"Pony," with its pulsing synth rhythms and sly, erotic double entendres, was a platinum #1 R&B/#6 Pop smash, while "Tell Me Do U Wanna" was a Top Ten crossover hit. Ginuwine's videos, concerts, and TV appearances revealed a fast-rising star: not only a talented singer and songwriter who's blurred the line between r&b and hip-hop, but an exciting dancer/performer in the tradition of Michael Jackson, Prince and Bobby Brown (all admitted influences).
After promotional tours across the US and Europe, photo shoots for national magazines and the 1998 Alaye calendar of black male sex symbols, and even movie readings, the young vocalist is now preparing for his first extended live tour. Beginning in August '97, Ginuwine joins a hot arena package show co-starring Mary J. Blige, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Aaliyah and Dru Hill. Like everything else, he doesn't intend to do it halfway.
"(I'll be) acting, modeling, dancing, singing, just the whole nine. I'm gonna give 110 per cent and do everything that I know how to do in that 25 minutes up on stage." And Ginuwine will be ready when the stage beckons: "I've just been practicing very hard and trying to get in shape for this, because I want to be the best that I can. This is like a dream come true. I've been wanting to do this all my life, and I'm finally getting a chance. I'm working out harder than I've ever worked out. It's like I'm training for a boxing match."
Anyone who caught the 23 year-old Washington, DC resident on Soul Train or Showtime At The Apollo knows that he'll need his strength. Ginuwine's exciting, high-energy dance routines raised a sweat on both sides of the footlights. The moves are of his own devising: "I just sit back, close my eyes, put my album on, and start thinking. Envisioning in my mind that I'm on stage and all that…I just come up with steps. As soon as something pops up in my head, I jump up and try to go through it. I just always liked to dance."
Ginuwine began his show-biz career at age 12, as the youngest member of a DC break dance crew called Finesse Five. When the break dancing fad began to fade, they started singing, and a few years later he joined the go-go band Physical Wonder.
Eventually, after a chance meeting in New York, Ginuwine hooked up with his producer, Virginia Beach native Tim "Timbaland" Mosley (SWV, Missy Elliott, Aaliyah), and the two recorded "Pony" together. The song convinced 550 Music A&R VP Michael Caplan to sign the act within eight notes. Retreating to an Ithaca, NY studio, the pair completed Ginuwine's album in just two months. Creating a suite of sensual and confessional songs linked by spoken interludes and sound effects, they made Ginuwine...The Bachelor into an aural mini-movie. "It's a symbol," Ginuwine says. "It's like a diary of my life."
A review of the album in USA Today said, "He wants to get right to it. When he sings 'my saddle's waiting/come and jump on it' on first single 'Pony,' he is way past foreplay. Though a sexual theme runs throughout the album, Ginuwine keeps you engaged by avoiding standard-issue crooning."
The young boy who was inspired to perform after watching Michael Jackson on the "Motown 25" TV special, pays back another debt by going "way back in time" for a striking cover of "When Doves Cry," the latest single from Ginuwine...The Bachelor.
"That's the first album that got my attention from Prince, the whole Purple Rain album," recalls Ginuwine, who was all of 10 years old when that record hit the charts. "I really liked 'When Doves Cry' a lot, and always thought if I ever got the chance I would do it over."
Ginuwine is still planning things in advance. After the tour ends, work starts on the next album, to be recorded in Decem ber, again with Timbaland. "Yeah, I already got six songs for the next album," notes the ever-industrious Ginuwine, "though I don't know yet if they're gonna make the final cut. We're gonna cut about 30-35 songs, then choose the ones for the album — the ones that sound like hits!"
Add to that workload more interviews, tv appearances, celebrity basketball games, a production deal to work with other artists (starting with a Chicago female group named Ask Her), and more movie auditions. "I haven't landed any parts yet, but I got my feet wet in auditions. I read for two (for the Hudlin Brothers and for a new Whoopi Goldberg film), but my schedule didn't allow me to participate within the production schedules."
Ever the
trouper, Ginuwine is happy to relax a few minutes a day
with his Playstation, and takes all these tasks in
stride. "I've been trying to do it for so long, it's
like a blessing to even get the chance. I'm like one in a
billion that get chosen to get a record deal, so it's
like a blessing every day, and hopefully I can keep it
going."
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