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Patti Austin

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Patti Austin
Austin at the Ram's Head in Annapolis, Maryland, 2007
Austin at the Ram's Head in Annapolis, Maryland, 2007
Background information
Born (1950-08-10) August 10, 1950 (age 74)
Harlem, New York
GenresR&B, jazz, dance, adult contemporary
OccupationMusician
InstrumentSinger
Years active1955–Present
LabelsCoral, Columbia, A&M, ABC, United Artists, CTI, Qwest, GRP, Concord, Warner Bros.
Websitewww.pattiaustin.com

Patti Austin (born 10 August 1950) is an American R&B, pop and jazz singer.

Music career

1960s–1980s

Austin was born in Harlem, New York to Gordon Austin, a jazz trombonist,[1] and Edna Austin and was raised in Bay Shore, New York on Long Island.[2] Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have referred to themselves as her godparents.[3]

When she was four years old, she made her debut at the Apollo Theater and the next year had a contract with RCA Records. During the 1960s, she was a session musician who sang background vocals and commercial jingles. She was known as "Queen of the Jingles," appearing on commercials for Almay, Avon, Burger King, Impulse, KFC, Maxwell House, McDonalds, Meow Mix, Stouffer's, and the United States Army.

In 1969, she made the R&B Top 50 with the single "Family Tree". Her debut album, End of a Rainbow, appeared in 1976 on the jazz label CTI Records. Two years later, she sang on the song "Love Light" by Japanese musician Yutaka Yokokura. She and Michael Jackson performed a duet on "It's the Falling in Love", which appeared on his album Off the Wall, and in 1980 she and jazz guitarist George Benson performed a duet on "Moody's Mood for Love". She provided vocals for Roberta Flack, Angela Bofill, and Noel Pointer.[4]

In 1981, she sang on the album The Dude by Quincy Jones and on the hit single "Razzmatazz". Jones signed her to his record label, Qwest Records. Her album Every Home Should Have One (Qwest, 1982) contained "Baby, Come to Me", a duet with James Ingram which reached No. 1 on the pop music chart at Billboard magazine, boosted by its appearance on the television soap opera General Hospital. A second duet with Ingram, "How Do You Keep the Music Playing", was used on the soundtrack for the movie Best Friends (1982).[4]

Austin's single, "It's Gonna Be Special," was featured on the soundtrack for the movie Two of a Kind. "It's Gonna Be Special" peaked at No. 5 on the dance chart, No. 15 on the R&B chart, and appeared on the Hot 100 pop chart.[citation needed] The song also appeared on Austin's self-titled album of that year.

A follow-up single, "Rhythm of the Street," remixed by John "Jellybean" Benitez, narrowly missed the Billboard Dance Top Ten chart, though it peaked higher on Hi-NRG charts. The two songs were featured on a double-A-side 12" single. For "Rhythm of the Street" Austin shot her first music video.

Austin's 1985 album, Gettin' Away With Murder, was her third album in as many years. It produced two more hit singles, "Honey For The Bees" (#24 R&B and #6 Dance) and "The Heat of Heat." The album used producers Russ Titelman, Tommy LiPuma, Monte Moir (of "The Time") and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Billy Joel (Austin sang background on his "Just The Way You Are"), Dan Hartman, friends Luther Vandross and Jocelyn Brown and Chaka Khan were among the background vocalists on the project. Songwriters included Randy Goodrum, Michael Bolton and Jam & Lewis.

Also in 1985, Austin sang lead vocals on a collaboration with her producer, Narada Michael Walden, and the single, "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme", hit the top 40 of the R&B charts.

Austin appeared with Jeff Bridges and Joan Allen in Francis Ford Coppola's 1988 comedy-drama film, Tucker: The Man and his Dream.

Also in 1988, Austin released The Real Me, a collection of standards which garnered the first of several Top 10 showings on the jazz albums chart. The Real Me was chiefly produced by David Pack, lead singer of the pop group Ambrosia, though Austin served as a co-producer and executive producer on the project. Other duet partners Luther Vandross ("I'm Gonna Miss You In The Morning").

1990s–present

Austin scored a top five dance hit with the single, "Reach," from her 1994 album, That Secret Place (GRP Records). Austin was scheduled to be on onboard United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, but because her mother suffered a stroke days before her flight she cancelled it for an earlier one.[5]

In 2002, she recorded For Ella, a tribute to jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald.[4]

In 2003, she collaborated with Frances Yip on "Papillon III" in the rotunda of San Francisco City Hall to benefit the Jade Ribbon Campaign of Stanford University. A companion CD/DVD was released, featuring Austin and Yip's duets of many classic Chinese numbers sung in Mandarin and directed and arranged by Carlton Liu.[6]

During a 2007 interview, Austin spoke of reluctantly attending as a teenager one of Judy Garland's last concerts and how the experience helped focus her career. "She ripped my heart out. I wanted to interpret a lyric like that, to present who I was at the moment through the lyric."[7]

At the 50th annual Grammy Awards in 2008, Austin's album Avant Gershwin won for best jazz vocal. The album was recorded mostly live with the WDR Big Band in Germany. The nomination was her ninth in that category.

Austin was co-producer and one of over 70 artists singing on "We Are the World: 25 for Haiti," a charity single to aid victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

In 2011, Austin released Sound Advice, an album consisting mostly of covers. Songs included re-works of Bob Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody;" Brenda Russell's "A Little Bit of Love;" a lesser known Jacksons tune, "Give It Up," as a tribute to Michael Jackson; Bill Withers' "Lean On Me," which she first sang at a milestone birthday for Quincy Jones; Don McLean's "Vincent;" and "My Way." The album also included "The Grace of God," written by Austin after she watched an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show which featured a facially scarred woman.

Austin co-wrote and sang in "L.O.V.E. – Let One Voice Emerge", a non-partisan music video to encourage voter participation.

Austin appeared in the Academy Award-winning documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released on 21 June 2013.

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album Chart positions[8][9][10] Record label
US US
R&B 		US
Jazz 		UK
1976 End of a Rainbow — — 31 — CTI
1977 Havana Candy 116 — — —
1980 Body Language — 62 28 —
1981 Every Home Should Have One 36 16 9 99 Qwest
1984 Patti Austin 87 — — —
1985 Gettin' Away with Murder 182 25 — —
1988 The Real Me — 56 7 —
1990 Love Is Gonna Getcha 93 45 4 — GRP
1991 Carry On — 75 13 —
1994 That Secret Place — — 12 —
1996 Jukebox Dreams (Japan Only) — — — — Pony Canyon
1998 In & Out of Love — — — — Concord
1999 Street of Dreams — — — — Intersound / Platinum
2001 On the Way to Love — — 21 — Warner Bros.
2002 For Ella — — 7 — Playboy Jazz / Concord
2003 "Papillon" featuring Patti Austin and Frances Yip — — — — Independence Label
2007 Avant Gershwin — — 5 — Rendezvous
2011 Sound Advice 15 — Shanachie
2016 Mighty Musical Fairy Tales (recorded 1992) — Let's Roar
"—" denotes the album failed to chart and/or was not released in that territory

Live albums

Year Album Chart positions[8][9][10] Record label
US US
R&B 		US
Jazz 		UK
1979 Live at the Bottom Line — — 33 — CTI
1992 Live — — 20 — GRP
"—" denotes the album failed to chart and/or was not released in that territory

Compilation albums

Year Album Chart positions[8][9][10] Record label
US US
R&B 		US
Jazz 		UK
1983 In My Life — 65 — — CTI
1994 The Best of Patti Austin — — — — Columbia
1995 The Ultimate Collection — — — — GRP
1999 The Best of Patti Austin (Japan Only) — — — — Warner Bros.
2001 Take Away the Pain Stain — — — — Wagram
The Very Best of Patti Austin: The Singles (1969-1986) — — — — Warner Bros. / Rhino
2002 The CTI Collection — — — — Connoisseur
2003 Baby Come to Me and Other Hits — — — — Flashback / Rhino
2005 Love Collection — — — — Intersound
2007 Intimate Patti Austin — — — — Mosaic Contemporary
"—" denotes the album failed to chart and/or was not released in that territory

Singles

Year Single Peak positions Album
US R&B US Hot 100 US A.C US Dance
1965 "I Wanna Be Loved / A Most Unusual Boy" 45 — — — (Coral 45 #62471)
1966 "Take Away The Pain Stain" 45 — — — (Coral 45 #62491)
1969 "The Family Tree" 45 — — —
1971 "Black California" — — — — (Columbia 45 #45410)
1972 "Day by Day" — — — — (Columbia 45 #45592)
1977 "Say You Love Me" 63 — — — End of a Rainbow
1978 "Love, I Never Had It So Good" 60 — — — Sounds...and Stuff Like That!!
1978 "We're in Love" 90 — — — Havana Candy
1980 "Body Language" 45 — — — Body Language
1981 "Do You Love Me?" / "The Genie" 24 — — 1 Every Home Should Have One
1981 "Razzamatazz" 17 — — — The Dude
"Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me" — — — — The Dude
1981 "Every Home Should Have One" 55 62 24 — Every Home Should Have One
1982 "Baby, Come to Me" (w/ James Ingram) 9 1 1 — Every Home Should Have One
1983 "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" (w/ James Ingram) 6 45 5 — Duets
1983 "In My Life" 92 — — — In My Life
1984 "It's Gonna Be Special" 15 82 — 5 Patti Austin
Two of a Kind original soundtrack
1984 "Rhythm of the Street" — — — 11 Patti Austin
1984 "Shoot the Moon" 49 — — 16 Patti Austin
1985 "Honey for the Bees" 24 — — 6 Gettin' Away with Murder
1985 "Gettin' Away with Murder" 72 — — — Gettin' Away with Murder
1986 "The Heat of Heat" 13 55 — 14 Gettin' Away with Murder
1990 "Through the Test of Time" 60 — 9 — Love Is Gonna Getcha
1991 "Givin' Into Love" 55 — — — Carry On
1994 "Reach" — — — 4 That Secret Place
"—" denotes the single failed to chart and/or was not released in/to that format
  • "All Behind Us Now"

Filmography

Year Film Role
1988 Tucker: The Man and his Dream Millie
2013 20 Feet from Stardom Herself

See also

Template:Wikipedia books

References

  1. ^ "Patti Austin - biography". encyclopedia.com. Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
  2. ^ The New Patti Austin Retrieved 2014-09-23.
  3. ^ Murph, John. "Patti Austin: 5 Tips for Aspiring Singers". aarp.org. AARP. Retrieved 2014-08-26.
  4. ^ a b c Wynn, Ron. "Patti Austin | Biography & History | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  5. ^ White, Beverly; Brayton, Julie. "Singer Patti Austin Talks About 9/11 Experience". KNBC. Los Angeles. Retrieved September 11, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Engardio, Joel P. (May 22, 2002). "Dim Sum Diva". SF Weekly. San Francisco.
  7. ^ "Topic Galleries". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2012-05-02.
  8. ^ a b c "Patti Austin US chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
  9. ^ a b c "Patti Austin US chart history". billboard.com. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
  10. ^ a b c "Patti Austin UK chart history". chartstats.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-02. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
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