American jazz singer (1925?2014)
Jimmy Scott
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Birth name
| James Victor Scott
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Born
| (
1925-07-17
)
July 17, 1925
Cleveland, Ohio
, U.S.
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Died
| June 12, 2014
(2014-06-12)
(aged 88)
Las Vegas, Nevada
, U.S.
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Genres
| Jazz
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Occupation(s)
| Musician
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Years active
| 1945?2014
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Labels
| Savoy
,
Decca
,
Roost
,
Regal
,
Tangerine
,
King
,
Atlantic
, J's Way,
Sire
,
Warner Bros.
, Artists Only,
Milestone
,
Venus
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Musical artist
James Victor Scott
(July 17, 1925 – June 12, 2014), known professionally as
Little Jimmy Scott
or
Jimmy Scott
, was an American
jazz
vocalist known for his high natural
contralto
voice and his sensitivity on
ballads
and
love songs
.
After success in the 1940s and 1950s, Scott's career faltered in the early 1960s. He slid into obscurity before a comeback in the 1990s. His unusual singing voice was due to
Kallmann syndrome
, a rare genetic disorder that limited his height to 4 feet 11 inches (150 cm) until the age of 37, when he grew by 8 inches (20 cm). The syndrome prevented him from reaching classic puberty and left him with a high voice and unusual
timbre
.
[1]
Early life
[
edit
]
James Victor Scott was born on July 17, 1925, in
Cleveland
,
Ohio
, United States.
[2]
The son of Arthur Claude Scott (born Chester Stewart) and Justine Hazel Stanard Scott, he was the third child in a family of 10. As a child he got his first singing experience by his mother's side at the family piano and later in church choir.
[2]
At 13, he was orphaned when his mother was killed by a drunk driver.
[3]
Career
[
edit
]
Lionel Hampton
gave him the nickname "Little Jimmy Scott" because he looked young and was short and of slight build. His phrasing made him a favorite of artists including
Billie Holiday
,
Ray Charles
,
Frankie Valli
,
Dinah Washington
and
Nancy Wilson
.
[4]
He rose to prominence as Little Jimmy Scott in the Lionel Hampton band as lead singer on "
Everybody's Somebody's Fool
", recorded in December 1949.
[2]
It became a top ten R&B hit in 1950.
[3]
Credit on the label went to "Lionel Hampton and vocalists"; Scott received no credit on any of the songs. A similar event occurred several years later when his vocal on "
Embraceable You
" with
Charlie Parker
, on the album
One Night in Birdland
, was credited to the female vocalist
Chubby Newsom
.
[5]
In 1963 his girlfriend, Mary Ann Fisher, who sang with Ray Charles, helped him sign with
Tangerine
, Charles's label, and record the album
Falling in Love is Wonderful
.
[6]
[7]
The album was withdrawn while Scott was on his honeymoon because he had signed a contract with
Herman Lubinsky
; it would be 40 years before the album was reissued. Scott disputed the contract he had with Lubinsky, who had loaned him to
Syd Nathan
at
King
for 45 recordings in 1957?58. Another album,
The Source
, was recorded in 1969, released in 1970, but due to another Lubinsky threat of breach of contract, it was not promoted by Atlantic and quickly went out of print. (It was reissued in 2001).
[8]
Scott's career faded by the late 1960s, and he returned to his native Cleveland to work as a hospital orderly, shipping clerk, and elevator operator. He returned to music in 1989 when manager
Alan Eichler
arranged for him to share a late-night bill with
Johnnie Ray
at New York's Ballroom.
[9]
When Scott sang at the funeral of his friend, songwriter
Doc Pomus
, the event further renewed his career.
[10]
Scott performed the song "Sycamore Trees" in the climactic
final episode
of the original
Twin Peaks
in 1991; and
Lou Reed
invited him to sing backup on the song "Power and Glory" on Reed's 1992 album
Magic and Loss
.
Also in attendance at Pomus's funeral was
Seymour Stein
, founder and operator of
Sire
, which released Scott's 1992 album
All the Way
, produced by
Tommy LiPuma
and featuring
Kenny Barron
,
Ron Carter
, and
David "Fathead" Newman
. Scott was nominated for a
Grammy Award
for the album.
Scott released
Dream
in 1994 and the album
Heaven
in 1996. His next work, an album of pop and rock interpretations entitled
Holding Back the Years
(1998), was produced by Gerry McCarthy and Dale Ashley. Released in the US by Artists Only in October 1998, it peaked at No. 14 on the
Billboard
Jazz Albums chart. In Japan, it won the
Swing Journal
Award for Best Jazz Album of the Year (2000). The title track marked the first time in his career that Scott overdubbed his harmony vocal tracks.
Holding Back the Years
features cover art by
Mark Kostabi
, liner notes by
Lou Reed
, and includes versions of "
Nothing Compares 2 U
" (written by
Prince
), "
Jealous Guy
" (
John Lennon
), "
Almost Blue
" (
Elvis Costello
), "
Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word
" (
Elton John
and
Bernie Taupin
) and the title track "
Holding Back the Years
” (
Simply Red
).
In 1999, Scott's early recordings for
Decca
were released on CD, as were all of his recordings with
Savoy
from 1952 to 1975 in a three-disc box set. In 2000, Scott signed with
Milestone
and recorded four albums, each produced by Todd Barkan with guests such as
Wynton Marsalis
,
Renee Rosnes
, Bob Kindred,
Eric Alexander
,
Lew Soloff
,
George Mraz
,
Lewis Nash
, and Scott's touring and recording band, The Jazz Expressions. He released two live albums recorded in Japan. During 2003?04, PBS aired
If You Only Knew
, a documentary produced and directed by Matthew Buzell that won film festival awards and the Independent Lens award.
Scott and his wife Jeanie lived in
Las Vegas, Nevada
, after purchasing a house in 2006, having previously lived in
Euclid
, Ohio, for 10 years.
On May 10, 2014, Scott's final recording session took place in the living room of his home. The track was recorded for
Gregoire Maret
's album
Wanted
and was a song Maret wrote for him titled "The 26th of May".
[11]
Scott died in his sleep at his home in Las Vegas on June 12, 2014, at the age of 88.
[12]
[13]
He was buried in
Knollwood Cemetery
in
Mayfield Heights
, Ohio.
[14]
Awards, honors and later life
[
edit
]
Scott performed at the inaugurations of Presidents
Eisenhower
(1953) and
Clinton
(1993). On both occasions, Scott sang "
Why Was I Born?
". Later, he appeared with the lounge music group
Pink Martini
and continued to perform until his death.
He received the
NEA Jazz Masters
award (2007) from the
National Endowment for the Arts
, the Living Legend Award from the
Kennedy Center
, the Pioneer Award from
NABOB
(National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the
Jazz Foundation of America
(2010).
[15]
Scott's recording of "If I Ever Lost You" can be heard in the opening credits of the 2005 HBO movie
Lackawanna Blues
. He was also mentioned on
The Cosby Show
(season 2, episode 25), when Clair and Cliff Huxtable bet on the year in which "An Evening in Paradise" was recorded. On August 17, 2013, at
Cleveland State University
, he was inducted into inaugural class of the R&B Music Hall of Fame.
[16]
Scott died in his sleep at his home in Las Vegas on June 12, 2014, at the age of 88.
[12]
[13]
The following month, a portion of East 101st Street in Cleveland was renamed Jimmy Scott Way in his honor.
[17]
Discography
[
edit
]
As leader
[
edit
]
- Very Truly Yours
(
Savoy
, 1955)
- If You Only Knew
(Savoy, 1956)
- The Fabulous Songs of Jimmy Scott
(Savoy, 1960)
- Falling in Love Is Wonderful
(Tangerine, 1962)
- The Source
(
Atlantic
, 1969)
- Lost And Found
(Atlantic, 1971)
- Can't We Begin Again
(Savoy, 1975)
- Doesn't Love Mean More
(J's Way, 1990)
- Regal Records Live in New Orleans
(Specialty, 1991) ? recorded in 1950
- All the Way
(Sire, 1992)
- Dream
(Sire/Warner Bros., 1994)
- Heaven
(Warner Bros., 1996)
- Holding Back the Years
(Artists Only!, 1998)
- Everybody's Somebody's Fool
(Decca, 1999) ? recorded in 1949?52
- Mood Indigo
(
Milestone
, 2000)
- Over the Rainbow
(Milestone, 2001)
- But Beautiful
(Milestone, 2002) ? recorded in 2001
- Unchained Melody
(Tokuma, 2002) ? recorded in 2001
- Moon Glow
(Milestone, 2003) ? recorded in 2000?01
- All of Me - Live in Tokyo
(
Venus
, 2003) ? live
Filmography
[
edit
]
Documentary
[
edit
]
- The Ballad of Little Jimmy Scott
(DVD) (PBS, 1987) Featuring NY Times Bestselling Author Nathan C. Heard as Narrator
- Why Was I Born: The Life and Times of Little Jimmy Scott
(TV) (
Bravo Profiles Jazz Masters
, Bravo, 1999)
- Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew
(DVD) (
Independent Lens
, PBS, 2003?2004)
Appearances
[
edit
]
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Ritz, David
(2002).
Faith in Time: The Life of Jimmy Scott
. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo.
ISBN
978-0-306-81229-3
.
- Deffaa, Chip
(2006),
Six Lives in Rhythm and Blues
, Da Capo Press.
- Eidsheim, Nina Sun (2019),
The Race of Sound, Listening, Timbre, and Vocality in African American Music
, Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Ritz, David (2002).
Faith in Time: The Life of Jimmy Scott
. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Da Capo. p.
4
.
ISBN
978-0-306-81229-3
.
- ^
a
b
c
Larkin, Colin
, ed. (1997).
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music
(Concise ed.).
Virgin Books
. p. 1061/2.
ISBN
1-85227-745-9
.
- ^
a
b
Ruhlmann, William.
"Little Jimmy Scott"
.
AllMusic
. Retrieved
June 21,
2010
.
- ^
Ritz (2002).
Faith in Time
. pp.
86
, 95?96, 104, 109, 129?130, 139.
- ^
Ritz (2002).
Faith in Time
. p.
64
.
- ^
Bush, John.
"Falling in Love Is Wonderful"
.
AllMusic
. Retrieved
October 25,
2010
.
- ^
Ritz (2002).
Faith in Time
. pp.
122?125
.
- ^
Ritz (2002).
Faith in Time
. p.
159
.
- ^
Holden, Stephen (July 18, 1989).
"Review/Pop; Jimmy Scott Wails Blues At Ballroom"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
August 8,
2017
.
- ^
Ritz (2002).
Faith in Time
. pp.
203?205
.
- ^
"Press"
.
www.gregoiremaret.com
. Retrieved
November 28,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Tamarkin, Jeff (June 13, 2014).
"Singer Jimmy Scott Dies at 88"
.
JazzTimes
. Retrieved
November 28,
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Quinn, Ben (June 14, 2014).
"Jimmy Scott, US jazz singer and Twin Peaks star, dies aged 88"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
November 28,
2018
.
- ^
Petkovic, John (June 14, 2014). "Cleveland Jazz Singer Jimmy Scott Dies".
The Plain Dealer
. Cleveland, Ohio. p. A1.
- ^
"Jimmy Scott, ethereal-voiced jazzman, dies at 88"
.
USA TODAY
. June 14, 2014
. Retrieved
August 8,
2017
.
- ^
Abram, Malcolm X (August 16, 2013). "R&B Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland to induct first class".
The Akron Beacon Journal
.
- ^
Ward 6 Community News
- Cleveland City Council.
External links
[
edit
]
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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