Gil Scott-Heron
Encyclopedia
Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) was an American soul
and jazz poet
, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word
performer in the 1970s and '80s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping
and melisma
tic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues."Onstage at the Black Wax Club in Washington, D.C. in 1982, Scott-Heron cited Harlem Renaissance
writers Langston Hughes
, Sterling Brown, Jean Toomer
, Countee Cullen
and Claude McKay
as among those who had "taken the blues as a poetry form" in the 1920s and "fine-tuned it" into a "remarkable art form". His music, most notably on Pieces of a Man
and Winter in America
in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop
and neo soul
.
Scott-Heron's recording work has received much critical acclaim, especially for one of his best-known compositions "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
". His poetic style has been influential upon every generation of hip hop since his popularity began.
In addition to being widely considered an influence in today's music, Scott-Heron remained active until his death, and in 2010 released his first new album in 16 years, entitled I'm New Here
.
, Illinois. His mother, Bobbie Scott-Heron, was an opera singer who performed with the New York Oratorio Society. Scott-Heron's father, Gil Heron
, nicknamed "The Black Arrow," was a Jamaican soccer player in the 1950s who became the first black athlete to play for the Scottish Glasgow
Celtic Football Club
. Gil's parents separated in his early childhood and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother, Lillie Scott, in Jackson
, Tennessee. When Scott-Heron was 12 years old, his grandmother died and he returned to live with his mother in the Bronx
, New York City
. He enrolled at DeWitt Clinton High School
, but later transferred to The Fieldston School after impressing the head of the English department with one of his writings and earning a full scholarship. As one of five black students at the prestigious school, Scott-Heron was faced with alienation and a significant socioeconomic gap. During his admissions interview at Fieldston, an administrator asked him, “'How would you feel if you see one of your classmates go by in a limousine while you're walking up the hill from the subway?' And I said, 'Same way as you. Y'all can't afford no limousine. How do you feel?'" This type of intractable boldness would become a hallmark of Scott-Heron’s later recordings.
Scott-Heron attended Lincoln University
in Pennsylvania
, as it was the college chosen by his biggest influence Langston Hughes
. It was here that Scott-Heron met Brian Jackson with whom he formed the band Black & Blues. After about two years at Lincoln, Scott-Heron took a year off to write the novels The Vulture and The Nigger Factory. The Last Poets
performed at Lincoln in 1969 and Abiodun Oyewole
of that Harlem group said Scott-Heron asked him after the performance, "Listen, can I start a group like you guys?" Scott-Heron returned to New York City, settling in Chelsea, Manhattan
. The Vulture was published in 1970 and well received. Although Scott-Heron never received his undergraduate degree
, he received a Master's degree in Creative Writing in 1972 from Johns Hopkins University
. His 1972 masters thesis
was titled Circle of stone.
Scott-Heron began his recording career in 1970 with the LP
Small Talk at 125th and Lenox
. Bob Thiele
of Flying Dutchman Records
produced the album, and Scott-Heron was accompanied by Eddie Knowles and Charlie Saunders on conga and David Barnes
on percussion and vocals. The album's 15 tracks dealt with themes such as the superficiality of television and mass consumerism, the hypocrisy of some would-be Black revolutionaries, and white middle-class ignorance of the difficulties faced by inner-city residents. In the liner notes, Scott-Heron acknowledged as influences Richie Havens
, John Coltrane
, Otis Redding
, Jose Feliciano
, Billie Holiday
, Langston Hughes
, Malcolm X
, Huey Newton, Nina Simone
, and the pianist who would become his long-time collaborator, Brian Jackson.
Scott-Heron's 1971 album Pieces of a Man
used more conventional song structures than the loose, spoken-word feel of Small Talk. He was joined by Johnny Pate (conductor), Brian Jackson on keyboards, piano, Ron Carter
on bass
and bass guitar, drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie
, Burt Jones playing electric guitar, and Hubert Laws
on flute
and saxophone, with Thiele producing again. Scott-Heron's third album, Free Will, was released in 1972. Jackson, Purdie, Laws, Knowles, and Saunders all returned to play on Free Will
and were joined by Jerry Jemmott
playing bass
, David Spinozza
on guitar, and Horace Ott (arranger and conductor). Carter later said about Scott-Heron's voice, "He wasn’t a great singer, but, with that voice, if he had whispered it would have been dynamic. It was a voice like you would have for Shakespeare.”
1974 saw another LP collaboration with Brian Jackson, the critically acclaimed opus Winter in America
, with Bob Adams on drums and Danny Bowens on bass. The album contained Scott-Heron's most cohesive material and featured more of Jackson's creative input than his previous albums had. Winter in America has been regarded by many critics as the two musicians' most artistic effort. The following year, Scott-Heron and Jackson also released Midnight Band: The First Minute of a New Day
. A live album, It's Your World
, followed in 1976 and a recording of spoken poetry, The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron, was released in 1979. In the July 1976 Bicentennial issue of Playboy Scott-Heron was profiled; the accompanying artwork shows Scott-Heron singing or speaking into a microphone as it melts from the heat of his words. Another hit success followed with the hit single "Angel Dust", which he recorded as a single with producer Malcolm Cecil
. "Angel Dust" peaked at No.15 on the R&B
charts in 1978.
In 1979, Scott-Heron played at the No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden
. The concerts were organized by Musicians United for Safe Energy
to protest the use of nuclear energy
following the Three Mile Island accident
. Scott-Heron's song, "We Almost Lost Detroit" was included in the No Nukes
album of concert highlights. It alluded to a previous nuclear power plant accident and was also the title of a book by John G. Fuller
. Scott-Heron was also a frequent critic of President Ronald Reagan
and his conservative policies.
Scott-Heron recorded and released only four albums during the 1980s: 1980 and Real Eyes (1980), Reflections (1981) and Moving Target (1982). ). In February 1982, Ron Holloway
joined the ensemble to play tenor saxophone
. He toured extensively with Scott-Heron and contributed to his next album, Moving Target the same year. His tenor accompaniment is a prominent feature of the songs "Fast Lane" and "Black History/The World." Holloway continued with Scott-Heron until the summer of 1989, when he left to join Dizzy Gillespie
. Several years later, Scott-Heron would make cameo appearances on two of Ron Holloway's CD's; Scorcher (1996) and Groove Update (1998), both on the Fantasy/Milestone label.
Scott-Heron was dropped by Arista Records
in 1985 and quit recording, though he continued to tour. The same year he helped compose and sang "Let Me See Your I.D." on the Artists United Against Apartheid
album Sun City
, containing the famous line, "The first time I heard there was trouble in the Middle East, I thought they were talking about Pittsburgh." The song compares racial tensions in the US with those in apartheid-era South Africa, implying that the US was not too far ahead in race relations. In 1993, he signed to TVT Records
and released Spirits, an album that included the seminal track "'Message to the Messengers". The first track on the album criticized the rap artists of the day. Scott-Heron is known in many circles as "the Godfather of rap
" and is widely considered to be one of the genre's founding fathers. Given the political consciousness that lies at the foundation of his work, he can also be called a founder of political rap. Message to the Messengers was a plea for the new generation of rappers to speak for change rather than perpetuate the current social situation, and to be more articulate and artistic. Regarding hip hop music in the 1990s, he said in an interview:
. While out of jail in 2002, he appeared on the Blazing Arrow
album by Blackalicious
. He was released on parole
in 2003. On July 5, 2006, Scott-Heron was sentenced to two to four years in a New York State prison for violating a plea deal on a drug-possession charge by leaving a drug rehabilitation center
. Scott-Heron's sentence was to run until July 13, 2009. He was paroled on May 23, 2007.
The reason given for the violation of his plea deal was that the clinic refused to supply Scott-Heron with HIV medication. This story led to the presumption that the artist was HIV positive, subsequently confirmed in a 2008 interview.
After his release, Scott-Heron began performing live again, starting with a show at "SOB's" restaurant and nightclub in New York on September 13, 2007. On stage, he stated that he and his musicians were working on a new album and that he had resumed writing a book titled The Last Holiday, previously on long-term hiatus, about Stevie Wonder
and his successful attempt to have the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. declared a federally recognized holiday in the United States.
On October 10, 2007, the day before a scheduled (but ultimately cancelled) second SOB's performance, he was arrested on felony possession of cocaine charges. He continued to make live appearances at various US venues during the course of 2008 and 2009, including further appearances at SOBs in New York. He stated in interviews that work was continuing on his new album, which would consist mainly of new versions of some of his classic songs, plus some cover versions of other artists' work. Having originally planned to publish The Last Holiday in 2003, before it was put on hold, Canongate Books now tentatively intend to issue it in January 2011. The book was due to be previewed via a website set to be launched on April 1, 2009, but this did not appear.
Mark T. Watson
, a student of Scott-Heron's work, dedicated a collection of poetry to Scott-Heron titled Ordinary Guy that contained a foreword by Jalal Mansur Nuriddin
of The Last Poets. The book was published in the UK in 2004 by Fore-Word Press
Ltd. Scott-Heron recorded one of the poems in Watson's book Black & Blue due for release in 2008 as part of the album Rhythms of the Diaspora by Malik & the OG's on the record label CPR Recordings.
In April 2009 on BBC Radio Four, poet Lemn Sissay
presented a half-hour documentary on Gil Scott-Heron entitled Pieces of a Man. Having interviewed Gil Scott-Heron in New York a month earlier, Pieces of a Man was the first UK announcement from Gil of his forthcoming album and return to form. In November 2009, the BBC's Newsnight
interviewed Gil Scott-Heron for a feature titled The Legendary Godfather of Rap Returns. In 2009, a new Gil Scott-Heron website, gilscottheron.net, was launched with a brand new track "Where Did The Night Go" made available as a free download from the site.
Scott-Heron released his new album I'm New Here
on independent label XL Recordings
on February 9, 2010. Produced by XL label owner Richard Russell, I'm New Here is Scott-Heron's first studio album in sixteen years. The pair started recording the album in 2007, with the majority of the record being recorded over the last twelve months with engineer Lawson White at Clinton Studios in New York. Some have called the record “reverent” and “intimate” due to Scott-Heron’s half-sung, half-talked delivery of his poetry. “I’m New Here” is 28 minutes long with 15 tracks. However, casual asides and observations collected during recording sessions are also included as interludes. The album attracted substantial critical acclaim with The Guardian
newspaper's Jude Rogers declaring it one of the next decade's best records.
The first single from the album was "Me And The Devil", which was released on February 22, 2010. It was debuted by BBC Radio 1
's Zane Lowe
as his "Hottest Record In The World", along with other specialist DJs such as Gilles Peterson
and Benji B. The album's remix, We're New Here
, was released in 2011, featuring reworking by English music producer Jamie xx
of material from the original album. It was also very well-received by music critics.
In 2010 he was due to play a gig in Tel Aviv
, but this attracted criticism from Palestinian groups who stated "Your performance in Israel would be the equivalent to having performed in Sun City during South Africa’s apartheid era... We hope that you will not play apartheid Israel." In response, he cancelled the gig.
, New York City, after becoming ill upon returning from a European trip.
Scott-Heron had confirmed previous press speculation about his health, when he disclosed in a 2008 New York Magazine interview, that he had been HIV-positive for several years, and that he had been previously hospitalized for pneumonia
. The cause of Scott-Heron's death has yet to be announced.
He is survived by his son Rumal Rackley from his relationship with Lurma Rackley
, daughter Gia Scott-Heron from his marriage to Brenda Sykes
; and daughters Raquiyah Kelly Heron and Chegianna Newton. He is also survived by his sister, Gayle and a brother, Denis Heron, who once managed Scott-Heron; an uncle, Roy Heron; and by nephew Terrance Kelly, an actor and rapper who performs as Mr. Cheeks
and who was a member of the Lost Boyz.
In response, Public Enemy's Chuck D
stated "RIP GSH...and we do what we do and how we do because of you." on his Twitter account. His UK publisher, Jamie Byng, called him "one of the most inspiring people I've ever met". On hearing of the death, R&B singer Usher
stated "I just learned of the loss of a very important poet...R.I.P., Gil Scott-Heron. The revolution will be live!!". Richard Russel, who produced Scott-Heron's final studio album, called him a "father figure of sorts to me". Eminem
stated that "He influenced all of hip-hop". Lupe Fiasco
wrote a poem about him and posted it on his website. Scott-Heron's memorial service was held at Riverside Church
in New York City on June 2, 2011, where in tribute to Scott-Heron, Kanye West performed "Lost in the World" and "Who Will Survive in America", songs from his last album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. "Who Will Survive in America" was co-written by Scott-Heron.
and neo soul
. He has been described by music writers as "the godfather of rap" and "the black Bob Dylan
". Chicago Tribune
writer Greg Kot
comments on Scott-Heron's collaborative work with Jackson, "Together they crafted jazz-influenced soul and funk that brought new depth and political consciousness to ‘70s music alongside Marvin Gaye
and Stevie Wonder
. In classic albums such as Winter in America and From South Africa to South Carolina, Scott-Heron took the news of the day and transformed it into social commentary, wicked satire, and proto-rap anthems. He updated his dispatches from the front lines of the inner city on tour, improvising lyrics with an improvisational daring that matched the jazz-soul swirl of the music". Of Scott-Heron's influence on hip hop, Kot writes that he "presag[ed] hip-hop and infus[ed] soul and jazz with poetry, humor and pointed political commentary". Ben Sisario
of The New York Times
writes that "He preferred to call himself a "bluesologist," drawing on the traditions of blues, jazz and Harlem renaissance poetics". Tris McCall of The Star-Ledger
writes that "The arrangements on Gil Scott-Heron's early recordings were consistent with the conventions of jazz poetry – the movement that sought to bring the spontaneity of live performance to the reading of verse". On his influence, a music writer later noted that "Scott-Heron's unique proto-rap style influenced a generation of hip-hop artists". The Washington Post
wrote that "Scott-Heron's work presaged not only conscious rap and poetry slams, but also acid jazz, particularly during his rewarding collaboration with composer-keyboardist-flutist Brian Jackson in the mid- and late '70s." The Observer
s Sean O'Hagan discussed the significance of Scott-Heron's music with Brian Jackson, stating:
Will Layman of PopMatters
writes of the significance of Scott-Heron's early musical work, "In the early 1970s, Gil Scott-Heron popped onto the scene as a soul poet with jazz leanings; not just another Bill Withers
, but a political voice with a poet’s skill. His spoken-voice work had punch and topicality. 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' and 'Johannesburg' were calls to action: Stokely Carmichael
if he’d had the groove of Ray Charles
. 'The Bottle
' was a poignant story of the streets: Richard Wright
as sung by a husky-voiced Marvin Gaye. To paraphrase Chuck D
, Gil Scott-Heron’s music was a kind of CNN
for black neighborhoods, prefiguring hip-hop by several years. It grew from the Last Poets
, but it also had the funky swing of Horace Silver
or Herbie Hancock
—or Otis Redding
. Pieces of a Man and Winter in America (collaborations with Brian Jackson) were classics beyond category". Scott-Heron's influence over hip-hop is primarily exemplified by his definitive single "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," sentiments from which have been explored by various rappers, including Aesop Rock
, Talib Kweli
and Common
. In addition to his vocal style, Scott-Heron's indirect contributions to rap music extend to his and co-producer Brian Jackson's compositions, which have been sampled by various hip-hop artists. "We Almost Lost Detroit" has been sampled by Brand Nubian
member Grand Puba
("Keep On"), Native Tongues
duo Black Star ("Brown Skin Lady"), and underground notable MF DOOM
("Camphor"). Scott-Heron's 1980 song "A Legend in His Own Mind" was sampled on Mos Def
's "Mr. Nigga". The opening lyrics from his 1978 recording "Angel Dust" were appropriated by rapper RBX
on the 1996 song "Blunt Time" by Dr. Dre
. CeCe Peniston
's 2000 song "My Boo
" samples Scott-Heron's 1974 recording "The Bottle
".
Among the most notable is rapper/producer Kanye West
, who has sampled Scott-Heron and Jackson's "Home is Where the Hatred Is" and "We Almost Lost Detroit" for his song "My Way Home" and the single "The People," respectively, both of which are collaborative efforts between West and Common. Scott-Heron, in turn, has acknowledged West's contributions, sampling the latter's 2007 single "Flashing Lights" on his latest album, 2010's I'm New Here
. Scott-Heron admitted ambivalence about his association with rap, remarking in 2010 in an interview for the Daily Swarm, "I don't know if I can take the blame for it", referring to rap music. He preferred the moniker of "bluesologist". Referring to reviews of his last album and references to him as the "godfather of rap", he said, "It’s something that’s aimed at the kids." He added, "I have kids, so I listen to it. But I would not say it’s aimed at me. I listen to the jazz station.”
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and jazz poet
Jazz poetry
Jazz poetry is poetry that "demonstrates jazz-like rhythm or the feel of improvisation". During the 1920s, several poets began to eschew the conventions of rhythm and style; among these were Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, and E. E. Cummings...
, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
performer in the 1970s and '80s. His collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues, and soul, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
and melisma
Melisma
Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note.-History:Music of ancient cultures used...
tic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. His own term for himself was "bluesologist", which he defined as "a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues."Onstage at the Black Wax Club in Washington, D.C. in 1982, Scott-Heron cited Harlem Renaissance
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke...
writers Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
, Sterling Brown, Jean Toomer
Jean Toomer
Jean Toomer was an American poet and novelist and an important figure of the Harlem Renaissance. His first book Cane is considered by many as his most significant.-Early life:...
, Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen was an American poet who was popular during the Harlem Renaissance.- Biography :Cullen was an American poet and a leading figure with Langston Hughes in the Harlem Renaissance. This 1920s artistic movement produced the first large body of work in the United States written by African...
and Claude McKay
Claude McKay
Claude McKay was a Jamaican-American writer and poet. He was a seminal figure in the Harlem Renaissance and wrote three novels: Home to Harlem , a best-seller which won the Harmon Gold Award for Literature, Banjo , and Banana Bottom...
as among those who had "taken the blues as a poetry form" in the 1920s and "fine-tuned it" into a "remarkable art form". His music, most notably on Pieces of a Man
Pieces of a Man
-Samples:New Life *"Feelin' Good" by Nina SimoneHow Ya Livin*"Show Me" by Glenn JonesLove Is Love*"Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair" by Nina Simone*"Happy Birthday Maggie" by Hans ZimmerThe Pay Back...
and Winter in America
Winter in America
Winter in America is a studio album by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in May 1974 on Strata-East Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland...
in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and neo soul
Neo soul
The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell...
.
Scott-Heron's recording work has received much critical acclaim, especially for one of his best-known compositions "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron. Scott-Heron first recorded it for his 1970 album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, on which he recited the lyrics, accompanied by congas and bongo drums...
". His poetic style has been influential upon every generation of hip hop since his popularity began.
In addition to being widely considered an influence in today's music, Scott-Heron remained active until his death, and in 2010 released his first new album in 16 years, entitled I'm New Here
I'm New Here
I'm New Here is a departure from the rhythmic, jazz-funk and soul style of Scott-Heron's previous work, and embraces an acoustic and electronic minimal sound. Musically, I'm New Here incorporates blues, folk, trip hop, and electronica styles...
.
Early years
Gil Scott-Heron was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois. His mother, Bobbie Scott-Heron, was an opera singer who performed with the New York Oratorio Society. Scott-Heron's father, Gil Heron
Gil Heron
Gil Heron was a Jamaican professional footballer. He was the first black player to play for Scottish club Celtic, and was the father of poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron....
, nicknamed "The Black Arrow," was a Jamaican soccer player in the 1950s who became the first black athlete to play for the Scottish Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
Celtic Football Club
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
. Gil's parents separated in his early childhood and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother, Lillie Scott, in Jackson
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in Madison County, Tennessee, United States. The total population was 65,211 at the 2010 census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area...
, Tennessee. When Scott-Heron was 12 years old, his grandmother died and he returned to live with his mother in the Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He enrolled at DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School
DeWitt Clinton High School is an American high school located in the Bronx, New York City, New York.-History:Clinton opened in 1897 at 60 West 13th Street at the northern end of Greenwich Village under the name of Boys High School, although this Boys High School was not related to the one in Brooklyn...
, but later transferred to The Fieldston School after impressing the head of the English department with one of his writings and earning a full scholarship. As one of five black students at the prestigious school, Scott-Heron was faced with alienation and a significant socioeconomic gap. During his admissions interview at Fieldston, an administrator asked him, “'How would you feel if you see one of your classmates go by in a limousine while you're walking up the hill from the subway?' And I said, 'Same way as you. Y'all can't afford no limousine. How do you feel?'" This type of intractable boldness would become a hallmark of Scott-Heron’s later recordings.
Scott-Heron attended Lincoln University
Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)
Lincoln University is the United States' first degree-granting historically black university. It is located near the town of Oxford in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The university also hosts a Center for Graduate Studies in the City of Philadelphia. Lincoln University provides...
in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, as it was the college chosen by his biggest influence Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
. It was here that Scott-Heron met Brian Jackson with whom he formed the band Black & Blues. After about two years at Lincoln, Scott-Heron took a year off to write the novels The Vulture and The Nigger Factory. The Last Poets
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
performed at Lincoln in 1969 and Abiodun Oyewole
Abiodun Oyewole
Abiodun Oyewole , is a poet, teacher and founding member of the American music and spoken-word group The Last Poets that developed into what is considered the first ever hip hop group....
of that Harlem group said Scott-Heron asked him after the performance, "Listen, can I start a group like you guys?" Scott-Heron returned to New York City, settling in Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea, Manhattan
Chelsea is a neighborhood on the West Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The district's boundaries are roughly 14th Street to the south, 30th Street to the north, the western boundary of the Ladies' Mile Historic District – which lies between the Avenue of the Americas and...
. The Vulture was published in 1970 and well received. Although Scott-Heron never received his undergraduate degree
Undergraduate degree
An undergraduate degree is a colloquial term for an academic degree taken by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. It is usually offered at an institution of higher education, such as a university...
, he received a Master's degree in Creative Writing in 1972 from Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
. His 1972 masters thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
was titled Circle of stone.
Recording career
Scott-Heron began his recording career in 1970 with the LP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
Small Talk at 125th and Lenox
Small Talk at 125th and Lenox
-Personnel:* David Barnes – percussion, vocals* Charlie Saunders, Eddie Knowles – congas* Gil Scott-Heron – guitar, piano, vocals* Charles Stewart – cover art* Bob Thiele – producer-External links:* at Discogs...
. Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele
Bob Thiele was an American record producer who worked on countless classic jazz albums and record labels.-Biography:...
of Flying Dutchman Records
Flying Dutchman Records
Flying Dutchman Records was a jazz record label which was owned by veteran music industry executive, producer and songwriter Bob Thiele. Initially distributed by Atlantic Records, it was later distributed by RCA Records which took over the label in 1976...
produced the album, and Scott-Heron was accompanied by Eddie Knowles and Charlie Saunders on conga and David Barnes
David Barnes
David Barnes may refer to:* Dave Barnes , singer-songwriter from Tennessee, U.S.A.* David Barnes , American artist and Of Montreal collaborator* David Barnes , Australian archer...
on percussion and vocals. The album's 15 tracks dealt with themes such as the superficiality of television and mass consumerism, the hypocrisy of some would-be Black revolutionaries, and white middle-class ignorance of the difficulties faced by inner-city residents. In the liner notes, Scott-Heron acknowledged as influences Richie Havens
Richie Havens
Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
, John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
, Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
, Jose Feliciano
José Feliciano
José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".-Childhood:...
, Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
, Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
, Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
, Huey Newton, Nina Simone
Nina Simone
Eunice Kathleen Waymon , better known by her stage name Nina Simone , was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist widely associated with jazz music...
, and the pianist who would become his long-time collaborator, Brian Jackson.
Scott-Heron's 1971 album Pieces of a Man
Pieces of a Man
-Samples:New Life *"Feelin' Good" by Nina SimoneHow Ya Livin*"Show Me" by Glenn JonesLove Is Love*"Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair" by Nina Simone*"Happy Birthday Maggie" by Hans ZimmerThe Pay Back...
used more conventional song structures than the loose, spoken-word feel of Small Talk. He was joined by Johnny Pate (conductor), Brian Jackson on keyboards, piano, Ron Carter
Ron Carter
Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...
on bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
and bass guitar, drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie
Bernard Purdie
Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie is an American session drummer, and is considered an influential and innovative exponent of funk...
, Burt Jones playing electric guitar, and Hubert Laws
Hubert Laws
Hubert Laws is an American flutist and saxophonist with a 40+ year career in jazz, classical, and other music genres. Alongside Herbie Mann, Laws is probably the most recognized and respected jazz flutist...
on flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
and saxophone, with Thiele producing again. Scott-Heron's third album, Free Will, was released in 1972. Jackson, Purdie, Laws, Knowles, and Saunders all returned to play on Free Will
Free Will (album)
2001 compact disc reissue bonus tracks.-Personnel:Musicians* Gil Scott-Heron - vocals, piano, guitar* Horace Ott - conductor, arranger* Brian Jackson - acoustic piano, electric piano, vocals* Gerald Jemmott - bass* Pretty Purdie - drums...
and were joined by Jerry Jemmott
Jerry Jemmott
Gerald Joseph Stenhouse "Jerry" Jemmott is an American bass guitarist. Also known as Gerald "Fingers" Jemmott, Rasan Mfalme or "the Groovemaster", Jemmott was one of the chief session bassists of the late 1960s and early 1970s, working with many of the period's well known soul, blues, and jazz...
playing bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, David Spinozza
David Spinozza
David Spinozza is an American musician , who worked with former Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon during the 1970s, and had a long collaboration with singer-songwriter James Taylor, producing Taylor's album Walking Man....
on guitar, and Horace Ott (arranger and conductor). Carter later said about Scott-Heron's voice, "He wasn’t a great singer, but, with that voice, if he had whispered it would have been dynamic. It was a voice like you would have for Shakespeare.”
1974 saw another LP collaboration with Brian Jackson, the critically acclaimed opus Winter in America
Winter in America
Winter in America is a studio album by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in May 1974 on Strata-East Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland...
, with Bob Adams on drums and Danny Bowens on bass. The album contained Scott-Heron's most cohesive material and featured more of Jackson's creative input than his previous albums had. Winter in America has been regarded by many critics as the two musicians' most artistic effort. The following year, Scott-Heron and Jackson also released Midnight Band: The First Minute of a New Day
The First Minute of a New Day
The First Minute of a New Day is an album by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in January 1975 on Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the summer of 1974 at D&B Sound in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was the follow-up to Scott-Heron's...
. A live album, It's Your World
It's Your World
It's Your World is a double album by soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in November 1976 on Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in studio and live in July 1976 at St. Paul's Mall in Boston, Massachusetts, Electric Lady Studios in New York City,...
, followed in 1976 and a recording of spoken poetry, The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron, was released in 1979. In the July 1976 Bicentennial issue of Playboy Scott-Heron was profiled; the accompanying artwork shows Scott-Heron singing or speaking into a microphone as it melts from the heat of his words. Another hit success followed with the hit single "Angel Dust", which he recorded as a single with producer Malcolm Cecil
Malcolm Cecil
Malcolm Cecil is a British jazz bassist and Grammy Award-winning record producer.A founding member of the UK's leading jazz quintet of the late 1950s, The Jazz Couriers, he went on to join a number of British jazz combos led by Dick Morrissey, Tony Crombie and Ronnie Scott in the late 50s and...
. "Angel Dust" peaked at No.15 on the R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
charts in 1978.
In 1979, Scott-Heron played at the No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. The concerts were organized by Musicians United for Safe Energy
Musicians United for Safe Energy
Musicians United for Safe Energy, or MUSE, is an activist group founded in 1979 by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall. The group advocates against the use of nuclear energy, forming shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in March 1979...
to protest the use of nuclear energy
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
following the Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
. Scott-Heron's song, "We Almost Lost Detroit" was included in the No Nukes
No Nukes (album)
No Nukes: The Muse Concerts For a Non-Nuclear Future was a 1979 triple live album that contained selections from the September 1979 Madison Square Garden concerts by the Musicians United for Safe Energy collective, with Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall being the key...
album of concert highlights. It alluded to a previous nuclear power plant accident and was also the title of a book by John G. Fuller
John G. Fuller
John Grant Fuller, Jr. was a New England-based American author of several non-fiction books and newspaper articles, mainly focusing on the theme of extra-terrestrials and the supernatural. For many years he wrote a regular column for the Saturday Review magazine, called "Trade Winds"...
. Scott-Heron was also a frequent critic of President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and his conservative policies.
Scott-Heron recorded and released only four albums during the 1980s: 1980 and Real Eyes (1980), Reflections (1981) and Moving Target (1982). ). In February 1982, Ron Holloway
Ron Holloway
Ronald Edward "Ron" Holloway is an American tenor saxophonist. He is listed in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz where veteran jazz critic Ira Gitler described Holloway as a "bear-down-hard-bopper who can blow authentic R&B and croon a ballad with warm, blue feeling." Holloway is the recipient...
joined the ensemble to play tenor saxophone
Tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
. He toured extensively with Scott-Heron and contributed to his next album, Moving Target the same year. His tenor accompaniment is a prominent feature of the songs "Fast Lane" and "Black History/The World." Holloway continued with Scott-Heron until the summer of 1989, when he left to join Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
. Several years later, Scott-Heron would make cameo appearances on two of Ron Holloway's CD's; Scorcher (1996) and Groove Update (1998), both on the Fantasy/Milestone label.
Scott-Heron was dropped by Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
in 1985 and quit recording, though he continued to tour. The same year he helped compose and sang "Let Me See Your I.D." on the Artists United Against Apartheid
Artists United Against Apartheid
Artists United Against Apartheid was a 1985 protest group founded by activist and performer Steven Van Zandt and record producer Arthur Baker to protest apartheid in South Africa...
album Sun City
Sun City (album)
Sun City was a 1985 album that contained several versions of the Steven Van Zandt-led Artists United Against Apartheid's "Sun City" protest song against apartheid in South Africa as well as other selections in the same vein from that project.-History:...
, containing the famous line, "The first time I heard there was trouble in the Middle East, I thought they were talking about Pittsburgh." The song compares racial tensions in the US with those in apartheid-era South Africa, implying that the US was not too far ahead in race relations. In 1993, he signed to TVT Records
TVT Records
TVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and...
and released Spirits, an album that included the seminal track "'Message to the Messengers". The first track on the album criticized the rap artists of the day. Scott-Heron is known in many circles as "the Godfather of rap
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
" and is widely considered to be one of the genre's founding fathers. Given the political consciousness that lies at the foundation of his work, he can also be called a founder of political rap. Message to the Messengers was a plea for the new generation of rappers to speak for change rather than perpetuate the current social situation, and to be more articulate and artistic. Regarding hip hop music in the 1990s, he said in an interview:
Later years
In 2001, Scott-Heron was sentenced to one to three years' imprisonment in New York State for possession of cocaineCocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
. While out of jail in 2002, he appeared on the Blazing Arrow
Blazing Arrow
Blazing Arrow is the second full-length album by Blackalicious, the follow-up to 2000's Nia. It was released on April 30, 2002 on MCA Records.- Track listing :All tracks by Chief Xcel and Gift of Gab# "Introduction: Bow and Fire" – 1:06...
album by Blackalicious
Blackalicious
Blackalicious is an American hip hop duo from Sacramento, California made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel . They are noted for Gift of Gab's often "tongue-twisting", multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's "classic" beats...
. He was released on parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
in 2003. On July 5, 2006, Scott-Heron was sentenced to two to four years in a New York State prison for violating a plea deal on a drug-possession charge by leaving a drug rehabilitation center
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
. Scott-Heron's sentence was to run until July 13, 2009. He was paroled on May 23, 2007.
The reason given for the violation of his plea deal was that the clinic refused to supply Scott-Heron with HIV medication. This story led to the presumption that the artist was HIV positive, subsequently confirmed in a 2008 interview.
After his release, Scott-Heron began performing live again, starting with a show at "SOB's" restaurant and nightclub in New York on September 13, 2007. On stage, he stated that he and his musicians were working on a new album and that he had resumed writing a book titled The Last Holiday, previously on long-term hiatus, about Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
and his successful attempt to have the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. declared a federally recognized holiday in the United States.
On October 10, 2007, the day before a scheduled (but ultimately cancelled) second SOB's performance, he was arrested on felony possession of cocaine charges. He continued to make live appearances at various US venues during the course of 2008 and 2009, including further appearances at SOBs in New York. He stated in interviews that work was continuing on his new album, which would consist mainly of new versions of some of his classic songs, plus some cover versions of other artists' work. Having originally planned to publish The Last Holiday in 2003, before it was put on hold, Canongate Books now tentatively intend to issue it in January 2011. The book was due to be previewed via a website set to be launched on April 1, 2009, but this did not appear.
Mark T. Watson
Malik Al Nasir
Malik Al Nasir is a British author and poet, born in Liverpool, England in 1966 to a Welsh mother and a Guyanese father. He grew up partly with his family in Liverpool and after the paralysis of his father, he was taken into local authority care...
, a student of Scott-Heron's work, dedicated a collection of poetry to Scott-Heron titled Ordinary Guy that contained a foreword by Jalal Mansur Nuriddin
Jalal Mansur Nuriddin
Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin, born in Brooklyn, New York, 1944, is one of the founding members of The Last Poets, a group of poets and musicians that evolved in the 1960s out of the Harlem Writers Workshop in New York City.-Biography:...
of The Last Poets. The book was published in the UK in 2004 by Fore-Word Press
Fore-Word Press
Fore-Word Press Ltd. is an independent publishing house based in Liverpool UK. It was founded in 2004 by CEO Malik Al Nasir with the intention of giving voice to minority ethnic authors, who for one reason or another - could not get their manuscripts published in the mainstream. Fore-Word Press has...
Ltd. Scott-Heron recorded one of the poems in Watson's book Black & Blue due for release in 2008 as part of the album Rhythms of the Diaspora by Malik & the OG's on the record label CPR Recordings.
In April 2009 on BBC Radio Four, poet Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay MBE is an award-winning British author and broadcaster of Ethiopian and Eritrean parents.He is known for performances of his poetry and also with jazz fusion groups. He is a playwright, and has worked on radio and television...
presented a half-hour documentary on Gil Scott-Heron entitled Pieces of a Man. Having interviewed Gil Scott-Heron in New York a month earlier, Pieces of a Man was the first UK announcement from Gil of his forthcoming album and return to form. In November 2009, the BBC's Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
interviewed Gil Scott-Heron for a feature titled The Legendary Godfather of Rap Returns. In 2009, a new Gil Scott-Heron website, gilscottheron.net, was launched with a brand new track "Where Did The Night Go" made available as a free download from the site.
Scott-Heron released his new album I'm New Here
I'm New Here
I'm New Here is a departure from the rhythmic, jazz-funk and soul style of Scott-Heron's previous work, and embraces an acoustic and electronic minimal sound. Musically, I'm New Here incorporates blues, folk, trip hop, and electronica styles...
on independent label XL Recordings
XL Recordings
XL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire...
on February 9, 2010. Produced by XL label owner Richard Russell, I'm New Here is Scott-Heron's first studio album in sixteen years. The pair started recording the album in 2007, with the majority of the record being recorded over the last twelve months with engineer Lawson White at Clinton Studios in New York. Some have called the record “reverent” and “intimate” due to Scott-Heron’s half-sung, half-talked delivery of his poetry. “I’m New Here” is 28 minutes long with 15 tracks. However, casual asides and observations collected during recording sessions are also included as interludes. The album attracted substantial critical acclaim with The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper's Jude Rogers declaring it one of the next decade's best records.
The first single from the album was "Me And The Devil", which was released on February 22, 2010. It was debuted by BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
's Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe
Zane Lowe also known as 'Zipper', is a radio DJ and television presenter. He was born in New Zealand and grew up in Auckland, where he was a presenter on the local music station Max TV, before moving to England...
as his "Hottest Record In The World", along with other specialist DJs such as Gilles Peterson
Gilles Peterson
Gilles Peterson , is a DJ, record collector and record label owner from London, UK. Through his labels Acid Jazz, Talkin' Loud, and latterly Brownswood Recordings, he has been associated with the careers of well-known artists of the 1990s such as Erykah Badu, Roni Size and Jamiroquai...
and Benji B. The album's remix, We're New Here
We're New Here
We're New Here is a remix album by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron and English music producer Jamie "xx" Smith, released February 21, 2011, on XL Recordings and Young Turks Records. It is a reworking of Scott-Heron's studio album I'm New Here...
, was released in 2011, featuring reworking by English music producer Jamie xx
Jamie xx
Jamie Smith is an English music producer and remix artist, who gained fame both as solo act and as a member of the London-based band The xx....
of material from the original album. It was also very well-received by music critics.
In 2010 he was due to play a gig in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, but this attracted criticism from Palestinian groups who stated "Your performance in Israel would be the equivalent to having performed in Sun City during South Africa’s apartheid era... We hope that you will not play apartheid Israel." In response, he cancelled the gig.
Death
Scott-Heron died on the afternoon of May 27, 2011, at St. Luke's HospitalSt. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center
St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, an academic affiliate of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, is a 1,076-bed, full-service community and tertiary care hospital serving New York City’s Midtown West, Upper West Side and parts of Harlem....
, New York City, after becoming ill upon returning from a European trip.
Scott-Heron had confirmed previous press speculation about his health, when he disclosed in a 2008 New York Magazine interview, that he had been HIV-positive for several years, and that he had been previously hospitalized for pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. The cause of Scott-Heron's death has yet to be announced.
He is survived by his son Rumal Rackley from his relationship with Lurma Rackley
Lurma Rackley
Lurma M. Rackley is an American author, journalist and publicist. The daughter of a civil rights activist, she participated in civil rights demonstrations and was arrested sixteen times before she was thirteen. After college, she became a journalist and later, a publicist with the Washington,...
, daughter Gia Scott-Heron from his marriage to Brenda Sykes
Brenda Sykes
Brenda Sykes is an African-American actress who made a number of films and appeared in television series in the 1970s. She was discovered on The Dating Game.- Biographical details :...
; and daughters Raquiyah Kelly Heron and Chegianna Newton. He is also survived by his sister, Gayle and a brother, Denis Heron, who once managed Scott-Heron; an uncle, Roy Heron; and by nephew Terrance Kelly, an actor and rapper who performs as Mr. Cheeks
Mr. Cheeks
Mr. Cheeks is a Grammy Award winning rapper best known for his work with the musical group Lost Boyz, and his career as a solo artist.-Biography:...
and who was a member of the Lost Boyz.
In response, Public Enemy's Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
stated "RIP GSH...and we do what we do and how we do because of you." on his Twitter account. His UK publisher, Jamie Byng, called him "one of the most inspiring people I've ever met". On hearing of the death, R&B singer Usher
Usher (entertainer)
Usher Terry Raymond IV , who performs under the mononym Usher, is an American singer-songwriter, and actor. He is considered around the world to be the reigning King of R&B. Usher rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his second album My Way, which spawned his first Billboard Hot 100...
stated "I just learned of the loss of a very important poet...R.I.P., Gil Scott-Heron. The revolution will be live!!". Richard Russel, who produced Scott-Heron's final studio album, called him a "father figure of sorts to me". Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
stated that "He influenced all of hip-hop". Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco
Wasalu Muhammad Jaco , better known by his stage name Lupe Fiasco , is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, Lupe is the CEO of 1st and 15th Entertainment. He rose to fame in 2006 following the success of his critically acclaimed debut album, Lupe Fiasco's Food...
wrote a poem about him and posted it on his website. Scott-Heron's memorial service was held at Riverside Church
Riverside Church
The Riverside Church in the City of New York is an interdenominational church in New York City, famous for its elaborate Neo-Gothic architecture—which includes the world's largest tuned carillon bell...
in New York City on June 2, 2011, where in tribute to Scott-Heron, Kanye West performed "Lost in the World" and "Who Will Survive in America", songs from his last album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. "Who Will Survive in America" was co-written by Scott-Heron.
Influence
The music of Scott-Heron's work during the 1970s influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hopHip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
and neo soul
Neo soul
The term neo soul was originally coined by Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records in the late 1990s as a marketing category following the commercial breakthroughs of artists such as D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell...
. He has been described by music writers as "the godfather of rap" and "the black Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
". Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
writer Greg Kot
Greg Kot
Greg Kot is an American writer and journalist. Since 1990, Kot has been the music critic at the Chicago Tribune, where he has covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and business issues...
comments on Scott-Heron's collaborative work with Jackson, "Together they crafted jazz-influenced soul and funk that brought new depth and political consciousness to ‘70s music alongside Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
and Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
. In classic albums such as Winter in America and From South Africa to South Carolina, Scott-Heron took the news of the day and transformed it into social commentary, wicked satire, and proto-rap anthems. He updated his dispatches from the front lines of the inner city on tour, improvising lyrics with an improvisational daring that matched the jazz-soul swirl of the music". Of Scott-Heron's influence on hip hop, Kot writes that he "presag[ed] hip-hop and infus[ed] soul and jazz with poetry, humor and pointed political commentary". Ben Sisario
Ben Sisario
Ben Sisario is an American journalist and author in New York City.-Writing career:Sisario is a staff reporter for the New York Times, covering music and culture. He is author of The Pixies' Doolittle , a book in the 33⅓ series about the Pixies album of the same title...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
writes that "He preferred to call himself a "bluesologist," drawing on the traditions of blues, jazz and Harlem renaissance poetics". Tris McCall of The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
writes that "The arrangements on Gil Scott-Heron's early recordings were consistent with the conventions of jazz poetry – the movement that sought to bring the spontaneity of live performance to the reading of verse". On his influence, a music writer later noted that "Scott-Heron's unique proto-rap style influenced a generation of hip-hop artists". The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
wrote that "Scott-Heron's work presaged not only conscious rap and poetry slams, but also acid jazz, particularly during his rewarding collaboration with composer-keyboardist-flutist Brian Jackson in the mid- and late '70s." The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
s Sean O'Hagan discussed the significance of Scott-Heron's music with Brian Jackson, stating:
Will Layman of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
writes of the significance of Scott-Heron's early musical work, "In the early 1970s, Gil Scott-Heron popped onto the scene as a soul poet with jazz leanings; not just another Bill Withers
Bill Withers
William Harrison "Bill" Withers, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter and musician who performed and recorded from 1970 until 1985. Some of his best-known songs are "Lean on Me", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", "Lovely Day", and "Grandma's Hands"...
, but a political voice with a poet’s skill. His spoken-voice work had punch and topicality. 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' and 'Johannesburg' were calls to action: Stokely Carmichael
Stokely Carmichael
Kwame Ture , also known as Stokely Carmichael, was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party...
if he’d had the groove of Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
. 'The Bottle
The Bottle
"The Bottle" is a song by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in 1974 on Strata-East Records in the United States. It was later reissued during the mid-1980s on Champagne Records in the United Kingdom. "The Bottle" was written by Scott-Heron and produced by...
' was a poignant story of the streets: Richard Wright
Richard Wright (author)
Richard Nathaniel Wright was an African-American author of sometimes controversial novels, short stories, poems, and non-fiction. Much of his literature concerns racial themes, especially those involving the plight of African-Americans during the late 19th to mid 20th centuries...
as sung by a husky-voiced Marvin Gaye. To paraphrase Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
, Gil Scott-Heron’s music was a kind of CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
for black neighborhoods, prefiguring hip-hop by several years. It grew from the Last Poets
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
, but it also had the funky swing of Horace Silver
Horace Silver
Horace Silver , born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silva in Norwalk, Connecticut, is an American jazz pianist and composer....
or Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
—or Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
. Pieces of a Man and Winter in America (collaborations with Brian Jackson) were classics beyond category". Scott-Heron's influence over hip-hop is primarily exemplified by his definitive single "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," sentiments from which have been explored by various rappers, including Aesop Rock
Aesop Rock
Ian Matthias Bavitz , better known by his stage name Aesop Rock, is an American hip hop artist and producer. He was at the forefront of the new wave of underground and alternative hip hop acts that emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s. He was signed to El-P's Definitive Jux label until it...
, Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene , better known as Talib Kweli, is an American hip-hop artist and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His first name in Arabic means "student" or "seeker" ; his in Swahili means "true"...
and Common
Common (rapper)
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. , better known by his stage name Common , is an American hip-hop artist and actor....
. In addition to his vocal style, Scott-Heron's indirect contributions to rap music extend to his and co-producer Brian Jackson's compositions, which have been sampled by various hip-hop artists. "We Almost Lost Detroit" has been sampled by Brand Nubian
Brand Nubian
Brand Nubian is an American hip hop group from New Rochelle, New York, consisting of three MC's: Grand Puba , Sadat X and Lord Jamar , and two DJs: DJ Alamo and DJ Sincere...
member Grand Puba
Grand Puba
Maxwell Dixon is an emcee best known as a member of the group Brand Nubian.-Biography:He made his debut with the group Masters of Ceremony. Its album Dynamite was hailed by critics, but probably due to lack of sales, the group soon disbanded, and Puba emerged as the lead emcee of Brand Nubian...
("Keep On"), Native Tongues
Native tongues
Native Tongues is a book by the linguist Charles Berlitz.It is a list of words in different languages, etymology and questions with speculations far and wide about words....
duo Black Star ("Brown Skin Lady"), and underground notable MF DOOM
MF Doom
Daniel Dumile is a hip hop artist who has taken on several stage names in his career, most notably MF DOOM, where the "MF" stands for metal face, and for tracks he has produced, metal fingers...
("Camphor"). Scott-Heron's 1980 song "A Legend in His Own Mind" was sampled on Mos Def
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...
's "Mr. Nigga". The opening lyrics from his 1978 recording "Angel Dust" were appropriated by rapper RBX
RBX
Eric Dwayne Collins, better known by his stage name RBX , is a former rapper and R&B singer from Long Beach, California...
on the 1996 song "Blunt Time" by Dr. Dre
Dr. Dre
Andre Romelle Young , primarily known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper, record executive, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and a former co-owner and artist of Death Row Records...
. CeCe Peniston
CeCe Peniston
CeCe Peniston is an African American recording artist and former beauty queen. At the beginning of the nineties, she was considered to be one of the most successful dance club artists in the history of the U.S...
's 2000 song "My Boo
My Boo (CeCe Peniston song)
"My Boo " is a song by the musician CeCe Peniston, which was released on the Steve Hurley's own record labelin February 2001 as the singer's last single issued on Silk Entertainment, and to date her final collaboration with the producer alone as well.The single release followed the US Dance success...
" samples Scott-Heron's 1974 recording "The Bottle
The Bottle
"The Bottle" is a song by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in 1974 on Strata-East Records in the United States. It was later reissued during the mid-1980s on Champagne Records in the United Kingdom. "The Bottle" was written by Scott-Heron and produced by...
".
Among the most notable is rapper/producer Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
, who has sampled Scott-Heron and Jackson's "Home is Where the Hatred Is" and "We Almost Lost Detroit" for his song "My Way Home" and the single "The People," respectively, both of which are collaborative efforts between West and Common. Scott-Heron, in turn, has acknowledged West's contributions, sampling the latter's 2007 single "Flashing Lights" on his latest album, 2010's I'm New Here
I'm New Here
I'm New Here is a departure from the rhythmic, jazz-funk and soul style of Scott-Heron's previous work, and embraces an acoustic and electronic minimal sound. Musically, I'm New Here incorporates blues, folk, trip hop, and electronica styles...
. Scott-Heron admitted ambivalence about his association with rap, remarking in 2010 in an interview for the Daily Swarm, "I don't know if I can take the blame for it", referring to rap music. He preferred the moniker of "bluesologist". Referring to reviews of his last album and references to him as the "godfather of rap", he said, "It’s something that’s aimed at the kids." He added, "I have kids, so I listen to it. But I would not say it’s aimed at me. I listen to the jazz station.”
Studio albums
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Small Talk at 125th and Lenox Small Talk at 125th and Lenox -Personnel:* David Barnes – percussion, vocals* Charlie Saunders, Eddie Knowles – congas* Gil Scott-Heron – guitar, piano, vocals* Charles Stewart – cover art* Bob Thiele – producer-External links:* at Discogs... |
Flying Dutchman Records Flying Dutchman Records Flying Dutchman Records was a jazz record label which was owned by veteran music industry executive, producer and songwriter Bob Thiele. Initially distributed by Atlantic Records, it was later distributed by RCA Records which took over the label in 1976... |
| 1971 | Pieces of a Man Pieces of a Man -Samples:New Life *"Feelin' Good" by Nina SimoneHow Ya Livin*"Show Me" by Glenn JonesLove Is Love*"Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair" by Nina Simone*"Happy Birthday Maggie" by Hans ZimmerThe Pay Back... |
Flying Dutchman Records |
| 1972 | Free Will Free Will (album) 2001 compact disc reissue bonus tracks.-Personnel:Musicians* Gil Scott-Heron - vocals, piano, guitar* Horace Ott - conductor, arranger* Brian Jackson - acoustic piano, electric piano, vocals* Gerald Jemmott - bass* Pretty Purdie - drums... |
Flying Dutchman Records |
| 1974 | Winter in America Winter in America Winter in America is a studio album by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in May 1974 on Strata-East Records. Recording sessions for the album took place during September to October 1973 at D&B Sound Studio in Silver Spring, Maryland... |
Strata-East Records Strata-East Records Strata-East Records is an American record label specialising in jazz which was founded in 1971 by Stanley Cowell and Charles Tolliver.Gil Scott-Heron recorded his 1974 album Winter in America with Brian Jackson for Strata-East. "The Bottle" featured on the album, was a popular single... |
| 1975 | The First Minute of a New Day The First Minute of a New Day The First Minute of a New Day is an album by American soul artist Gil Scott-Heron and musician Brian Jackson, released in January 1975 on Arista Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in the summer of 1974 at D&B Sound in Silver Spring, Maryland. It was the follow-up to Scott-Heron's... |
Arista Records Arista Records Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records... |
| 1976 | From South Africa to South Carolina From South Africa to South Carolina From South Africa to South Carolina is an album by Jazz vocalist and spoken-word poet Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson, released in 1976 on Arista Records.-Track listing:Side one# "Johannesburg" 4:52# "A Toast To The People" 5:47... |
Arista Records |
| 1976 | It's Your World | Arista Records |
| 1977 | Bridges Bridges (Gil Scott-Heron album) Bridges is an album by Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, released in Winter 1977 on Arista Records.-Reception:The song, "We Almost Lost Detroit" which shares its title with the John G. Fuller book published in 1975, recounts the story of the nuclear meltdown at the Fermi Atomic Power Plant near... |
Arista Records |
| 1978 | Secrets | Arista Records |
| 1980 | 1980 | Arista Records |
| 1980 | Real Eyes | Arista Records |
| 1981 | Reflections | Arista Records |
| 1982 | Moving Target | Arista Records |
| 1994 | Spirits | TVT Records TVT Records TVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and... |
| 2010 | I'm New Here I'm New Here I'm New Here is a departure from the rhythmic, jazz-funk and soul style of Scott-Heron's previous work, and embraces an acoustic and electronic minimal sound. Musically, I'm New Here incorporates blues, folk, trip hop, and electronica styles... |
XL Recordings XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label owned by Richard Russell. It originated as a 1989 offshoot of Beggars Banquet Records.Though only releasing an average of six albums a year, XL Recordings has worked with The Prodigy, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Dizzee Rascal, M.I.A., Vampire... |
Live albums
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | It's Your World | Arista Records |
| 1990 | Tales of Gil Scott-Heron and His Amnesia Express | Castle Music UK/Peak Top Records |
| 1994 | Minister of Information: Live | Peak Top Records |
| 2004 | The Best Of Gil Scott-Heron Live | Intersound |
| 2004 | Tour De Force | Phantom Sound & Vision |
| 2004 | Save The Children | Delta Music |
| 2004 | Winter In America, Summer In Europe | Pickwick |
| 2005 | Greatest Hits Live | Intersound |
| 2008 | Live At The Town & Country 1988 | Acadia / Evangeline Records |
Compilations
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | The Revolution Will Not Be Televised The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (album) 1988 compact disc reissue bonus tracks.-Personnel:Musicians* Ron Carter – bass* Brian Jackson – piano* Jerry Jemmott – bass* Burt Jones – guitar* Eddie Knowles – percussion* Hubert Laws – alto saxophone, flute* Pretty Purdie – drums... |
Flying Dutchman |
| 1979 | The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron is a 1978 album by spoken word and rap pioneer Gil Scott-Heron. Like many of Scott-Heron's albums, the album's content primarily addresses political and social issues; however, The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron relies far more on his spoken word delivery than his other albums... |
Arista Records |
| 1984 | The Best of Gil Scott-Heron The Best of Gil Scott-Heron The Best Of Gil Scott-Heron is a compilation album by American recording artist Gil Scott-Heron, released on the Arista label in 1984.-Side One:#The Revolution Will Not Be Televised #The Bottle #Winter in America... |
Arista Records |
| 1988 | The Revolution Will Not Be Televised | Bluebird Records Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is a sub-label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 to counter the American Record Company in the "3 records for a dollar" market. Along with ARC's Perfect Records, Melotone Records and Romeo Records, and the independent US Decca label, Bluebird became one of the best... |
| 1990 | Glory: The Gil Scott-Heron Collection | Arista Records |
| 1998 | The Gil Scott-Heron Collection Sampler: 1974–1975 | TVT Records |
| 1998 | Ghetto Style | Camden Records |
| 1999 | Evolution and Flashback: The Very Best of Gil Scott-Heron | RCA Records RCA RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor... |
| 2005 | Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson – Messages (Anthology) | Soul Brother Records |
| 2006 | The Best of Gil Scott-Heron | Sony/BMG |
| 2010 | Storm Music (The Best of Gil Scott-Heron) | Phantom Sound & Vision |
Collaboration albums
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | We're New Here | XL Recordings / Young Turks |
Filmography
- Black Wax (1982). Directed by Robert MuggeRobert MuggeRobert Mugge is an American documentary film maker. He specializes in films about music and musicians.Mugge was born in Chicago and grew up primarily in the Washington, D.C. area. He received a B.A...
. - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2005). Directed by Don LettsDon LettsDon Letts is a British film director and musician. He is credited as the man who through his DJing at clubs like The Roxy brought together punk and reggae music.-Biography:...
for BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, UK. - Word Up (2005). Directed by Malik Al NasirMalik Al NasirMalik Al Nasir is a British author and poet, born in Liverpool, England in 1966 to a Welsh mother and a Guyanese father. He grew up partly with his family in Liverpool and after the paralysis of his father, he was taken into local authority care...
for Fore-Word PressFore-Word PressFore-Word Press Ltd. is an independent publishing house based in Liverpool UK. It was founded in 2004 by CEO Malik Al Nasir with the intention of giving voice to minority ethnic authors, who for one reason or another - could not get their manuscripts published in the mainstream. Fore-Word Press has...
, UK. - The Paris Concert (2007).
External links
- Official Web Site
- Gil Scott-Heron at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Rare interviews from the early 1980s and classic recordings Public radio station KCRWKCRWKCRW is a public radio station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, carrying a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and freeform music format. The general manager of KCRW is Jennifer Ferro...
-FM. Tributes from Tom SchnabelTom SchnabelThomas Daniel Schnabel is program director of world music at the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall and a music consultant and DJ working out of Los Angeles. He was former music director of music station KCRW....
and other KCRW DJs - Gil Scott-Heron at WhoSampledWhoSampledWhoSampled is a website and database of information about sample-based music founded in London, United Kingdom.WhoSampled is an online sample-based music databases of music that compares original songs with covered songs or songs that "borrowed" samples, it serves as a historical line of where...
- BBC biography of Gil Scott-Heron
- Text and Audio of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"
- Interview with Gil Scott-Heron at NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, from December 11, 2007 - Video interview Vimeo. Gil Scott-Heron interview with Brian Pace, part 1 of 2 with link to part 2. (February 17, 2009)
- Review of Gil Scott-Heron's album I'm New Here at musicomh.com
- A Surprising Record From Gil Scott Heron – audio report by NPR
- exclusive whole-album stream of Gil Scott-Heron's album I'm New Here – from the UK's The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper online - findagrave memorial