Marilyn Scott

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marilyn Scott

Marilyn Scott is a jazz vocalist who currently lives in Los Angeles, California. She has developed a trademark blend of jazz accents, blues intensity and pure, passionate soul. Her body of work is a mixture of original songs and inspired covers that speak directly to the hopes and fears, the wisdom and folly, of contemporary life. Scott has released ten albums in the span of her 27 year solo career.

1 Biography
2 Discography
3 Soundtracks
4 External links

[edit] Biography

As a teenager, Scott was greatly influenced by live performances from musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin and Etta James. She gained experience and insight into the world of jazz and R&B by performing in bands such as Tower of Power.

Scott's solo career began with a cover of the Beach Boys “God Only Knows.” It made the Billboard Top 100, and led to her first album, 'Dreams of Tomorrow,' which saw release in 1979. While building momentum with the Michael Sembello production 'Without Warning,' Marilyn also began movie work, lending songs to the soundtracks from 'Torch Song Trilogy' (singing “Skylark”) and from 'Twins' with “I Only Have Eyes For You”. She continued to be an integral part of the adult contemporary landscape throughout the 90's and into 2002 with songs such as “You Don't Know Me”, “I'm Calling You,” “The Last Day” and “Don't Let Love Get Away.”

Her recording of Brenda Russell's “The Last Day,” from 'Avenues of Love,' explored someone's last moments in life and was used by the American Red Cross. In April 2000 she joined Garth Brooks, Melissa Etheridge, k.d. Lang and the Pet Shop Boys at the Equality Rocks concert in Washington D.C., where she debuted her anthem for tolerance, “No Room For Hate”. Co-written with Russell Ferrante and Jimmy Haslip, the song inspired the No Room For Hate Campaign, which led to Marilyn's co-founding of The Prana Foundation, a non-profit organization whose first campaign was to provide funding for anti-bias education for children. In early 2004, the Foundation partnered with the Anti-Defamation League in Los Angeles to help launch a program the Miller Early Childhood Initiative, which provides anti-bias training for teachers, caregivers and parents of pre-school children ages 3-5.

In 2005 Scott received the distinct honor of having two separate albums charting on the Billboard Jazz Charts simultaneously for 14 weeks – Handpicked on Contemporary Jazz and Nightcap on Traditional Jazz – the only vocalist in Billboard history to ever accomplish this feat. Her 2006 album, Innocent of Nothing, includes original compositions as well as renditions of Thelonious Monk’s “Round Midnight” and Bob Dylan’s potent protest song, “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding). Musicians on the album include bassists Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets) and Brian Bromberg; drummer Vinnie Colaiuta and percussionist Lenny Castro; keyboardists Patrice Rushen, Russell Ferrante (Yellowjackets) and John Beasley; saxophonist Steve Tavaglione, guitarists Ray Fuller and Mike Miller. Innocent of Nothing was produced by George Duke, who worked closely with Scott on many of her recordings, including 2004’s Nightcap, as well as 1998’s Grammy-nominated “The Look of Love” from Avenues Of Love.