[Music] foreign
he had the Swagger of a hip-hop rapper but the vocal prowess of an r b Ballard Montel
Jordan burst under the entertainment scene in the mid 90s and immediately Rose to the top of the
charts while also using his attention-grabbing height and good looks to create the image of a
single and ready to mingle Hollywood heartthrob he wasn't single though he was very married and
before long that false Public Image would lead to causing his wife immense pain and
put their relationship in jeopardy creative differences with his label money issues and
the realization that his choices weren't serving him well Force Montel to re-examine everything
and ultimately decide to take his life in a more meaningful and spiritual Direction
Montel was born in South Central Los Angeles the oldest of four children on December 3rd
1968. the neighborhood he grew up in was very rough and gang violence was a part of everyday
life drive-by shootings were also prevalent so much so that montel's family opted to sit on
the floor in the their home while watching TV as a way to protect themselves from any
stray bullets there was never any worry of Montel getting caught up in that lifestyle
though as he told blackdoctor.org in 2020 I was more fearful of my dad than I was the Crips and
bloods if we even thought about gang banging or being around that he would take us out first
his mother a bank teller and father who worked at a paper Factory were also quite religious it was
important for them to rear their children in the faith as well so Montel and his siblings attended
a local church multiple times per week growing up his parents also took on roles as deacons there
while Montel would play piano for the choir his defining moment when he knew he truly had
been blessed with the gift of singing would happen in his final year of high school during a talent
show he sat down at a piano and blew everyone away with his rendition of the commodore's 1980s song
Jesus is Love after graduating in the mid 80s Montel attended Pepperdine University in Malibu
California where he earned a bachelor's degree in organizational Communications with a minor in
business in preparation for law school those plans quickly changed though following a conversation he
had with one of the school's law professors who also happened to be a close friend as it turned
out the professor himself had his own aspirations to pursue a career in music Once Upon a Time so he
was very candid with Montel in telling him that if he really wanted to do music he should do it
now since law school would always be there whereas the opportunity to get his foot in the door of the
entertainment industry not so much one night at a party Montel met the woman who would later become
his wife Kristen Hudson after they began dating she used her academic background to help Montel
on his journey to breaking into the music industry as his manager one Showcase in particular where
he performed completely brought the house down the crowd threw so much money at his feet that
he was able to pocket more in 20 minutes than what would have taken him a couple of days to
make at his regular nine to five Montel was all in now he was more determined than ever to make
his dreams of singing stardom come true while shopping his demo tape around Montel eventually
caught the attention of Def Jam records founder Russell Simmons he was so impressed with what he
heard that he asked Montel to fly out to New York ASAP so he could sign him to his R B division deaf
Soul before he got into the studio to begin work on his debut album though Montana needed to do
something else first merry Kristen in his unsung episode Montel stated that he'd always heard that
in the music business if you didn't get married before your career popped off you likely never
would so in 1994 he and Kristen held a ceremony officiated by the bride's grandfather in L.A
montel's first single called This is how we do it which sampled Slick Rick's hit children's
story dropped in February 1995. the hit shot all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 100
and R B charts [Music] the secret to montel's success was obvious and something he'd lean
on for years to come his ability to skillfully blend r b with hip-hop I've been into rap ever
since I was 11 or 12 but I never wanted to be a rapper my heart has always been in traditional r
b so I wanted to sing I grew up listening to my parents records people like the Spinners Isaac
Hayes and Teddy Pendergrass I wrote rap lyrics and instead of rapping I sang the lyrics it's
a different slant on r b his debut album of the same name was released two months later Montel was
now a Bonafide Superstar and his label thought it was a good idea to begin marketing him in a
very particular way even though they knew he was married they suggested he present himself to his
fans as a single man believing the status would help him sell more records in his unsung episode
Montel admitted that they came up with a prepared answer he would give in interviews if asked about
his personal life which was to say he was married to his music lies lies and more lies and lies on
top of Lies montel's follow-up single something for the Honeys dropped in the summer of 1995
becoming a top 20 r b hit and just missing the top 20 on the pop charts by settling at number
21. a number of familiar faces not only showed up on the set of the music video which took place on
a golf course but they also brought with them some major drama an all-out brawl with BG knockout and
his brother draysta on one side and Nate Dogg and the dog pound crew on the other ensued after some
words were exchanged between BG and Nate they even made use of the tools available to them
by BG getting his foot run over by Nate driving a golf cart and draysta getting hit in the head
with a golf club the whole thing was also caught on tape the very next year Montel released his
second album more the aptly title project did in fact give the fans more more hits in the
form of all three of the project singles I like falling and what's on tonight once again though
more video shoot drama followed for the second single falling the concept required Montel to
have a very close and cozy interaction with his love interest played by actress Sally Richardson
long before that moment Montel and his wife had already had a discussion about him not doing any
kissing or love scenes if you've seen the video for the song though you know that promise was
clearly broken Kristen who had just given birth to their first child a couple of weeks prior and
was battling postpartum depression was also on the set she wasn't happy about montel's actions
at all and the Ugly scene she made about it let everyone know exactly how she felt
Montel may have only been playing Make Believe on the set of this music video but soon the
temptation to engage in Intimate ways with numerous people of the opposite sex became
very real his personal life experiences also began to be reflected in his work his third album let's
ride was released in March 1998. the lyrics of the lead single and title track left nothing
to the imagination and clearly communicated what kind of off-stage activities Montel was involved
in the song also became his biggest hit since this is how we do it going to number two on the Hot 100
and taking the top spot on the r b chart by now it was clear to fans that the hip-hop element in
montel's music wasn't going anywhere his hip-hop Focus record label was more than okay with that
but Montel wasn't he wanted to be a true balleter so along with his childhood friend songwriter and
producer Anthony Shep Crawford he started his own writing and production company to start
they began creating works for other artists including Chris Christina Milian 98 Degrees
and little mall they also penned the Smash Hits nobody's supposed to be here by Deborah Cox and
incomplete by Cisco get it on tonight montel's fourth effort debuted on the scene in November
1999. just like let's ride this album courtesy of its title track spoke to similar extracurricular
activities Montel was engaging in unbeknownst to his wife everything was on a downward spiral in
montel's life his drinking and womanizing were out of control according to Kristen she was in
denial about what her husband was involved in and chose to just keep herself busy that
is until a family friend threatened to tell montel's wife what was going on if he didn't
Montel decided he should be the one to reveal everything and that he did when I told her
she had she left the house because her initial
thought was I gotta get out of here so I don't kill him
I literally end up laying at the altar and just really crying out to the Lord and asking
him what is it that you want me to do and he as clear as I'm talking to you so stay
you and your daughter's life depend on it and I was like Ugh
I had to share with her everything that I had ever done every instance I'd ever had
every woman I had in a bathroom stall every woman I had ever done anything with looked
at lusted after tour bus anything that I could think of I told my wife everything
I just had to come to the conclusion that I had to trust the god in him as opposed to him and
say you know what [Music] um I have to believe that God knows more than me she absorbed years
of infidelity from me and took that all upon herself as my wife we put in rules
in place of like if he's going to be gone for more than three days I go with him we had to
really make choices that said okay we're going to choose this like we can never discuss divorce
the next time Montel got back into the studio he decided that he was going to approach his next
project much differently than the ones that came before but even though he was tired of his label
dictating his every move maybe they knew what they were doing the subject matter on montel's
2002 self-titled album that may have been more to his liking didn't fare well on the charts to add
insult to injury the label decided to release it overseas and not in the U.S it was clearly time
for him and deaf soul to part ways Montel moved on quickly and released his next album life after
death the following year under coach records it did even worse than his self-titled album then
some major money issues popped up when the tax man came to collect what Montel apparently had
failed to pay them for years the initial amount was quite small but over time the interest that
accrued Rose to the total of 1.7 million dollars unfortunately he decided that the best way out
of the situation was to sell off his entire catalog along on with filing for bankruptcy
Montel dusted himself off and got right back to work booking locations for live performances to
pay the bills there was one problem though people weren't feeling him the way they once
were and it showed in the numbers the reality hit him like a ton of bricks when he walked out
on stage at one particular venue that seated 3 500 and saw only seven people in the crowd
after that abysmal experience Montel released his seventh album 2008's Let It Rain On Fontana
records a couple of years later as he was getting ready to create another musical project
Montel felt a spiritual calling to completely switch gears in his professional as well as his
personal life during a religious fast at the Victory World Church in Atlanta he claims he
was told by God to quit the music industry he decided to heed the Lord's word and walk away
from music altogether he dedicated his life to his faith became a born-again Christian as well
as an ordained minister and executive pastor at that same church Montel and his wife also
provided both premarital and marriage counseling for couples to continue to tap into his love of
Music Montel created a collective there called Victory World music in early 2011 they released
a Christian album the Jordans co-authored their first book together in 2017 titled this is how
we do it making your marriage a masterpiece it followed montel's first book ever becoming
unfamous the journey from how we do it to how he do it which dropped just seven months prior 2019
Mark montel's return to music with his first solo studio album in over a decade Masterpiece is a 10
song project full of positive and inspirational tracks he then dove into the reality TV Arena
by competing on season 8 of The Masked Singer as Panther in 2022 as well as special forces
world's toughest test in the beginning of 2023 where he was sadly eliminated in only
the second episode due to a medical issue today Montel and his wife Kristen continue to reside
in Atlanta and their faith is stronger than ever near the end of 2022 they began streaming
virtual church sermons on Sundays through their Masterpiece Church website and social media
thank you