american r b singer luginia thompson better known as gina thompson was born and raised in vineland
new jersey one of eight children she began singing at an early age in choirs in church as well as in
school her whole family in fact was also very musical curious to see how she would fare as
a solo singer one of her brothers brought her to his friend's home who had a recording studio
in the basement her brother liked what he heard and encouraged her to continue honing her skills
a couple of other family members just happened to know an up-and-coming new jersey born music
producer by the name of rodney jerkins after singing for him at his home rodney signed gina
to his own company dark child productions now she had a choice to make gina was just 20 years
old and gearing up to go to college ultimately she decided that she'd rather focus on getting
her music career off the ground gina went straight to work after banging out several tracks rodney's
father who was acting as her manager at the time began shopping them around the new york area in
a matter of weeks gina found herself signed to the label that came back with the best offer
mercury records then came the all-important decision of which song should be her debut
single the powers that be at the label were all in agreement that one track stood out from the rest
however they also felt that it needed a slight change in sound to cater more to what was already
out and popular at the time enter puff daddy the music mogul was approached and agreed to create
a remix version of the song that track called the things that you do dropped in the summer of 1996
and became an instant hit puff was also the one to add missy elliott on the track her feature
would also serve as missy's debut solo performance and introduce the world to her signature tagline
the song fell just outside the top 40 at number 41 on the billboard hot 100 and climbed all the
way to number 12 on the r b hip-hop chart her debut album titled nobody does it better
was released the following month no doubt due to her solo success gina got the opportunity to
work with other popular artists at the time on their projects she performed background vocals
for the song cold rock a party by m.c light featuring missy elliott and puff daddy later
work included why do fools fall in love a cover of the 1955 frankie lymon and the teenagers hit
of the same name that song was featured in the biopic of the 50s r b star and on its soundtrack
gina also appeared on missy elliott's second album 1999's the real world even though gina
was enjoying all the attention that she was experiencing things behind the scenes at
mercury were not going the way she wanted them to she spoke to halftime chat in december 2021
about her frustration with trying to understand why the label was dragging their feet over putting
out a follow-up single to this day gina says she still doesn't know what happened what she did know
though was that she needed to leave if she wanted to move forward in her career at this time gina
and missy were growing close and sylvia rhone over at elektra noticed the timing seemed perfect so
gina happily decided to join the electra family the process of putting together gina's second
album again didn't go the way she thought it would missy was slowly becoming a hot commodity in the
industry and along with building her own solo career she was also heavily involved in working
with other artists like 702 and aaliyah gina was forced to do much of the work on her album
on her own the first single chosen for release was the track yada yada it wasn't gina's first choice
but majority ruled unfortunately this time around wouldn't be any different from the first gina had
a deja vu experience where the single came out got some attention but the label didn't follow up with
anything else as a result the entire album was shelved in a january 2022 interview with you know
igotsoul.com gina was very candid about how much of her heart and soul she poured into the project
even more so than her debut she wrote most of it and called on other major players in the industry
to pull it all together such as john b beanie siegel and montel jordan due to the album not
getting a release gina shut down and became very angry it was like trying to reach out to people
and nobody is returning your calls everyone is ghost i felt abandoned it was so so so hurtful
i went into a deep depression it gets really deep with me i was just so over music she was
also over her life and at one point contemplated taking her own after a few years went by gina did
try to put together another project but it didn't work out she then decided that it was time for a
complete career change with the support of her family including her husband and three children
gina would go on to work first as a correctional officer for 10 years before moving on again to
obtain a master's degree and become a registered nurse in the same interview with you know i got
soul.com gina relays some cautionary advice for anyone trying to break into the music industry
put your full trust in no man but god and make sure you learn the business people will drag you
and try to suck every penny out of you you've got to keep your mind and soul and let go and let god
in recent years as she reiterated in her halftime chat interview gina felt her heart begin to soften
and open up to music again here and there little things started to happen and then she got a call
about an opportunity she knew she needed to jump on in march 2021 gina surprised everyone
with an appearance on dj cassidy's past the mic the bet after party of course she's saying her
smash hit the things that you do it was a great decision all across social media thousands of fans
let gina know how happy they were to see her and how much she had been missed she was also able to
reconnect with missy 2022 appears to be the year that fans may finally get to hear some new music
from gina she says that she does plan to start riding again and eventually get back in the studio
thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget to subscribe and
turn on your notifications so you won't miss any future videos see you next time