Simone Johnson or Simone Gooden (born 2 July 1970), better known by her stage name Monie Love, is a British
rapper
Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
, actress and
radio personality
A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...
from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Best known for her singles during the late–1980s through the 1990s, Monie Love currently serves as a radio personality for
urban adult contemporary
Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music ...
station KISS 104.1
WALR-FM
WALR-FM (104.1 MHz Kiss 104) is a commercial FM radio station licensed to Palmetto, Georgia and serving Metro Atlanta. It is owned by the Cox Media Group and airs an urban adult contemporary radio format. The studios are co-located with other ...
in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. Love is a two-time
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
nominee, making her the first British female hip hop artist to hold that distinction.
Career
Music
Love's debut album, '' Down to Earth'', was released on 6 November 1990. It 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)
"It's a Shame (My Sister)" is a 1990 hip hop song recorded by British rapper Monie Love, featuring True Image. It was the second single from her debut album '' Down to Earth'', and was released in late 1990 in Germany and the UK and in early 1991 ...
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...
). It also featured house-music vocalist and then-labelmate
Ultra Naté
Ultra Naté Wyche (born March 20, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ and promoter who has achieved success on the pop charts with songs such as "Free", " If You Could Read My Mind" (as part of Stars on 54), and "Autom ...
. The album reached No. 26 on the
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...
chart. Love also appears on the song titled "United" from
Inner City
The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...
's third album, ''Praise'', and raps a clapback from the woman's perspective on a 1989 remix of the
Fine Young Cannibals
Fine Young Cannibals (FYC) was a British pop rock band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1984, by bassist David Steele, guitarist Andy Cox (both formerly of The Beat), and singer Roland Gift (formerly of the Akrylykz). Their self-titled 1985 ...
hit, "
She Drives Me Crazy
"She Drives Me Crazy" is a song by English group Fine Young Cannibals, released in 1988 as the first single from their second and final album, '' The Raw & the Cooked'' (1989). Peaking at No. 5 on the British singles chart in January 1989, it ...
".
Love was featured on the LA Reid & Babyface remix of
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...
's R&B hit "
My Name Is Not Susan
"My Name Is Not Susan" is a song by American singer and actress Whitney Houston, released as the fourth single from her third album, ''I'm Your Baby Tonight'' (1990). The song was released on June 24, 1991, by Arista Records. It was produced by L. ...
" in 1991, and appeared in the music video alongside Houston. Love's 1992 single "Full-Term Love", from the ''
Class Act
''Class Act'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Randall Miller and starring hip-hop duo Kid 'n Play. An urban retelling of Mark Twain's ''The Prince and the Pauper'', the film was written by Cynthia Friedlob and John Semper from a s ...
'' movie
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
Marley Marl
Marlon Williams (born September 30, 1962), better known by his stage name Marley Marl, is an American DJ, record producer, rapper and record label founder, primarily operating in hip hop music. Marlon grew up in Queensbridge housing projects ...
on her second album, ''
In a Word or 2
''In a Word or 2'' is the second and final album released by Monie Love. It was released on 23 March 1993 by Warner Bros. Records and was mostly produced by Marley Marl. Prince (musician), Prince cowrote and coproduced the title track and "Born ...
'' (1993), which featured the
Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
-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". The same year, Prince asked her to write lyrics for a few songs on a side-project,
Carmen Electra
Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), known professionally as Carmen Electra, is an American actress, model, singer, and media personality. She began her career as a singer after moving to Minneapolis, where she met Prince, who produced h ...
's eponymous album, ''
Carmen Electra
Tara Leigh Patrick (born April 20, 1972), known professionally as Carmen Electra, is an American actress, model, singer, and media personality. She began her career as a singer after moving to Minneapolis, where she met Prince, who produced h ...
''. 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
John R. Austin II (born September 26, 1973), better known by his stage name Ras Kass, is an American rapper. He is a member of the hip hop Supergroup (music), supergroup The HRSMN, along with Canibus, Killah Priest, and Kurupt in 2014. He is als ...
, from his album ''Barmageddon'', and in 2021, she released a single called “Divine”, featuring
Skyzoo
Gregory Skyler Taylor (born December 24, 1982), known professionally as Skyzoo, is an American Songwriter and rapper. He has released a number of notable solo and collaborative albums, including '' Cloud 9: The 3 Day High'' with 9th Wonder in ...
and a friend of theirs called Tuff.
US Radio
From 2004 until the week of 11 December 2006, Love was the
morning drive
Drive time is the daypart in which radio broadcasters can reach the most people who listen to car radios while driving, usually to and from work, or on public transportation. Drive-time periods are when the number of radio listeners in this cla ...
host on
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
's
WPHI-FM
WPHI-FM (103.9 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and serving the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc., simulcasting an all-news radio format with co-owned KYW 1060 AM. T ...
100.3. The ''
Philadelphia Daily News
''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''.
The ''Dail ...
'' confirmed on 22 December that Love left WPHI-FM on amicable terms after contract negotiations stalled. Love's departure from WPHI followed soon after her December 2006 interview with
Young Jeezy
Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. Signing to Def Jam Recordings in 2004, his major label debut, '' Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'', was released the followin ...
, where the two argued over whether
hip hop is dead
''Hip Hop Is Dead'' is the eighth studio album by American rapper Nas, released December 19, 2006, on Def Jam Recordings. His first album for the label, it was co-financed by Nas's previous label, Columbia Records, which once distributed for Def ...
. Love is also an official MySpace.com DJ, according to her Myspace page. She has a radio show on
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable television. Its se ...
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
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...
. In May 2019, she began hosting afternoons at "KISS 104.1" WALR in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
.
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 named Rosanna Sharian Gooden (who is a singer known as Baz). Love moved to America, settling in New York City in March 1988. She has four children. She has been married twice and is a
single parent
A single parent is a person who has a child or children but does not have a spouse or live-in partner to assist in the upbringing or support of the child. Reasons for becoming a single parent include divorce, break-up, abandonment, becoming wid ...
. Her family is African-Jamaican.
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
* "Ladies First" (
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album '' All Hail the Qu ...
featuring Monie Love)
* "My Name Is Not Susan" (
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...
featuring Monie Love) – My Name Is Not Susan (Power Radio Mix With Rap)