Eden Brent (born November 16, 1965 in

Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta. Hi ...

, United States) is an American musician on the independent

Yellow Dog Records Yellow Dog Records is an American independent record label based in Memphis, Tennessee, that features authentic American music: blues, soul and Americana. It was founded in 2002 by Mike Powers to support independent musicians on its roster with ...

label. A

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and vocalist, she combines

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pian ...

with elements of blues, jazz, soul, gospel and pop. Her vocal style has been compared to

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and ...

Memphis Minnie Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), better known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being "Wh ...

and

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

. She took lessons from Abie "Boogaloo" Ames, a traditional blues and boogie woogie piano player and eventually earned the nickname "Little Boogaloo." In 2006, she won the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs the ...

's International Blues Challenge. Along with other awards, Brent garnered two 2009

Blues Music Award The Blues Music Awards, formerly known as the W. C. Handy Awards (or "The Handys"), are awards presented by the Blues Foundation, a non-profit organization set up to foster blues heritage. The awards were originally named in honor of W. C. Handy, " ...

s - one for Acoustic Artist of the Year, the other for Acoustic Album of the Year (''Mississippi Number One''). At The 14th Annual Independent Music Awards in 2015, Eden Brent won the award in the "Holiday Song" category for "Valentine".

History

Eden Brent was born in 1965 and raised in

, where she attended Washington School. Brent studied jazz and music at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Music. When she was 16, Eden Brent met the late blues pioneer, Abie Ames, and began to teach herself how to play his style. Brent has said,

"By the time I was 19, I’d nearly become sort of a groupie. I’d go hear him and request certain songs because I wanted to hear them and sort of watch over his shoulder a bit and watch the way he was playing. Sometimes I’d request the same thing over and over and then go home and try to learn it. Finally, after a few failures of not being able to pick it up on my own I was bold enough to ask him to teach me."Interview w/ Eden Brent
Americana Music Show episode 201
published 4 August 2014.

In 1985, Ames took her under his wing for 16 years, nicknaming her Little Boogaloo. This apprenticeship advanced Brent’s talents. She was featured alongside Ames in the 1999

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

documentary, ''Boogaloo & Eden: Sustaining the Sound,'' and in the 2002 South African production ''Forty Days in the Delta''. Brent has appeared around the country at venues and events such as the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

, the 2000

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

, the 2005 presidential inauguration (sharing the bill with

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

), the

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultze ...

, the

British Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Com ...

, Portland’s

Waterfront Blues Festival The Waterfront Blues Festival is an annual event in Portland, Oregon, United States featuring four days of performances by blues musicians. The festival started in 1988 and takes place in Tom McCall Waterfront Park, along the west bank of the Will ...

, the Edmonton Blues Festival, the annual B.B. King Homecoming, and aboard the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise.

Awards

;Won *2009: "Acoustic Artist of The Year" by the

*2009: "Acoustic Album of Year" by the Blues Foundation *2010: "

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Life ...

Piano Player of The Year" by the Blues Foundation *2015: "Holiday Song" award for "Valentine" - 2015 14th Annual Independent Music Awards ;Nominated * 2008: "

Sean Costello Sean Costello (April 16, 1979 – April 15, 2008) was an American blues musician, renowned for his fiery guitar playing and soulful singing. He released five critically acclaimed albums before his career was cut short by his sudden death from ...

Rising Star Award" by the Blues Blast Music Awards * 2008: "Blues Song Of The Year" by the Blues Critic Awards Reader's Poll for "Mississippi Number 1" * 2009: "Blues Album of the Year" by the Just Plain Folks Music Awards for "Mississippi Number 1" * 2009: "Blues Song of the Year" by the Just Plain Folks Music Awards for "Until I Die" * 2009: "Best New Artist Debut" by the Blues Foundation for ''Mississippi Number 1'' * 2009: "

Piano Player of the Year" by the Blues Foundation * 2009: "Blues Song Of The Year" finalist at the 8th Annual Independent Music Awards for "Mississippi Flatland Blues" * 2009: "Blues Artist of The Year" by the Living Blues Awards * 2009: "Best New Artist Debut Recording" by the Blues Blast Music Awards * 2009: "Best Female Artist" by the Blues Blast Music Awards * 2009: "Sean Costello Rising Star Award" by the Blues Blast Music Awards * 2010: "Most Outstanding Musician – Keyboard" by the Living Blues Awards *2011: "Blues Album, Adult Contemporary Song" for The Independent Music Awards

Discography

*2003: ''Something Cool'' (Little Boogaloo Records) *2008: ''Mississippi Number One'' (

) *2010: ''Ain't Got No Troubles'' (Yellow Dog Records) *2014: ''Jigsaw Heart'' (Yellow Dog Records) *2018: ''An Eden Brent Christmas'' (with Bob Dowell) (Yellow Dog Records)

References

External links

Official Eden Brent website

Yellow Dog Records website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brent, Eden Blues musicians from Mississippi American blues singers American blues pianists Boogie-woogie pianists Musicians from Greenville, Mississippi Singers from Mississippi Living people 1965 births University of North Texas College of Music alumni 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American women pianists 20th-century American women musicians