Cal Harris Jr. is an American contemporary jazz artist, producer, audio engineer, songwriter, and composer. In 2018 Cal Harris was ranked the #5

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

artist by

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

. He has toured with

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan M ...

Earth Wind and Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million reco ...

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

Il Divo Il Divo (; ) are a multi-national classical crossover vocal group. The male quartet, which originated in the United Kingdom in December 2003, consists of tenors Urs Bühler, David Miller, and Sébastien Izambard. It also included baritone ...

, Cirque du Soleil (Delirium),

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

Babyface Babyface or Baby Face can refer to: Nicknames * Lester Joseph Gillis a.k.a. Baby Face Nelson, an infamous 1930s bank robber * Roosevelt "Baby Face" Willette (1933–1971), an American hard bop and soul-jazz musician * "Baby Face", Jimmy McLarnin ...

, and

Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His ...

. Harris has worked as a recording engineer for

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

Selena Selena Quintanilla Pérez (; April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995), known mononymously as Selena, was an American Tejano singer. Called the " Queen of Tejano music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mex ...

, Lenny Kravitz, as well as Earth Wind and Fire. He has also performed as a keyboard player for

Con Funk Shun Con Funk Shun (formerly known as Project Soul) is an American R&B and funk band whose popularity began in the mid-1970s and ran through the 1980s. They were influenced by funk legend James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone. Signed to Mercury R ...

, Jonny Gill, and Lenny Kravitz. In 1990 Harris co-wrote the hit single "

Just Want to Hold You "Just Want to Hold You" is an R&B song released in 1991 by Jasmine Guy. It was the third single from her album, ''Jasmine Guy Jasmine Guy (born March 10, 1962) is an American actress, director, singer and dancer. She is known for her role as D ...

" by

Jasmine Guy Jasmine Guy (born March 10, 1962) is an American actress, director, singer and dancer. She is known for her role as Dina in the 1988 film ''School Daze'' and as Whitley Gilbert-Wayne on the NBC ''The Cosby Show'' spin-off ''A Different World'', ...

. He also became one of the twenty finalists for American Idol's season 6 songwriter competition, beating out over 25,000 other submissions.

Early life

At a young age Cal Harris Jr. was exposed to

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

legends since his father, Cal Harris Sr, worked as a recording engineer for Motown. He grew up seeing his father work with artists such as

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

, and the

Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

. He learned to play instruments and record music at a young age which inspired him to become a musician later in life.

Discography

Source:

Solo albums

* ''Inside Out'' (2010) * ''Shelter Island'' (2014) * ''Soulful'' (2019)

Singles

* "Airborne" (2015) * "Endless Summer" (2016) * "Soulful" (2017) * "Timeline" (2018) * "The Touch" (2019) * "Ordinary Days" (2021) * "Bridges" (2021)

Audio engineer

* "It Will Never End" - Eternal (1995) * "Make It Right" - Jordan Hill (1995) * "If I were Your Girl" - Paula Abdul (1995) * " I'm Getting Used to You" - Selena (1995) * ''

It Is Time For A Love Revolution ''It Is Time for a Love Revolution'' is the eighth studio album by American rock musician Lenny Kravitz, released on February 5, 2008. The album produced four singles released in 2007 and 2008. This is Kravitz's final album for Virgin Records. ...

'' - Lenny Kravitz (2008)

Writing

* "Just Want to Hold You" - Jasmine Guy (1990)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Cal, Jr. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Smooth jazz musicians American producers American audio engineers