JANUARY 2017: Featured Artist
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Grammy-Nominated Jazz Vocalist & Theatrical Performer:
René Marie
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Photo Credit: John Abbott
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René Marie is a Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist, composer, arranger and theatrical performer who has entertained audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe. René was born in Warrenton, Virginia into a family of seven children. While neither of her parents were formally trained musicians, radio and records of all kinds - blues, folk, bluegrass and classical - made up the soundtrack to her childhood. During her teenage years, she sang in a few R&B bands at musical functions in her community. She composed and sang her first piece with a band when she was fifteen.
She put her musical aspirations aside for quite some time. She married a former bandmate when she was 18, worked at a bank and raised two sons. When she was 41, her older son convinced her to start singing again. She began singing in a hotel bar for tips. After making the decision to divorce her husband, who no longer supported her musical career, René plunged back into the music scene full-time. She self-produced her first CD, titled Renaissance, in 1999. In 2000, she signed onto the MaxJazz label and recorded four more CDs in four years. She also took the title role in the world premiere production of Ella and Her Fella, Frank at the Barksdale Theatre in Richmond. |
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In 2005, she parted ways with MaxJazz in order to take more control of her own career track, and she subsequently produced two more CDs and two single releases. In 2011, she joined the Motéma label. Her 2013 CD, I Wanna Be Evil: With Love To Eartha Kitt, earned a Grammy nomination.
Her latest release in her ever-expanding body of work is Sound of Red (Motéma, 2016), which recently garnered a second Grammy nomination for René in the category “Best Jazz Vocal Album.” It’s her first music CD containing all-original material, which provides insightful glimpses into the many small but profound turning points that are part of an individual life. “I wanted to make a record that people could go back to again and again to excavate their emotions,” says René. “We cover things over every day. We have to in order to move through the day and move through our lives.” |
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In addition to producing 11 music CDs and a demanding travel schedule, René’s diverse talents were combined to create her one-woman stage show, Slut Energy Theory, a play about overcoming abuse and incest. The play premiered in October 2009, and the soundtrack was released by the end of that same year. In 2010, she launched a series of vocal therapy group sessions called SLAM!, which enables her to give back by sharing her vocal philosophy with others.
“I have never forgotten the early lessons learned about the power of music,” she says. “Today, I try to imbue that feeling of emotion into every song I write and every song I sing – every time.”
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Want to know more?
Myrna Beth Haskell, managing editor, interviewed René just days after she learned Sound of Red was nominated for a Grammy. 
Listen to short recordings of
"This is Not a Protest Song" & "Blessings." Comments by René are included in Teaser Videos: 
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