MN8
| MN8 | |
|---|---|
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Genres | R&B, pop, new jack swing |
| Years active | 1992–1999 |
| Labels |
Sony/Columbia Records UK Sony/Work Group US First Avenue |
| Associated acts |
P. Diddy Janet Jackson Jodeci |
| Members |
Kingsley "KG" Goldsmith Gary "G-Man" Douglas Tony "Kule T" Michaels Dee Tails[1] |
| Notable instruments | |
| Vocals | |
MN8 were an English R&B pop group. They consisted of KG (co-founder, lead vocals), G-Man (co-founder, lead vocals),[2][3] Kule T (lead vocals) and Dee Tails (rapper).
Career
MN8's 1995 debut hit single, "I've Got a Little Something for You", credited as written by Dennis Ingoldsby and Mark Taylor, produced by Dennis Charles & Ronnie Wilson, became a success throughout Europe, Asia Pacific and the US Notably the song was one of P. Diddy's earliest Bad Boy Records remixes. It was featured in the film, Bad Boys. The song was also Columbia UK's first homegrown Top 10 record in over a decade, held off the number 1 spot in the UK Singles Chart by Celine Dion's "Think Twice" which topped the UK chart for seven weeks. Nonetheless, MN8 finished the year ahead of Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" as one of the biggest selling UK singles for the year. MN8 followed up with 6 more UK Top 30 hits including "If You Only Let Me In", "Baby It's You", "Tuff Act to Follow", "Dreaming", "Pathway to the Moon" and a cover of the Surface hit "Happy".
Their debut album, To The Next Level reached number 13 in the UK Albums Chart. To The Next Level (produced by Dennis Charles & Roni) included a contribution from Pamela Sheyne, who wrote the song "Baby It's You".[4] Besides P. Diddy and Sheyne, MN8 collaborated with the late Oji Pearce (Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It"), Simon Climie, Arthur Baker, Steve Silk Hurley, Connor Reeves, Blacksmith and Dalvin DeGrate (Jodeci).[5]
MN8 have toured alongside Janet Jackson, Diana King, Brownstone, Spice Girls, Madonna, Celine Dion, Robbie Williams, Boyzone, East 17, Backstreet Boys and Ricky Martin. They also appeared at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, Midem, Notting Hill Carnival, Sweden's Water Festival and other European music festivals.[6]
In 1997, MN8 parted ways with Sony/Columbia & 1st Avenue. Once the deal had expired, MN8 partnered with the French concert promoter Gerard Drouot to tour France in 1997 and 1998. After their last show at the end of 1998, MN8 decided to take a break indefinitely to pursue other opportunities.
In an interview with Digital Spy on 13 April 2009, lead singer KG said of the split and any prospects of a reunion: "Around 1998 and 1999 we did our last European shows. We were at the end of our deal with Sony and weren't really sure what we wanted to do. We decided to take a break and think things through. Quite a lot's happened in the past few months actually. We're in tentative talks about maybe putting MN8 back together and doing a tour. The thing about MN8 is that we never did the sort of music we should have done. We had the right aesthetic but the potential to do so much more. If you look at the commercial side of R&B these days, we would have fitted in better. We were kind of ahead of our time in some ways."
[7]
In 2009, MN8 were referenced in the media in relation to upcoming boyband JLS. "There hasn't been a British R&B boy band of any note since MN8", wrote Simon Price.[8] "Another Level and Blue achieved maximum exposure with a low-level interracial mix, but MN8, the last all-black British boy band, dipped at the crucial pop moment where success turns to phenomenon", Paul Flynn stated.[9]
In 2013 co-lead singer G-man was interviewed by Twin B on BBC 1xtra where he announced a new MN8 album 'Reloaded' is the works and asserted MN8's pop music legacy and importance "How are you going to write a story about the best acts of the past 15 years, and not mention us". G-man also revealed friendly rivalry with East 17, spending time with Robbie Williams, auditioning the Spice Girls for Sony before they were signed to Virgin and MN8's influence on some of pop music's most popular US and UK acts. Twin B commented that the interview with G-man was their best interview to date.
[10]
In media
- MN8 appeared on The Childliners record The Gift of Christmas alongside the Backstreet Boys, Boyzone, East 17, Peter Andre and Dannii Minogue.
- MN8 hosted Top of the Pops on 14 March 1996.
- They achieved support from Hip Hop Connection ("Talk is high of MN8" – December 1994 issue), Touch (Source: "Showing the way for British R&B artists" – October 1994 issue) and The Guardian ("They're Brilliant" – Source: 25 October 1994).
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [11] |
AUS [12] |
NL [13] |
NZ [14] |
SWI [15] | ||||||||||
| To the Next Level |
|
13 | 25 | 50 | 46 | 27 | ||||||||
| Freaky |
|
114 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales threshold) |
Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [17] |
AUS [18] |
FRA [19] |
NL [20] |
NOR [21] |
NZ [22] |
SWE [23] |
SWI [24] | |||||||
| 1995 | "I've Got a Little Something for You" | 2 | 7 | 3 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 10 | To the Next Level | ||||
| "If You Only Let Me In" | 6 | 30 | 23 | 18 | — | 3 | — | — | ||||||
| "Happy" | 8 | — | 1 | — | — | 11 | — | — | ||||||
| "Baby It's You" | 22 | — | — | — | — | 34 | — | — | ||||||
| 1996 | "Pathway to the Moon" | 25 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Tuff Act to Follow" | 15 | — | 43 | — | — | — | — | — | Freaky | |||||
| "Dreaming" | 21 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| 1997 | "Baby I Surrender" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||||||||||||||
References
MN8's chart history[26]
MN8 on Janet Jackson tour[27][28]
MN8 on Bad Boys Soundtrack[29]
- ↑ Virgin Hit Singles volume 2 p. 324
- ↑ Big Magazine – January 1995
- ↑ Touch Magazine – February 1995
- ↑ Source: M Magazine/ PRS MCPS, Issue 14, September 2004
- ↑ Source: Smash Hits – June 1995
- ↑ Dance.machine.free.fr
- ↑ "Whatever Happened To MN8laccessdate=13 April 2009".
- ↑ Price, Simon (8 November 2009). The Independent. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Flynn, Paul (20 July 2009). The Guardian. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "BBC 1xtra Breakfast Show With Twin B". Retrieved 4 April 2013.
- ↑ "Chart Log UK: M – My Vitriol". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "australian-charts.com – Australian charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "dutchcharts.nl – Dutch charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "charts.org.nz – New Zealand charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "The Official Charts and Music Community". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "BPI Searchable Database". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "Chart Stats – MN8". chartstats.com. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "australian-charts.com – Australian charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "lescharts.com – French charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "dutchcharts.nl – Dutch charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "norwegiancharts.com – Norwegian charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "charts.org.nz – New Zealand charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "swedishcharts.com – Swedish charts portal". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "The Official Charts and Music Community". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ "Disque en France – 1995 Singles". Disque en France. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
- ↑ [Chart Positions, David Roberts – Managing Editor, Guinness British Hit Singles 13th Edition, 19 May 2000]
- ↑ [Janet Jackson Tour, Miss Janet Official Magazine – Issue 4, Vol.1, December 1995]
- ↑ [Janet Jackson Tour, Peter Loraine, Top of the Pops Magazine, June 1995]
- ↑ [Bad Boys Soundtrack, Bad Boys Official Soundtrack CD, 10 January 2000]