Patti Austin

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Patti Austin
Singer Patti Austin on the evening of her appearance at the Ram's Head in Annapolis, Maryland where she sang an "all Gershwin" show on October 29, 2007.
Background information
Born	August 10, 1950(1950-08-10)
Origin	Harlem, New York
Genre(s)	R&B, Pop, Jazz
Occupation(s)	Singer, Songwriter
Years active	1953-Present
Label(s)	RCA (1953) CTI (1976-1980) Qwest / Warner Bros. (1981-1989) GRP (1990-1995) Concord Vista (1997-1998) Intersound / Compendia (1998-1999) Warner Bros. (2000-2001) Playboy Jazz / Concord (2002) Rendezvous (2007-Present)

Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950^[1], in Harlem, New York), to Edna and Gordon Austin, is a Grammy-winning R&B and jazz music singer.

[edit] Career

She made her debut at the Apollo Theater at age four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was only five. Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have proclaimed themselves as her godparents.

By the late 1960s Austin was a prolific session musician and commercial jingle singer. During the 1980s, signed to Jones's Qwest Records, she began her most prolific hitmaking period. She charted twenty R&B songs between 1969 and 1991 and had success on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, where she hit number one in 1981 with "Do You Love Me?" / "The Genie".

The album containing that hit, Every Home Should Have One, also produced her biggest mainstream hit. "Baby, Come To Me," a duet with James Ingram, initially peaked at number 73 on the Hot 100 in early 1982. After being featured as the love theme in a prominent storyline on the soap opera General Hospital, the song re-entered the pop chart in October and went to number one in February 1983. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA. She would later team up again with Ingram for "How Do You Keep The Music Playing".

That year, Austin's single "It's Gonna Be Special" was featured on the soundtrack for the Olivia Newton-John/John Travolta film Two of a Kind. Though the film was not the major success envisioned for the re-teaming of the Grease stars, the soundtrack went Platinum and Austin's single, produced by Quincy Jones, became one of her highest-profile hits. "It's Gonna Be Special" peaked at #5 on the Dance charts, #15 on the R&B charts, and charted on the Hot 100 in 1984. The song also appeared on her self-titled album of that year, and its follow-up, "Rhythm of the Streets", remixed by John "Jellybean" Benitez, narrowly missed Billboard's Dance Top Ten, though it peaked higher on Hi-NRG charts. The two songs were featured on a double-A-side 12" single. For "Rhythm of the Streets" Austin shot her first music video.

Striking while the iron was hot, Austin released her third album in three years, Gettin' Away With Murder. In addition to the title track, she had two more hit singles, "Honey For The Bees" (#24 R&B and #6 Dance) and "The Heat of Heat". Produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, noted for their later work with Janet Jackson, the latter track returned Austin to the top 15 of the R&B charts for what would be the last time to date. It would also be her last Hot 100 charting to date, and scored on the Dance charts.

Austin took a step back in time from the cutting edge of music for her first featured acting role, appearing with Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen in Francis Ford Coppola's critically acclaimed period piece Tucker: The Man and his Dream (1988). That year, Austin released The Real Me, a collection of standards which garnered her the first of several Top 10 showings on the Jazz Albums chart.

She sang the duet "It's the Falling in Love" with Michael Jackson on his album Off The Wall. Other duet partners include George Benson ("Moody's Mood for Love" and "Keep Your Dreams Alive"), and Luther Vandross ("I'm Gonna Miss You In The Morning"). In 1985 she sang lead vocals on a collaboration with her producer, Narada Michael Walden, and the single, "Gimme Gimme Gimme", went top 40 on the R&B charts.

In 1991, she recorded the duet "You Who Brought Me Love" with music legend Johnny Mathis, which was received with critical acclaim. That same year she was invited to be a guest on a Johnny Mathis television special that was broadcast across North America.

Austin led a new group of Raelettes for the 2006 album Ray Charles + Count Basie Orchestra = Genius². That group also featured veteran session singer Valerie Pinkston and members of the group Perry.

During a 2007 interview promoting her latest recording, Austin reflected how as a teenager she reluctantly attended one of Judy Garland's last concerts and the experience helped focus her career, stating "She (Judy Garland) ripped my heart out. I wanted to interpret a lyric like that, to present who I was at the moment through the lyric."[1]

In 2008, fifty-three years after getting her first record contract, Patti Austin was awarded her first Grammy, winning Best Jazz Vocal Album for Avant Gershwin at the 50th annual Grammy Awards.[2] The award came for her ninth nomination in that category.

Austin continues to tour year round and release new music.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• 1976: End Of A Rainbow US #- (Jazz albums #31)
• 1977: Havana Candy US #116
• 1979: Live At The Bottom Line (re-released in 1991 with the original live vocals instead of studio overdubs) US #- (Jazz albums #33)
• 1980: Body Language US #- (Jazz albums #28, Black albums #62)
• 1981: Every Home Should Have One US #36 (Jazz albums #9, Black albums #16), UK #99
• 1983: In My Life US #- (Black albums #65)
• 1984: Patti Austin US #87
• 1985: Gettin' Away With Murder US #182 (R&B #25)
• 1988: The Real Me US #- (Jazz albums #7, R&B #56)
• 1990: Love Is Gonna Getcha US #93 (Jazz albums #4, R&B #45)
• 1991: Carry On US #- (Jazz albums #13, R&B #75)
• 1992: Live US #- (Jazz albums #20)
• 1994: That Secret Place US #- (Jazz albums #12)
• 1996: Jukebox Dreams (Japan only, tracks mostly identical with In & Out Of Love)
• 1998: In & Out Of Love US #-
• 1998: Street Of Dreams (South Korea and Japan, released in the US in 1999)
• 2001: On The Way To Love US #- (Jazz albums #21)
• 2002: For Ella (also Japanese issue with bonus track) US #- (Jazz albums #7)
• 2007: Avant Gershwin US #- (Jazz albums #5)

[edit] Compilations

• 1994: The Best Of Patti Austin (compilation of tracks for the CTI label 1977-79)
• 1995: The Ultimate Collection
• 1999: The Best of Patti Austin (Japan only compilation of tracks for Warner Music)
• 1999: Take Away The Pain Stain (French collection of tracks for Coral, 1965-67)
• 2000: The CTI Collection
• 2001: The Very Best Of Patti Austin (collection of singles, mostly Qwest/Warner)
• 2002: Collection
• 2003: Baby Come To Me And Other Hits
• 2007: Intimate Patti Austin

[edit] Singles

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Some sources still list Ms. Austin's birth year as 1948. She gave this date in the early years of her career, in order to avoid child work regulations. "I lied about my age and I kicked it up two years because in those days it was a problem to work at that age. [...] I think women are very foolish when they say they're younger than they are anyway." Quoted in: Roberts, Michael (2007), “Bless The Godchild”, Jazziz Magazine (Boca Raton, FL) (no. 4): 32–37 

[edit] External links

• Patti Austin Official Website
• Patti Austin Interview Jazz Monthly
• Patti Austin AllAboutJazz.com Interview
• Patti Austin Examiner.com Interview
• Patti Austin Power To End Stroke Campaign Interview

[edit] See also

• List of number-one hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of Number 1 Dance Hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart