music.wikisort.org - Singer

Simone Johnson[1] or Simone Gooden[3] (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.[4]

Monie Love
Birth name	Simone Johnson[1]
Born	(1970-07-02) 2 July 1970 (age 52)[1] Battersea, London, England
Genres	Progressive rap[2]
Occupation(s)	Rapper actress
Years active	1987–present
Labels	Warner Bros. Cooltempo/Chrysalis/EMI Tuff Groove
Website	twitter.com/DaRealMonieLove

Career

Music

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.[5] 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".[6]

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.[7] 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".[7] 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

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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] In May 2019, she began hosting afternoons at "KISS 104.1" WALR in Atlanta.[11]

Personal life

Born in England from a jazz musician father, Love has at least two brothers Richard and David Gooden (known as Dave Angel) and a sister Rosanna Sharian Gooden (known as Baz).[3][12][13] Love moved to America, settling in New York City in March 1988. Love has four children.[14][15] She has been married twice and is a single parent. [16] Her family is African-Jamaican.

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions

Title	Album details	Peak chart positions
		UK [17]	AUS [18]	AUT [19]	SWI [20]	US [21]	US R&B /HH [22]	US Heat. [23]
Down to Earth	Released: 30 October 1990[5] Label: Warner Bros. (US) Chrysalis/EMI Records (EU) Formats: CD, LP, Cassette, digital download	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

As lead artist

List of singles, with selected chart positions, showing year released and album name[24]

Title	Year	Peak chart positions										Album
		US Hot 100 [25]	US Dance [26]	US Rap [27]	AUS [28]	BEL [29]	GER [30]	NED [31]	NZ [32]	SWI [20]	UK [17]
"I Can Do This"	1988	—	—	—	—	—	—	18	—	—	37	Down to Earth
"Grandpa's Party"	1989	—	—	—	93	—	—	51	33	—	16
"Monie in the Middle"	1990	—	7	28	—	—	—	—	—	—	46
"It's a Shame (My Sister)" (featuring True Image)		26	2	8	90	24	11	9	17	6	12
"Down 2 Earth"		—	—	75	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	—	—	—	58	—	—	34	Class Act Soundtrack and In a Word or 2
"Born 2 B.R.E.E.D."	1993	89	1	56	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.

As featured artist

• "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

External links

• 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
• Monie Love Hip-Hop 40th Anniversary
• The Greatest Female Rappers of All Time

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