Jill Scott, Urbane jazz Artist

Jill Scott has a soprano voice, and she infused jazz, opera, R&B, spoken word, and hip hop in a style sometimes called neo soul. A reviewer at Pop Matters, referring to Scott’s vocal ability (1st soprano), stated, “Scott draws on her upper register, recalling the artistry of the late ‘songbird’ Minnie Riperton and Deniece Williams.” The same reviewer in another article stated, “The song evokes the artistry of Minnie Riperton as Scott sings in the upper register that makes its only appearances on the album “Who is Jill Scott?” – “I Think It’s Better” and “Show Me”.

Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Genre: R&B, soul, neo soul, hip hop, jazz

Jill Scott is a singer-songwriter, model, poet and actress. Her 2000 debut album, “Who Is Jill Scott”? Words and Sounds Vol. 1, went platinum, and the follow-ups “Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2” (2004) and “The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3” (2007) both achieved gold status. She made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog and Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? in 2007.

After a four-year hiatus from music, Scott released her fourth album, “The Light of the Sun”, in 2011. In 2014, she starred in the film Get On Up as the second wife of James Brown. She also appeared as the lead role in the BBC/HBO series The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency based on the novels of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith. In 2015, she released her fifth album, “Woman”.

Scott was born on April 4, 1972 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She grew up an only child in a North Philadelphia neighborhood, raised by her mother, Joyce Scott and grandmother. She recalls a happy childhood and was “very much a loved child”. Scott was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness.

After graduating the Philadelphia High School for Girls, Scott attended Temple University. While working two jobs, she studied secondary education. She planned to become a high school English teacher. However, after three years of study and then serving as a teacher’s aide, Scott became disillusioned with a teaching career, and she dropped out of college.

Scott began her performing career as a spoken word artist, appearing at live poetry readings to perform her work. She was eventually discovered by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson of the Roots. Questlove invited her to join the band in the studio. The collaboration resulted in a co-writing credit for Scott on the song, “You Got Me”. In 2000, Erykah Badu and the Roots won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for “You Got Me”, and Scott debuted as an artist during a Roots live show, singing as original artist/singer of the song. Subsequently, Scott collaborated with Eric Benet, Will Smith, and Common, and broadened her performing experience by touring Canada in a production of the Broadway musical Rent.

Scott was the first artist signed to Steve McKeever’s ‘Hidden Beach Recordings’ label. Her debut album, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 was released in 2000. She experienced some notice and chart success with the single “A Long Walk”, eventually earning a Grammy nomination in early 2003 for Best Female Vocal Performance. Scott lost that award, but won a 2005 Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative R&B Performance for “Cross My Mind”. The live album, Experience: Jill Scott 826+, was released November 2001. Scott’s second full-length album, Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2, followed in 2004.

Scott continues to write poetry; a compilation volume of her poems, The Moments, The Minutes, The Hours, was published and released by St. Martin’s Press in April 2005.

In early 2007, Scott was featured on the George Benson and Al Jarreau collaboration single “God Bless The Child” (written by Billie Holiday), which earned Scott her second Grammy award, Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, at the 2007 Grammy Awards ceremony. Scott shared the win with Benson and Jarreau. In 2006, Scott was prominently featured on hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco’s single “Daydreaming”, which won a 2008 Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance and also appeared on a new Scott collection called Collaborations on January 30, 2007.

The Collaborations collection served as “an appetizer” for her next studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 released September 25, 2007. A clip of the title track was released on a bonus disc from Hidden Beach Records and included with Collaborations. The lead single “Hate on Me”, gained airplay in May 2007 with a video released in mid-July. In advance of the album’s release, Hidden Beach released a 17-minute album sampler through their forums. Interspersed between the dozen songs previewed on the sampler was a personal explanation from Jill for the inspiration behind some of her songs.

Biographical information courtesy of Wiki; for more reading see link below./

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Scott