''Bonafide'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American singer Jon B. It was released on May 23, 1995, on the

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

subsidiary

550 Music 550 Music (originally known as Sony 550 Music) was a unit of Sony Music Entertainment, which operated through Sony Music's Epic Records division while in activity. Launched in 1992, the "550" name was inspired by the address of the Sony building ...

. The album was the first recording released on

Tracey Edmonds Tracey Elaine Edmonds (née McQuarn; born February 18, 1967) is an American businesswoman, television producer and personality. She is the CEO of Edmonds Entertainment Group Inc and Alrightnow.com and is a former host of the television show ''Ext ...

' record label Yab Yum Records, which 550 Music distributed. It includes the

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

-nominated first single " Someone to Love" featuring

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

. The song was originally featured on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to the 1995

Will Smith Willard Carroll Smith II (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor, rapper, and film producer. Known for his work in both Will Smith filmography, the screen and Will Smith discography, music industries, List of awards and nominations re ...

and

Martin Lawrence Martin Fitzgerald LawrenceStated in interview on '' Inside the Actors Studio'' (born April 16, 1965) is an American actor and comedian. Lawrence began his career doing comedy shows, including in '' The Improv''. After his first acting role in t ...

action-comedy '' Bad Boys''. Also included is the second single " Pretty Girl" and the final single "Isn't It Scary".

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described the songs on the album as "sweetly-sung paeans to the late-night nasties, pure acts of musical seduction ..''Bonafide'' is a mix of dance tunes, and ballads with slinky beats and shadowy moods that suggest late nights in a jazz or blues club. This is the red-light district of sweet-soul music ..The sound of ''Bonafide'' is seductive enough, but Jon B.'s sexiest tool is his voice, which has the slurred quality of bedroom talk and still manages to swoop gracefully over melodic choruses." ''Bonafide'' was a favorite of rapper

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

. The two met each other by way of a mutual friend on the set of Shakur's video "

How Do U Want It "How Do U Want It" is a song by American rapper 2Pac from his fourth studio album, '' All Eyez on Me'' (1996). It was released on June 4, 1996 as a double A-sided single with "California Love" from the same album and was his final single to be r ...

", which prompted them to work together. The end result was the collaboration " Are U Still Down", which appeared on Jon's following album '' Cool Relax''.

Chart performance

''Bonafide'' peaked at number 79 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. By July 1995, the album had sold 58,000 units. On August 1, 1996, it was certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for shipments figures in excess of 500,000 copies.

Track listing

Sample credits *"Simple Melody" contains a sample from "

(Not Just) Knee Deep "(Not Just) Knee Deep" is a song by the American funk band Funkadelic, written by George Clinton. The song was released as a single for their album '' Uncle Jam Wants You'' (1979). The song is widely regarded as a funk classic, peaking at No. 7 ...

" as performed by George Clinton

Personnel

Credits adapted from liner notes and

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.Jon B. – Bonafide (CD liner notes). Yab Yum Records/550 Music. BK 66436 * Jon B. – lead and backing vocals, drums, drum programming,

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, keyboards, bass * Babyface – backing vocals, drum programming, keyboards, guitar *

Deon Estus Jeffery Deon Estus (July 4, 1956 – October 11, 2021) was an American musician and singer, best known as the bass player of Wham! and as the bassist on George Michael's first two solo projects. Estus' single " Heaven Help Me", with additional v ...

– bass * Reggie Hamilton – guitar * Ricardo Silveria – guitar * Musiic K. Galloway – backing vocals * Deborah Buck, Donald Buck, Kevin Buck – strings * Tyrone Griffin – trumpet * Randy Walker – MIDI programming *

, Michael McQuarn –

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

* Brad Gilderman, Marty Ogden, Ricky Delena –

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproducti ...

Dave Way Dave Way is a Grammy Award winning American producer, mixer and audio engineer based in Los Angeles, California, United States. He has worked with Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow, Kesha, Pink, Iron And Wine, Fall Out Boy, Al Green, 21 Pilots, Yebba, Vic ...

, Tom Russo, Jon Gass, Mick Guzauski – mixing * Herb Powers, Jr. – mastering * George Holz –

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

Charts

Certifications

References

1995 debut albums 550 Music albums Albums produced by Babyface (musician) Jon B. albums {{1990s-R&B-album-stub