Mint condition
Mint Condition is an American R&B and funk band from Minneapolis , Minnesota , whose biggest hits Breakin 'My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes) (1991), U Send Me Swingin' (1993), What Kind of Man Would I Be (1996) and If You Love Me (1999) are.
Band history
Lead singer Stokley Williams began playing classic West African musical instruments at the age of four . Guitarist Homer O'Dell sang with his father, who also Blues - Bass played in a family band. Keyboardist Larry Waddell played in a school band and learned his instrument by listening to the music of jazz greats like Oscar Peterson and Herbie Hancock . Keyboardist and saxophonist Jeff Allen was inspired by his father's extensive jazz collection and played in local bands while he was still in high school . Keyboard player, guitarist and percussionist Keri Lewis already mastered his instruments as a student. Guitarist and bassist Rick Kinchen came to music mainly through his family, where all the members played instruments. In developing his skills, listening to the music of Stanley Clarke and Louis Johnson helped . After playing in a few local bands in his hometown of Chicago and recording at Kennedy King College, he moved to the Twin Cities . There the musicians got to know each other and founded Mint Condition in the early 1980s.
After appearing at the Minnesota Black Musician Awards in 1986, the group grew in popularity. With their energetic live shows, the band quickly gained followers in an area that included Minnesota, Wisconsin , Iowa , North and South Dakota, and Nebraska . After an appearance in 1989 originating from Minnesota were R & B producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis attention to mint condition, after which the group a recording contract in which to A & M Records belonging label signed Perspective. The debut album was titled Meant to Be Mint , was released in 1991 and climbed to number 13 on the R&B and number 63 on the pop charts . After the first release, Are You Free, reached number 55 on the Billboard R&B charts, the final breakthrough came with the follow-up single Breakin 'My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes) in the fall of that year . The title came in at number 3 on the R&B and at number 6 on the pop charts and was awarded gold . With Forever in Your Eyes , the album's third single also made it into the top 10 of the R&B charts (number 7), while the pop charts did not go beyond number 81.
The album From the Mint Factory narrowly missed the US Top 100 at number 104, and it made it to number 18 in the R&B charts. Nobody Does It Betta , U Send Me Swingin ' , Someone to Love and So Fine are four of them R & B chart hits to be found, of which U Send Me Swingin 'is the most successful release and made it to # 2 on the R&B charts and 33 on the pop charts. Definition of a Band , released in 1996, is the third and final album that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis executive produced. The record reached number 13 on the R&B and number 76 of the pop charts and, like the first release, What Kind of Man Would I Be , received a gold record. In addition to number 2 on the R&B and number 17 of the US pop charts, this single also entered the British charts and made it to number 38. The follow-up single You Don't Have to Hurt No More came to number 10 on the R&B and place 32 of the pop charts. With Let Me Be the One , which was only able to reach the 70th R&B charts through airplay, Mint Condition made it into the UK charts for the second and last time, this time at number 63.
Before moving into the 21st century, the group signed with Elektra, making them the only top-class R&B and pop band with a record deal with a major label . During this time the album Life's Aquarium was created , which was released at the end of 1999 and reached number 7 on the R&B and number 64 of the pop charts. The first single, If You Love Me , became the last R&B top 10 hit at number 5 and the group's last track in the pop charts at number 30. Is This Pain Our Pleasure followed at number 42 on the R&B hit list in early 2000. Although Life's Aquarium was the first top 10 album Mint Conditions, the formation lost the major label contract and from then on released with smaller labels such as Image Entertainment, CagedBird and the independent label Shanachie .
By 2012, Livin 'the Luxury Brown (2005), E-Life (2008), 7… (2011) and Music @ the Speed of Life (2012) had four more Mint Condition albums in the upper echelons of R&B and middle ranks of the pop charts. With a total of five decoupled singles, including three from E-Life , they entered the R&B charts. Healing Season became the first studio album in 2015 that could not be placed in any hit list, but received a Grammy nomination for best R&B album in 2017 .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1992 | Meant to Be Mint Perspective 1001 |
- |
US63 (22 weeks) US |
R&B13 (35 weeks) R&B |
First published: June 1, 1991
Executive Producer: Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis Producer: Jellybean Johnson, Mint Condition |
| 1993 | From the Mint Factory Perspective 9005 |
- |
US104 (13 weeks) US |
R&B18 (42 weeks) R&B |
First published: October 5, 1993
Executive Producer: Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis Producer: Mint Condition |
| 1996 | Definition of a Band Perspective 9028 |
- |
US76  (25 weeks)US |
R&B13 (42 weeks) R&B |
First published: September 24, 1996
Executive Producer: Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis Producer: Mint Condition |
| 1999 | Life's Aquarium Elektra 62353 |
- |
US64 (9 weeks) US |
R&B7 (22 weeks) R&B |
First published: November 16, 1999
Producer: Mint Condition |
| 2005 | Livin 'the Luxury Brown Image Entertainment 0474 |
- |
US45 (5 weeks) US |
R&B11 (19 weeks) R&B |
First published: April 26, 2005
Producer: Mint Condition |
| 2008 | E-Life CagedBird 3636 |
- |
US119 (2 weeks) US |
R&B8 (59 weeks) R&B |
First published: May 6th, 2008
Producer: Mint Condition |
| 2011 | 7 ... Shanachie 5789 |
- |
US33 (4 weeks) US |
R&B12 (14 weeks) R&B |
First published: April 5th, 2011
Producer: Mint Condition |
| 2012 | Music @ the Speed of Life Shanachie 5803 |
- |
US60 (2 weeks) US |
R&B9 (11 weeks) R&B |
First published: September 11th, 2012
Producer: Mint Condition |
More studio albums
- 2015: Healing Season (Mint Condition Music 001; Release: October 16)
Compilations
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1998 | The Collection: 1991-1998 Perspective 9039 |
- | - |
R&B78 (2 weeks) R&B |
First published: June 9, 1998
Producers: Mint Condition, Jellybean Johnson |
More compilations
- 2005: Mint Condition Live from the 9:30 Club (The Image Music Group 057)
- 2006: 20th Century Masters: The Best of Mint Condition ( Hip-O / A&M B0006881; release: June 6th)
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1991 | Are You Free Meant to Be Mint |
- | - |
R&B55 (8 weeks) R&B |
First published: June 1991
Author: Stokley Williams |
| Breakin 'My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes) Meant to Be Mint |
- |
US6th (24 weeks)US |
R&B3 (34 weeks) R&B |
First published: September 24, 1991
Authors: Stokley Williams, Jeffrey Allen, Lawrence Waddell |
|
| 1992 | Forever in Your Eyes Meant to Be Mint |
- |
US81 (8 weeks) US |
R&B7 (18 weeks) R&B |
First published: April 1992
Authors: Stokley Williams, Lawrence Waddell |
| 1993 | Nobody Does It Betta From the Mint Factory |
- | - |
R&B45 (13 weeks) R&B |
First published: September 1993
Author: Stokley Williams |
| U Send Me Swingin ' From the Mint Factory |
- |
US33 (16 weeks) US |
R&B2 (29 weeks) R&B |
First published: November 1993
Author: Keri Lewis |
|
| 1994 | Someone to Love From the Mint Factory |
- | - |
R&B28 (20 weeks) R&B |
First published: April 1994
Author: Lawrence Waddell |
| 1995 | So Fine From the Mint Factory |
- | - |
R&B29 (20 weeks) R&B |
First published: December 1994
Authors: Stokley Williams, Homer O'Dell |
| 1996 | What Kind of Man Would I Be Definition of a Band |
UK38 (2 weeks) UK |
US17th (24 weeks)US |
R&B2 (41 weeks) R&B |
First published: August 30, 1996
Authors: Stokley Williams, Jeffrey Allen, Lawrence Waddell |
| 1997 | You Don't Have to Hurt No More Definition of a Band |
- |
US32 (16 weeks) US |
R&B10 (20 weeks) R&B |
First published: March 1997
Author: Keri Lewis |
| Make Me Say It Again Girl The 6th Man (Soundtrack) |
- | - |
R&B67 (2 weeks) R&B |
First release: May 1997
as Stokley of Mint Condition placed in the R&B charts only by airplay from the soundtrack of the film Der Teamgeist |
|
| Let Me Be the One Definition of a Band |
UK63 (2 weeks) UK |
- |
R&B70 (3 weeks) R&B |
First published: July 1997
only placed in the R&B charts by airplay . Authors: Stokley Williams, Lawrence Waddell |
|
| 1999 | If You Love Me Life’s Aquarium |
- |
US30 (20 weeks) US |
R&B5 (32 weeks) R&B |
First published: August 1999
Author: Keri Lewis |
| 2000 | Is This Pain Our Pleasure Life’s Aquarium |
- | - |
R&B42 (17 weeks) R&B |
First published: February 2000
Authors: Stokley Williams, Keri Lewis |
| 2005 | I'm Ready Livin 'the Luxury Brown |
- | - |
R&B49 (16 weeks) R&B |
First published: April 2005
Author: Stokley Williams |
| 2008 | Nothing Left to Say E-Life |
- | - |
R&B27 (34 weeks) R&B |
First published: May 2008
Authors: Stokley Williams, Lawrence Waddell |
| 2011 | Caught My Eye E-Life |
- | - |
R&B51 (20 weeks) R&B |
First published: January 2011
Authors: Stokley Williams, Lawrence Waddell |
| Walk On E-Life |
- | - |
R&B66 (17 weeks) R&B |
First published: August 2011
Authors: Stokley Williams, Jeffrey Allen, Lawrence Waddell |
|
| 2012 | Believe in Us Music @ the Speed of Life |
- | - |
R&B64 (7 weeks) R&B |
First release: August 2012
feat. Bobby Ross Avila ( Talkbox ) Authors: Stokley Williams, Ricky Kinchen |
More singles
- 1992: Single to Mingle - Live! (Promo)
- 1998: What You Bring to the Party (Promo)
- 2007: Baby Boy Baby Girl (feat. Anthony Hamilton )
swell
- ↑ a b c Chart sources: UK Billboard Hot 100 Billboard 200 R&B albums (from 1999) Billboard R&B songs (from 2011)
- ↑ a b c gold / platinum database US
- ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9
- ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot R&B Songs 1942–2010: 6th Edition, ISBN 978-0-89820-186-4
Web links
- Official website
- Mint Condition at Allmusic (English)
- Mint Condition at Discogs (English)