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Jon Lucien (January 8, 1942 – August 18, 2007) was a vocalist, songwriter, and musician from the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1974 he released Mind's Eye on RCA Records and it contains my favorite song by him titled "Listen Love", a funky, yet soul filled uptempo tune with cultural elements. Other than Lucien's outstanding performance on several instruments and vocals, there was an impressive line-up of talented musicians who took part of the project. Most notably, Dave Grusin on piano and percussion, who also conducted the orchestra, and Ralph McDonald on percussion as well.
Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron
(April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011)
Widely considered as one of the forefathers and greatest influences to the world of Hip-Hop with his poetry that had the backings of African drumming, Soul, Jazz, Blues and Funk. His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues." His best known composition that is considered a critically acclaimed classic is The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. His works with multi-instrumentalist Brian Jackson include Free Will, Pieces of A Man and Winter In America, also gained heavy notoriety and considered classics by many.
Scott-Heron remained active until his death, and in 2010 released his first new album in 16 years, entitled I'm New Here. "The Last Holiday", was also published, posthumously in January 2012.
Starting his career as a "doo-wop" artist, he later became a session drummer for Motown Records, before becoming the top selling solo artist of Tamla, a Motown subsidiary. He was crowned the "Prince of Motown" and also the "Prince of Soul". His work in the early and mid-1970s included the albums, What's Going On, Let's Get It On, and I Want You, which helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary, and slow jam genres. Here, My Dear, In Our Lifetime and Midnight Love would all be heavy influences for the more modern soul sound.
In 1982, during an interview for New Musical Express magazine, he's quoted as saying:
"I don't make records for pleasure. I did when I was a younger artist, but I don't today. I record so that I can feed people what they need, what they feel. Hopefully, I record so that I can help someone overcome a bad time."
Whitney Elizabeth Houston
(August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012)
After waking up and making a snack, I turned on the tele and flipped through a few channels and stop at VH-1 to see "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston from the 80's. At first I thought they were just going to show a few videos from that era by many artists, only to continue to see more videos of her as if they were doing some sort of tribute. My thought was; "Seems like they only do that when someone has passed away.", and I ended up blowing off the idea thinking maybe they were going to pay tribute on the upcoming Grammy Awards.
While on a commercial break, I flip through channels again to see on one of the national and world news stations that Houston had indeed passed away. Talk about a shock to see another iconic figure taken away so soon. Of course I can go on and on about her accomplishments during the course of her career and her trials. Fact now is, this is one of the biggest voices in modern recording history that is no longer with us in person. Mrs. Houston, we salute you!
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was a composer, pianist, and big band leader who wrote over 1,000 compositions, is widely regarded as the most important composer in Jazz.
A prominent figure in the history of jazz, Ellington's music stretched into various other genres, including blues, gospel, film scores, popular, and classical. His career spanned more than 50 years and included leading his orchestra, composing an inexhaustible songbook, scoring for movies, composing stage musicals, and world tours. Several of his instrumental works were adapted into songs that became standards. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and extraordinary charisma, he is generally considered to have elevated the perception of jazz to an art form on a par with other traditional genres of music. His reputation increased after his death, the Pulitzer Prize Board bestowing a special posthumous honor in 1999.
Ellington won 12 Grammy Awards (nine while still alive) and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2009, the U.S. Mint featured him on the back of the Washington D.C. quarter.
