Mario (singer)

Mario

Mario Dewar Barrett (born August 29 1986 ) is an 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. Mario is currently working on his 4th album which is due out in the Fall of 2008.

Biography

Early life

Mario, who is African American 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 and Sara and Silvia 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 (2002-2003)

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 (2004-2006)

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 successful, 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 (2007-2008)

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.

Fourth album (2008-Present)

Main article: Mario's fourth album

The album is likely to include production from fellow Knightwritaz member Oak. So far there have been several leaked tracks including "Me and My Girl" and "Love" produced by Oak and the last written by Mario, "Crazy Kind Of Love", "Stuttering", "I Choose You" and "Rules" all produced by Stargate and produced with Darkchild, the first written by Phil "Taj" Jackson and the second written by LaShawn Daniels, "Hello" produced by J. R. Rotem and co-produced by Jim Jonsin, "Break Something" produced by Jim Jonsin, "Love or Lust" and "If I Hurt You" produced by The Underdogs and the last one, produced and written by Ne-Yo , "Step Out" and "Apple Bottom" produced by Scott Storch, "Do For Love" and "Don't Do It" produced by Dre & Vidal, "Better Man" produced by B. Cox, "Promise Land" produced by Darkchild and by Stargate and writtten by LaShawn Daniels and by Amber Rives, "Green Light" produced by Jazze Pha however all have been unconfirmed. The album has a tentative release date of November 2008. Mario has also made two cover's version of Ruben Studdard's, "One Side" one features Ruben Studdard and the other doesn't, the versions are produced by Stargate and written by Ne-Yo. Mario has stated he would like to work with no more than 4 producers. In a Essence Magazine interview with Mario on August the 1st the link http://www.essence.com/essence/themix/entertainment/0,16109,1827293,00.html Mario said he would like to have his new single drop in August and have his new album released before the year is out.

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.

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." The documentary, produced by Gigantic! Productions, won a 2008 Prism Award for its accurate portrayal of drug abuse.

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.

Performances

Week #	Dance/Song	Judges' score			Result
		Inaba	Goodman	Tonioli
1	Cha-cha-cha/ "Request Line"	8	8	8	N/A
2	Quickstep/ "Valerie"	9	8	9	Safe
3	Tango/ "Roxanne"	7	6	8	Bottom Two
4	Paso Doble/ "Higher Ground"	8	7	9	Safe
5	Samba/ "A-Tisket, A-Tasket"	9	9	9	Safe
6	Rumba/ "Let's Get It On"	9	9	10	Bottom Two
7	Foxtrot/ "I'm Your Man" Mambo/ "Mambo A La Sandoval"	8 9	8 9	8 9	Safe
8	Viennese Waltz/ "If I Ain't Got You" Jive/ "Little Bitty Pretty One"	9 9	9 8	9 9	Eliminated

Discography

Further information: [[:Mario discography]]

Albums

• 2002: Mario
• 2004: Turning Point
• 2007: Go!
• 2008: Mario's fourth album

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.

Filmography

Films

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

Television

• The Maury Show (2002)
• Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (2003)
• Big Time (2004)
• 48th Annual Grammy Awards (2004) Performer
• Soul Train (2004)
• Punk'd (2004)
• All of Us
• The View
• An All-Star Salute to Patti LaBelle: Live from Atlantis
• Mad TV
• All That (2005)
• Step Up BET Music Special (2006)
• 106 & Park: BET's Top 10 Live/feat Timothy Hodge (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 Tyra Banks Show (2008)
• The Oprah Winfrey Show (2008)
• E! News Live (2008)
• Access Hollywood (March 2008)
• Regis & Kelly (March 2008)
• Dancing with the Stars (March - April 2008)
• Entertainment Tonight (March - April 2008)
• Jimmy Kimmel (April 2008)
• Good Morning America (April 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)