Ginuwine

singer

Personal Information

Born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin on October 15, 1975, in Washington, DC; children: Elgin Jr., Story
Education: Prince George's Community College, paralegal degree.

Career

Performed with neighborhood group, Finesse Five, late 1980s; worked with producer Timbaland; signed with Swing Mob label (no recordings released); signed to Sony/550 label, 1996; released single, "The Pony," 1996; released debut album, Ginuwine ... The Bachelor, 1996; released 100% Ginuwine, 1999; appeared in film Juwanna Man and in Martial Law television series; marketed line of perfumes and colognes; released The Life, 2001.

Life's Work

Like the late Aaliyah, his labelmate in the Sony/500 stable of musicians, Ginuwine has merged classic R&B vocals with contemporary electronic production techniques. His sharp tenor offered both romantic appeal and an edgy sound that quickly caught the attention of urban and pop music fans in the late 1990s. Emerging from the group of creative individuals that surrounded hit producer Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, Ginuwine proved Timbaland's perfect collaborator, crafting sexy yet precise vocal lines that wound themselves around the producer's futuristic soundscapes. Ginuwine faced personal problems as the new century dawned, but the year 2002 saw him ensconced as an established R&B star, independent of Timbaland's influence.

Ginuwine was born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin and grew up in Washington, D.C. As with many artistically inclined youngsters of that time, he was inspired as a child by Michael Jackson during his superstar period. Some of his first performances as a youth were Jackson impersonations. Yet he also paid close attention to his mother's videotapes of movie dancer Fred Astaire--who influenced Jackson--as well as to the films of the famous comedian Charlie Chaplin. By age 12 he was performing in a neighborhood group, Finesse Five, that was good enough to take the stage in local nightclubs--at least until police showed up to remove the underage entertainers from liquor-vending establishments.

Walked into New York Music Offices

By the time he was a teenager, Ginuwine (who took that name in 1995, just prior to the release of his debut album) had begun to think about a musical career. He began with the bold approach of walking into music-company offices in New York City and singing for anyone who would listen, but that tactic led nowhere. After graduating from Washington's Suitland High School he earned a paralegal degree at Prince George's Community College in Maryland, and by that time he had refined his method a bit. Instead of buttonholing recording-label personnel directly, he tried to attract the attention of established performers. When multiplatinum rap hitmaker MC Hammer showed up in Washington for a concert, Ginuwine went to his hotel. The rapper's entourage brushed him off, but then he saw Devante Swing, lead singer of the group Jodeci (on tour with Hammer at the time), playing the piano in the hotel lobby.

Swing offered a seat at the keyboard to Ginuwine, whose ensuing performance inspired screams from passing women in the lobby. The encounter led to connections with several artists connected with the Jodeci vocalist's Swing Mob label, most notably Timbaland and a then-unknown Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliot. The three briefly shared a house in New Jersey, and Ginuwine and Timbaland began working on new material together. In May of 1996 they approached Michael Caplan, senior vice president of artists and repertoire for the giant Sony label's 550 Music imprint. One of their songs was an infectious dance tune, "Pony," that exploited the time-honored image of horseback riding as a metaphor for sex.

"The second song they played for me was 'Pony,'" Caplan told Billboard. "After eight notes, I said, 'Wait here while I get a lawyer.' We did the deal over the weekend." Caplan's intuition was confirmed when "Pony" topped R&B charts and cracked the pop top ten. The artist's debut album Ginuwine ... The Bachelor, produced by Timbaland, was released in October of 1996. It sold 50,000 copies in its first six weeks of release, an impressive number for an unknown artist. The album went on to garner sales reportedly exceeding one million copies. The album's cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry" pointed to another influence; Prince's combination of classic high vocals with innovative rhythm tracks shaped the flavor of Ginuwine's music.

Did 500 Situps Before Each Concert

"If you want a lover with a slow hand, Ginuwine's the real thing," noted a critic in Entertainment Weekly in a review of the "Pony" single. "This single's irresistible funk grooves lope at an easy gait, seducing the listener with a velvety tenor and belching synthesizer hook." Ginuwine amplified that image in a concert tour he undertook as part of a double bill with Aaliyah to support his Ginuwine ... The Bachelor album. In an era with no shortage of effective live performers in the R&B field, Ginuwine stood out. Known for flashing abdominal muscles honed by a regimen of 500 situps before each performance, the singer soon accumulated a collection of jewelry and women's undergarments which were thrown on stage during his performances. According to Jet, the collection apparently has not disturbed Ginuwine's fiancee, Sole, with whom he lives in Washington, D.C., along with their daughter, Story.

The artist's second album release, 100% Ginuwine, with Timbaland once again at the producer's controls, followed in the mold of its predecessor and duplicated its success, with sales once again in the million-copy range. The album's success was stoked by strong radio airplay for the single "So Anxious," which was inspired, the singer told Billboard, by his personal experience of "just anxiously waiting" for his girlfriend to get home from work. Writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine of the All Music Guide lauded the album, commenting that "If nothing grabs the ear like 'Pony,' most of the songs slowly work their way underneath the skin, revealing themselves as either seductive ballads or ingratiating dancefloor numbers."

Dedicated Song to Parents

After the release of 100% Ginuwine in 1999, the artist seemed well on the way to superstardom. He made moves to diversify his energies and appeal, appearing on film in Juwanna Man and on television in Martial Law, and marketing his own line of perfume and cologne. But personal tragedy temporarily sidetracked his high-flying career. His father committed suicide in 1999, and he lost his mother to cancer the following year. Ginuwine fell into depression and stopped working on his next album. The spotlight shifted to younger R&B heartthrobs, and Ginuwine considered giving up performing altogether.

What brought him back into the studio, Ginuwine told the Washington Post, was "realizing that I've got people that depend on me." Ginuwine pointed to elements of his personal ordeal that found their way onto his revamped third album, The Life, including a song, "Two Reasons I Cry," dedicated to his parents. The bulk of the album, however, consisted of the singer's trademark romantic numbers. Only one track, the dance-oriented "That's How I Get Down," was produced by Timbaland; that song became a major club hit. Other songs, produced by Troy Oliver and Cory Rooney, were equally successful, and the album hit the top ten in its first week of release. The age of musical electronics, it seemed, had finally found a genuine (or Ginuwine) sex symbol.

Works

Selected discography

• "The Pony" (single), 550 Music, 1996.
• Ginuwine ... The Bachelor, 550 Music, 1996.
• 100% Ginuwine, 550 Music, 1999.
• The Life, Epic, 2001.

Further Reading

Books

• Contemporary Musicians, Volume 34, Gale, 2002.

Periodicals

• Billboard, November 16, 1996, p. 13; August 28, 1999, p. 31.
• Daily News Record, November 22, 1999, p. 14.
• Entertainment Weekly, November 8, 1996, p. 68.
• Jet, May 7, 2001, p. 54.
• Washington Post, April 14, 2001, p. C1.

On-line

• All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com
• Lycos Music, http://www.music.lycos.com

— James M. Manheim

See Ginuwine Lyrics

• Born: October 15, 1975, Washington, D.C.
• Active: '90s, 2000s
• Genres: Rhythm & Blues
• Instrument: Vocals, Producer
• Representative Albums: "Greatest Hits," "Ginuwine...The Bachelor," "100% Ginuwine"
• Representative Songs: "Pony," "What's So Different?," "When Doves Cry"

Biography

Ginuwine was one of R&B's pre-eminent love men during the '90s heyday of hip-hop soul. Initially teamed with Timbaland, the most innovative producer of the late '90s, Ginuwine's sultry, seductive crooning earned him a substantial female following and made him a regular presence on the R&B charts, even after the futuristic production he favored was eclipsed by the more organic, retro-leaning neo-soul movement.

Ginuwine was born in Washington, D.C., on October 15, 1975, with the unlikely name of Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (after D.C.-born Basketball Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor). As a youngster, Lumpkin's interest in music was ignited by Prince and Michael Jackson, especially the latter's legendary moonwalking performance on the Motown 25th-anniversary special. At the mere age of 12, he began performing at parties and bars with the local hip-hop group the Finesse Five. He later worked as a Michael Jackson impressionist and sang with another local outfit, Physical Wonder; in the meantime, he earned a paralegal degree from a local community college, in case music didn't work out. In 1996, he adopted the name Ginuwine and was discovered by Jodeci. In New York, he met up with young producer Timbaland and cut the track "Pony," whose slow, halting groove and impassioned vocals helped Ginuwine land a deal with Sony's 550 Music imprint.

With the strikingly inventive Timbaland behind the boards, Ginuwine cut his debut album, Ginuwine...The Bachelor, and released it later in 1996. "Pony" became a number one R&B smash, also reaching number six on the pop charts, and the album became an eventual double-platinum hit. It spun off several more R&B hits over the next year, including "Tell Me Do U Wanna," "I'll Do Anything/I'm Sorry," "Holler," and "Only When Ur Lonely"; it also featured a homage to one of Ginuwine's main influences in the cover of Prince's "When Doves Cry." In the wake of the album's success, demand for Timbaland's production services exploded, and Ginuwine became a bona fide sex symbol. He toured heavily in support of The Bachelor, and kept his name in the public eye in 1998 with his hit "Same Ol' G," which was featured on the soundtrack to Eddie Murphy's Dr. Doolittle. Late that year, he also made his acting debut on an episode of the CBS series Martial Law.

Ginuwine returned with his second album, 100% Ginuwine, in early 1999. Again produced by Timbaland, it entered the pop charts at number five, gave rise to another significant crossover hit in "So Anxious," and went platinum. "What's So Different?" and "None of Ur Friends Business" were also successful on R&B radio, and there was another cover of a Ginuwine hero, this time Michael Jackson's "She's Out of My Life." He followed it in the spring of 2001 with The Life, despite having to endure the deaths of his father (who committed suicide) and mother (a victim of cancer) within the same year. It was his first album helmed by producers not named Timbaland. Nonetheless, it was another success, debuting at number three on the charts and once again going platinum. Moreover, the ballad "Differences" -- the second single released from the album, after "There It Is" -- became Ginuwine's biggest pop hit yet, climbing to number four later that year.

In 2002, Ginuwine made his feature-film debut in the gender-bending basketball comedy Juwanna Mann, playing (what else?) a slick R&B singer. That summer, Ginuwine returned to the Top Ten courtesy of his duet with P. Diddy on "I Need a Girl, Pt. 2." Around the same time, in a somewhat bizarre incident, police captured a Minnesota man who'd been impersonating the singer for the past few years and bilking money from business contacts. Though he didn't achieve as much success on the singles charts, both The Senior (2003) and Back II da Basics (2005) reached the Top Five of the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Even an unauthorized bootleg, I Apologize, managed to make a minor impact in 2007. The singer then switched from the Sony family to a distribution deal with Warner Bros.; A Man's Thoughts was released in June 2009, featuring a reunion with Timbaland on "Get Involved." ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Life [Japan] Buy this CD	Hell Yeah/In Those Jeans Buy this CD	Ginuwine...The Bachelor Buy this CD	Greatest Hits Buy this CD	Greatest Hits Buy this CD
Back II da Basics Buy this CD	Super Hits Buy this CD	Ginuwine...The Bachelor/100% Ginuwine Buy this CD	Tell Me Do U Wanna Buy this CD	Senior Buy this CD

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