He is a story of the full arc of a career, from obscurity to fame and ultimately to self-realization and conversion. Montell Jordan encompasses all of that.
Jordan emerged in the mid-1990s as one of R&B’s most recognizable voices, arriving with a blend of church-bred musicality and West Coast swagger that helped define an era. Born in 1968 and raised in South Central Los Angeles by Baptist parents who were active church deacons, he grew up immersed in gospel music. A pianist and singer, Jordan carried his church and secular influences into the smooth, melodic style that would become his trademark. After earning a communications degree from Pepperdine University, he made the leap into the music industry and soon signed with Def Soul, the R&B arm of Def Jam, becoming one of the label’s earliest and most successful solo R&B acts.
Jordan’s debut single, “This Is How We Do It,” exploded out of the gate in 1995, spending seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and turning his first album, This Is How We Do It, into a platinum triumph. The song became a generational anthem, instantly recognizable and endlessly sampled, and established Jordan as a fresh, confident voice in the urban music landscape.
Jordan followed that breakthrough with a consistent run of hits, including “Somethin’ 4 da Honeyz,” “Let’s Ride,” “I Like,” and the 1999 smash “Get It On…Tonite,” while also building a parallel career as a songwriter and producer for artists like Sisqó, Deborah Cox, and Christina Milian. Across his career, Jordan would sell over 10 million records worldwide, marking him as a defining figure in late-’90s R&B.
Yet as his success grew, so did an internal tension. The handsome, 6 foot 8 inch Jordan later revealed that maintaining the industry’s expected “sex symbol” image conflicted with his personal values and his commitment to his marriage. By the mid-2000s, following his album Let It Rain, he stepped back from mainstream music altogether. A profound spiritual awakening in 2010 led him to leave secular R&B behind, becoming a worship leader at Victory World Church in Georgia and devoting his creative gifts to ministry. He performed faith-based music, but also performed secular music from time to time at events.
He and his wife Kristin eventually founded Master Peace Church, a virtual congregation focused on faith, marriage, and emotional restoration, and together they authored the book This Is How We Do It! Making Your Marriage A Masterpeace. Montell Jordan’s journey—from chart-topping hitmaker to faith-centered mentor—remains one of modern music’s most compelling examples of reinvention guided by conviction.
In 2024, Jordan was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which was treated but returned a year later. He opened up about his battle and became an ambassador for Zero Prostate Cancer in 2025.
