – Week Ending: 10 February 1991 (from The ARIA Report Issue No. 55)". imgur.com. Retrieved 2016-04-21.
- ^ "Monie Love - US Hot 100 Chart". billboard.com. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
- ^ "Monie Love - US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart". billboard.com. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
- ^ "Monie Love - US Dance Club Songs Chart". billboard.com. Retrieved 2014-04-03.
External links[edit]
- AllMusic.com Biography - Monie Love
- Monie Love's myspace.com page
- Monie Love Discography on Discogs
- A site focusing on the early days of Hip Hop development in the UK
- 1970 births
- Living people
- English expatriates in the United States
- English dance musicians
- English radio personalities
- English female rappers
- Black British female rappers
- English people of Jamaican descent
- Black British musicians
- Warner Bros. Records artists
- Chrysalis Records artists
- Rappers from London
- Native Tongues Posse
- People from Battersea
