Biography

Queen Esther Marrow was born in Newport News, Virginia. She began her career at the age of 22 when her talent and vocal gifts were discovered by Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

 and made her debut as a featured artist in his "Sacred Concert

Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts

In the last decade of his life, Duke Ellington wrote three Sacred Concerts:* 1965 - A Concert of Sacred Music* 1968 - Second Sacred Concert* 1973 - Third Sacred Concert...

" world tour. Marrow and Ellington formed a long life friendship during the next four years while touring together. Queen has since performed with such musical greats as Lena Horne

Lena Horne

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...

, Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Fitzgerald

Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...

, B.B. King, 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...

, Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...

, Chick Corea

Chick Corea

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...

 and 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...

.

In 1965, Marrow became active in the civil rights movement when she performed in Dr. Martin Luther King’s World Crusade. There she met her lifetime idol Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson – January 27, 1972) was an African-American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel"...

, with whom she would later share the stage. Other political activists on the crusade were Jesse Jackson, Sidney Poitier and Dr. Ralf Abernathy.

Marrow was also involved in musical theater, jazz, television and film. She played Auntie ‘Em on Broadway in “The Wiz,” and was featured in several other Broadway shows including “Comin’ Uptown”, “Nice To Be Civilized,” and she starred as her idol Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson – January 27, 1972) was an African-American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel"...

 in the national tour of “Sing Mahalia Sing,” directed by George Faison

George Faison

George Faison is an African-American dancer and choreographer.-Biography:Faison was born in Washington, D.C. where he studied dance with the Jones-Haywood Capitol Ballet and Carolyn Tate of Howard University while attending Dunbar High School, and appeared with The American Light Opera Company in...

. Marrow was featured in Motown’s film, “The Last Dragon,” produced by Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy, Jr. is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.-Early years:...

. Her numerous television appearances have ranged from the serious to the comic. They include “Duke Ellington: The Music Lives On”, as Oscar the Grouch’s mother in “Sesame Street” on PBS and “New York to Paris with The Harlem Gospel Singers” also on PBS. In 1990, a dream of Marrow’s came true when “Truly Blessed,” a musical about Mahalia Jackson written by and starring Queen Esther was seen in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and in New York on Broadway. The musical received three Helen Hayes nominations

Helen Hayes Award

A Helen Hayes Award is a theater award named for the famed actress Helen Hayes to recognize excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are managed by Linda Levy Grossman. and presented by the Washington Theatre Awards Society.-Awards:The Helen Hayes...

 including Best New Play.

Marrow has performed for former Presidents 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 George H. W. Bush

George H. W. Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

, Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 and done a command performance the British Royal Family. She sung at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II

Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...

 several times.

Most recently she founded The Harlem Gospel Singers, an international touring Gospel group. The group with their popularity at an all-time high made history on July 7, 1998 as the only gospel group ever to perform the Grand Evenement du Maurier (grand event) at the Montreal Jazz Festival, drawing over 100,000 audience members.

Discography

• 1971: Newport News, Virginia
• 1972: Sister Woman
• 1994: Queen Esther Marrow & the Harlem Gospel Singers
• 1999: Live in Paris
• 2000: Harlem Gospel Singers with Queen Esther Marrow
• 2002: God Cares

Awards

Awards
Year	Awards	City
2006	Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey Lifetime Achievement Award	Newport News, VA

Queen Esther Marrow Helen Hayes Awards Nominations Helen Hayes Award A Helen Hayes Award is a theater award named for the famed actress Helen Hayes to recognize excellence in professional theater in the Washington, D.C. area since 1983. The awards are managed by Linda Levy Grossman. and presented by the Washington Theatre Awards Society.-Awards:The Helen Hayes...
Year	Award
1989	Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Non-Resident Production
1990	The Charles MacArthur Award for Outstanding New Play
1990	Outstanding Lead Actress in a Resident Musical

External links