Marlena Shaw
Marlena Shaw ( born September 22, 1942 in New Rochelle (New York) as Marlina Burgess) is an American jazz singer, who has also made numerous recordings in the areas of R & B, soul, disco and pop in the course of her five -decade career. One of her most famous songs, California Soul from 1969, has been sampled numerous times.
Life and work
Shaw sang gospel and was initially by her uncle, the trumpeter Jimmy Burgess introduced to jazz. In 1952 she appeared with him at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. She made her teacher - training college do not end there and continued to perform as a singer. In 1963 she worked with Howard McGhee. She first appeared in the smaller clubs; In 1966 she received from Dick LaPalm which she had heard in Chacago Playboy Club, a contract with Chess Records and released their first two albums on their sub- label Cadet Records. Ramsey Lewis pulled her in the Water ( 1966) as a singer for his version of Wade. In the same year she also wrote the text to Mercy, Mercy, Mercy. For four years she was a singer in the 1968 Count Basie Orchestra, with whom she was on tour in Europe. In 1972, she was taken from Blue Note Records. A wider audience, she was known as an interpreter of Look At Me, Look At You (1977 ) and the disco hits Touch Me in the Morning (1978, originally associated with Diana Ross). Furthermore, she took on with Phil Upchurch.
1973 Shaw joined at the Montreux Jazz Festival, 2001 and 2007 at the North Sea Jazz Festival.