Marlena Shaw

Marlena Shaw (born Marlina Burgess, September 22, 1942, New Rochelle, New York) is an American singer. Shaw began her singing career in the 1960s and is still singing today. Her strongest fan base was in the African American community. Her music has reached out and touched all forms of music, and is still seen today as samples in hip hop songs, and in commercials on TV.

She was first introduced to music by her uncle Jimmy Burgess, a jazz trumpet player. In an interview with The New York Times, she told the reporter “He [Jimmy Burgess] introduced me to good music through records—-Dizzy [Gillespie], Miles [Davis], a lot of gospel things, and Al Hibbler, who really knows how to phrase a song.” In 1952, Burgess brought her on stage at the Apollo Theater in Harlem to sing with him and his band. Shaw’s mother did not want her daughter to go on tour with her uncle at such a young age. Instead, she enrolled Shaw into the New York State Teachers College in Potsdam (now known as the State University of New York at Potsdam) to study music. She later dropped out of school, got married, and had five children. She did not give up on her singing career.

Shaw began to make singing appearances in jazz clubs whenever she could spare the time. This most notable of these appearances was in 1963 when she worked with jazz trumpeter Howard McGhee. She was supposed to play at the famous Newport Jazz Festival with McGhee and his band, but left the group after getting into an argument with one of the band members. Later that year, she got an audition with Columbia label talent scout John Hammond. Shaw did not perform well during the audition because she was too nervous. Undiscouraged, she continued to play at small clubs in 1964 until 1966. Her career took off in 1966 when she landed a gig with the Playboy Club chain in Chicago. It was through this gig that she met with representatives the music label Chess Records, and soon signed with them.[1] Shaw was discovered by Chess Records in 1966. She released her first two albums on their subsidiary Cadet Records. She moved to Blue Note Records in 1972, and was that label’s first female artist. She also recorded one of the disco era’s biggest hits - a remake of «Touch Me in the Morning» on Columbia Records.

Shaw still performs and records today. In 2001 and 2007 Shaw was one of the performers at the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands.