Patti Austin Biography

Patti Austin (born August 10, 1950) is an American R&B, Pop and Jazz music singer, known for her powerful voice. In 2008 she received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal album for "Avant Gershwin" recorded mostly live with The WDR Big Band in Germany.

Life and career

Austin was born in Harlem, New York and grew up on Long Island. Her father was a Jazz musician.

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

By the late 1960s Austin was a session musician and commercial jingle singer. During the 1980s, signed to Jones's Qwest Records, she began her most prolific hit-making period. By this time she was both one of the leading background session vocalists, appearing on numerous famous albums by other artists, and also was known as Queen of The Jingles appearing on jingles for Burger King, Almay make-up, Avon, KFC, MacDonalds, Meow Mix, Impulse, Stouffers, Maxwell House and the US Army.

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 single, "Rhythm of the Street", 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 Street" Austin shot her first music video. Next Austin released her third album in three years entitled 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, although she would score a top-5 dance hit with the single Reach that appeared originally on her 1994 CD That Secret Place (GRP Records). "Gettin' Away With Murder" 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, along with Chaka Khan were among the background vocalists on the project, with successful songwriters, Randy Goodrum, Michael Bolton, Jam & Lewis plus several other big name writers offering up their best compositions on what was likely a big budget affair. She next appeared 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. "The Real Me" was chiefly produced by David Pack who had been a part of the Pop group Ambrosia. Austin served as a co-producer and as Executive Producer on the project. Austin sang "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"). Earlier she'd recorded featured duets with Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons on "Our Day Will Come" and "Swearin' To God" with little billing. Austin also sang lead and background vocals on many contemporary Jazz instrumentalists' records in the 1970s. 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."

In 2007 Patti Austin participated in the Avo Session Basel with a program dedicated to Ella Fitzgerald.

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

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

In 2011 Austin released a mostly covers album project titled "Sound Advice" which contained 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," her tribute to late friend/collaborator, Michael Jackson, a cover of Bill Withers, "Lean On Me" which she first sang at a milestone birthday for her Godfather Quincy Jones. Also on "Sound Advice" standout performances of Don McLean's "Vincent" (aka Starry Starry Night) and a deeply female take on "My Way." Austin wrote the anthemic "The Grace Of God" after watching an episode of the old "Oprah Winfrey Show" which featured a facially scarred woman ... Keeping relevant, Austin offered the bouncy slice of Pop/Rock/RandB "Round And Round" including the latest trendy vocal effects, though Austin remains one singer who clearly needs no such production techniques to cover a crystal clear, flexible, and knowing voice imitated by many, duplicated by none. Austin co-wrote and sings in the star-studded L.O.V.E. - Let One Voice Emerge, encouraging especially younger Americans to get out there and exercise their right to vote.

Austin appears in the documentary film Twenty Feet From Stardom (2013), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released on 21 June 2013.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album	Chart positions				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
2007	Avant Gershwin	—	—	5	—	Rendezvous
2011	Sound Advice			15	—	Shanachie
2013	still unnamed duets album with James Ingram				—	tba
"—" denotes the album failed to chart and/or was not released in that territory

Live albums

Year	Album	Chart positions				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				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)"
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	-	-	-	QUINCY JONES: "The Dude"
	"Betcha Wouldn't Hurt Me"		-	-	-	QUINCY JONES: "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"

Guest appearances

With Lalo Schifrin

• Black Widow (CTI, 1976)

With Michael Jackson

• Off the Wall (Epic, 1979)

See also

• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart