| Wynter Gordon | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Diana Gordon |
| Born | August 25, 1985 |
| Origin | South Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States |
| Genres | Pop, dance |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Labels | Big Beat |
| Associated acts | Flo Rida |
| Website | www.wyntergordon.com |
Diana "Wynter" Gordon (born August 25, 1985 in South Jamaica, Queens, New York) is an American pop/dance singer-songwriter. She began as a writer for other artists, later signing with Atlantic Records where she began working on an album while continuing to write songs for other acts and providing vocals on songs. Her debut With the Music I Die was released in 2011.
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Gordon was born in Queens, New York City and was brought up in a poor and dangerous neighborhood in South Jamaica. She is the middle child of six, they lived in a two bedroom house.[1] She recalled in an interview that many people she knew were deceased at a young age, because they "got into the wrong things".[1] However, she refused to call her childhood difficult, she said that "if things were rough, I didn't feel it," explaining that the familiarity of the environment that she grew up in prevented her from objectively describing it.[1] She attributed her well being to her strict mother who did not allow her to leave the yard and told her to go to the library after school.[1] Her mother remarried when Gordon was 5, but Gordon did not have a close relationship with her step father.[2] Her strict upbringing resulted in a strained relationship with her parents.[2]
Gordon began singing at a young age and she began singing at funerals from the age of 6.[1] She and her siblings would perform together in church and at street corners by her parents.[2] They were strict about the music that Gordon and her siblings sang, only allowing them to listen to and sing gospel.[2] However, Gordon would listen to the radio when her parents were not at home and recorded songs from the radio onto tapes that she smuggled into the house.[2] It was during high school that Gordon decided that she was going to pursue music.[3] She was later accepted to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts[2] and interned at a record company.[3] Gordon wrote her first complete song, "Daddy's Song" at age 15.[3]
After high school, Wynter threw herself fully into realizing her music dreams, while also dealing with surviving on her own for the first time. She juggled several jobs while working in the studio at nights and as much as she could. During this time, Wynter met her manager, Keith White who introduced her to Don Pooh at Atlantic Records. Wynter worked closely with producer D'Mile since 2004 where they both came with her first track to fame, "Gonna Breakthrough" written by Wynter Gordon and produced by D'Mile was used as the title track to Mary J. Blige's 2005 album The Breakthrough. Soon after, Wynter was given an opportunity and signed to Atlantic Records, through Don Pooh Music Group, where she has been working on her debut album since 2004. Also, in 2008, Wynter penned two tracks for Danity Kane's second album Welcome to the Dollhouse, "2 of You" and "Do Me Good".
Wynter co-wrote the single "Sugar", a track that she was featured on with Flo Rida on his album R.O.O.T.S. (2009) after laying down a reference vocal.[4] The track became an international hit and peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. Wynter also co-wrote and sang on the dance track "Toyfriend" from French DJ David Guetta's album One Love (2009). She worked closely with Jennifer Lopez, writing four tracks including "What Is Love", "What Is Love Part II", "Starting Over" and "Everybody's Girl" for her seventh studio album Love? (2011). Wynter is also writing for artists including Adrienne Bailon, Estelle & Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester.[4]
She released her debut album, With the Music I Die, on June 17, 2011 in Australia. The first single from the album, "Dirty Talk" topped the US (Billboard) Hot Dance Club Songs and the Australian Singles Chart, and was certified 3x Platinum, The song was released in the UK and Ireland on 18 February 2011 where it peaked eight in Ireland and 25 in the UK. The song spent a total on eleven weeks inside the Top 40.[5] The second single, "Til Death" has currently peaked on the Australian Singles Chart at 16 and number 3 on the US Dance Chart. She opened for Patrick Stump's second US tour in August and September. "Buy My Love" was released as the third single from "With The Music I Die".
Wynter announced via Twitter that she has already recorded some songs and hinted at her second studio album.
| Title | Album details | AUS | US Dance |
|---|---|---|---|
| With the Music I Die |
|
25 | 4 |
| Title | EP details |
|---|---|
| The First Dance | |
| With the Music I Die |
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Dance [9] |
AUS [10] |
BEL (FL) [11] |
BEL (WA) [12] |
DEN [13] |
FRA [14] |
IRE [15] |
UK [16] |
||||||
| "Dirty Talk" | 2010 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 33 | 50 | 8 | 25 | With the Music I Die | |||
| "Til Death" | 2011 | 3 | 16 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
|
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| "Buy My Love" | 2 | 77 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| "—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released | |||||||||||||
| Single | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Putting It Out There (Pride)"[19] | 2011 | Non-album single |
| Single | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [20] |
AUS [10] |
FRA [14] |
IRE [15] |
UK [21] |
|||||||||
| "Sugar" (Flo Rida featuring Wynter Gordon) |
2009 | 5 | 20 | 9 | 14 | 19 | R.O.O.T.S. | ||||||
| "I Feel Love"[24] (Rhythm Masters & MYNC featuring Wynter Gordon) |
2010 | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | ||||||
| "Believer"[25] (Freemasons featuring Wynter Gordon) |
— | — | — | — | 113 | ||||||||
| "Take Off"[26] (Mr. Vegas featuring Wynter Gordon) |
2011 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "Take Me Away"[27] (Marvin Priest featuring Wynter Gordon) |
— | 32 | — | — | — |
|
|||||||
| "—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released | |||||||||||||
| Year | Song | Artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | "Mirrors (Be Myself Again)" | Wynter Gordon | God Conscious |
| "Unify" | Wynter Gordon | Meet the Browns Soundtrack | |
| 2009 | "Toyfriend" | David Guetta | One Love |
| 2010 | "The Graduation Song" | Kinetics & One Love | |
| "Sign Language" | Kinetics & One Love | ||
| "Airborne" | Diggy Simmons | Airborne | |
| "Next Level" | Rohff | La Cuenta |
| Year | Type | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | International Dance Music Awards | Best Break-Through Artist (Solo) (Wynter Gordon)[29] | Nominated |
| Best Pop Dance Track ("Dirty Talk")[29] | Nominated | ||
| NewNowNext Awards | Brink of Fame: Music Artist (Wynter Gordon)[29] | Nominated |
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