Stacey Kent (born March 27, 1965) is an American jazz singer from

South Orange South Orange, officially the Township of South Orange Village, is a suburban township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village's population was 16,198, reflecting a decline of 766 (4.5%) fro ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. Kent was nominated for a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

Award and was awarded the Chevalier de l'

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

(Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Minister of Culture in 2009. She is married to saxophonist, composer

Jim Tomlinson Jim Tomlinson is a British tenor saxophone, tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, flautist, producer, arranger and composer, born 9 September 1966, in Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, England. He is married to singer Stacey Kent. Early life Tomlins ...

, who produces Kent's albums and writes songs for her with his lyricist partner, novelist

Kazuo Ishiguro Sir Kazuo Ishiguro ( ; born 8 November 1954) is a British novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Britain in 1960 with his parents when he was five. He is one of the most cr ...

Early life and education

Kent was born in

, New Jersey. Her paternal grandfather was Russian and grew up in France. After graduating from

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

, she traveled to England to study music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where she met saxophonist Jim Tomlinson, whom she married on August 9, 1991.

Career

Kent began her professional career in the 1990s, singing at Café Bohème in London's

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

. After two or three years, she began opening for established acts at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. In 1995, she appeared in

Richard Loncraine Richard Loncraine (born 20 October 1946) is a British film and television director. Loncraine was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Loncraine received early training in the features department of the BBC, including a season directing items ...

's film ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

'' (starring

Ian McKellen Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...

), singing "Come Live with Me and Be My Love" (composed by Trevor Jones) at the Grand Ball celebrating the Yorkist triumph in the Wars of the Roses. Her first album, '' Close Your Eyes'', was released in 1997. Novelist

wrote the liner notes to Kent's 2003 album, ''In Love Again''. Ishiguro met Kent after he chose her recording of "

They Can't Take That Away from Me "They Can't Take That Away from Me" is a 1937 popular song with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1937 film ''Shall We Dance'' and gained huge success. Overview The song is performed b ...

" as one of his '' Desert Island Discs'' in 2002. In 2006, Tomlinson and Ishiguro began to write songs for her. Ishiguro has said of his lyric writing that "with an intimate, confiding, first-person song, the meaning must not be self-sufficient on the page. It has to be oblique, sometimes you have to read between the lines" and that this realization has had an "enormous influence" on his fiction writing. Tomlinson and Ishiguro co-wrote four songs on the album ''

Breakfast on the Morning Tram ''Breakfast on the Morning Tram'' is an album by American jazz singer Stacey Kent that was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2009. It was her first album for Blue Note Records. The first of their songs, "The Ice Hotel", won first prize in the International Songwriting Competition in April 2008. Kent recorded several more Tomlinson/Ishiguro songs on ''

Dreamer In Concert ''Dreamer In Concert'' is a 2011 live album by Stacey Kent. This was Kent's first live album, and was recorded at the La Cigale theatre in Paris. Reception John Fordham writing in ''The Guardian'' gave the album three stars out of five and co ...

'', ''

The Changing Lights ''The Changing Lights'' is a 2013 album by Stacey Kent. Track listing # " This Happy Madness" (Antônio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Gene Lees) - 5:37 # "The Summer We Crossed Europe In The Rain" (Kazuo Ishiguro, Jim Tomlinson) - 5:31 # "O ...

'', and '' I Know I Dream: The Orchestral Sessions''. Tomlinson and Ishiguro subsequently wrote songs for her albums ''Dreamer'', ''The Changing Lights'' and ''I Know I Dream,'' and continue to write for her.

Popular success

Kent's album ''The Boy Next Door'' achieved

Gold album Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

status in France in September 2006. ''Breakfast on the Morning Tram'' (2007) achieved Platinum album status in France in November 2007 and Double Gold status in Germany in February 2008. '' Raconte-moi...'' was recorded in French and achieved Gold status in both France and Germany and became the second best selling French-language album worldwide in 2010. ''

'' (2011) was recorded in May, 2011 at

La Cigale La Cigale (; English: ''The Cicada'') is a theatre located at 120, boulevard de Rochechouart near Place Pigalle, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. The theatre is part of a complex connected to the Le Trabendo concert venue and the Boule Noir ...

in Paris. It includes three songs previously unrecorded by Kent: "

Waters of March "Waters of March" ( pt, "Águas de março" ) is a Brazilian song composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim (1927–1994) in 1972. Jobim wrote both the Portuguese and English lyrics. The lyrics, originally written in Portuguese, do not tell a story, but r ...

" by Antonio Carlos Jobim, "Postcard Lovers" by Jim Tomlinson with lyrics by

, and "O Comboio" by Portuguese poet António Ladeira. In 2013, Kent released ''

'', a Brazilian-tinged album, covering bossa nova classics such as Jobim's "

How Insensitive "How Insensitive" is a bossa nova and jazz standard song composed by Brazilian musician Antônio Carlos Jobim. The lyrics were written in Portuguese by Vinícius de Moraes and in English by Norman Gimbel. Jobim recorded the song in 1994 with Stin ...

" and again collaborating with Tomlinson and Ishiguro. In 2014, she left

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

and signed with

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

. Sony released ''

Tenderly "Tenderly" is a popular song published in 1946 with music by Walter Gross and lyrics by Jack Lawrence. Written in the key of E as a waltz in time, it has since been performed in 4/4 and has become a popular jazz standard. Notable versions have ...

'', an album of standards with Roberto Menescal, one of the founders of bossa nova. She met Menescal in Brazil in 2011 at the 80th birthday celebration of the '' Christ the Redeemer'' statue. They discovered they were fans of each other's work and collaborated on an album of standards inspired by Menescal's admiration for the duo of

Julie London Julie London (née Peck; September 26, 1926 – October 18, 2000) was an American singer and actress whose career spanned more than 40 years. A torch singer noted for her sultry, languid contralto vocals, London recorded over thirty albums ...

and

Barney Kessel Barney Kessel (October 17, 1923 – May 6, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist born in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups a ...

. In 2014, Marcos Valle invited her to tour in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his career. They recorded the album ''Ao Vivo'' and a DVD that was recorded live at the Birdland club in New York City and the Blue Note in Tokyo. In 2017, Kent recorded her next album for Sony, '' I Know I Dream: The Orchestral Sessions'', her first album with an orchestra, comprising 58 musicians with arrangements by Tommy Laurence, with music from the Great American Songbook, French chansons, songs by Edu Lobo, Jobim, Tomlinson, Ishiguro, Ladeira and his songwriting partner, Cliff Goldmacher from Nashville. Tomlinson and Goldmacher wrote the title song. In 2020, Kent released a series of singles and EPs, including "Christmas in the Rockies", "Three Little Birds", "Lovely Day", "Landslide", "I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again", "Bonita" and "Craigie Burn" as a duet with her longtime pianist Art Hirahara. Several of these singles become part of an album released in October 2021, "Songs From Other Places", for which Kent won Best Vocal Performance at the Jazz Music Awards in Atlanta, Georgia in October 2022. Kent has sold more than 2 million albums worldwide and over 400 million streams.

Awards and honors

* British Jazz Award, 2001 * BBC Jazz Award, Best Vocalist, 2002 * Backstage Bistro Award, 2004 * BBC Jazz Award, Album of the Year, '' The Lyric'', 2006 * Grammy Award nomination, Best Vocal Jazz Album, ''

, 2009 * Jazz Japan Award for 'Best Vocal Album',

I Know I Dream I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. ...

, 2018 * Winner of 'Best Vocal Performance' at the

Jazz Music Awards Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major f ...

for

Songs From Other Places A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at melody, distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various song form, forms, such as those includ ...

, 2022 * Winner of 'Prix Ella Fitzgerald' at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, 2023

Discography

* ''Stacey Kent Sings'' (July 1995, possible demo recording) * '' Close Your Eyes'' (Candid, 1997) * '' Love Is...The Tender Trap'' (Candid, 1998) * '' Let Yourself Go: Celebrating Fred Astaire'' (Candid, 1999) * ''

Dreamsville ''Dreamsville'' is a studio album by jazz singer Stacey Kent. It was released in 2001 by Candid Records. This was Kent's fourth studio album, it was produced by Alan Bates and features her husband, tenor saxophonist Jim Tomlinson. Reception D ...

'' (Candid, 2000) * '' In Love Again: The Music of Richard Rodgers'' (Candid, 2002) * '' The Boy Next Door'' (Candid, 2003) * '' The Lyric'', Stacey Kent with Jim Tomlinson (Token, 2006) * ''

'' (EMI/Blue Note, 2011) * ''

'' (EMI/Blue Note/Warner, 2013) * ''Tenderly'' (Sony/Okeh, 2015) * ''I Know I Dream: The Orchestral Sessions'' (Sony/Okeh, 2017) * ''Christmas in the Rockies'' (Candid/Token, 2020) ''2020)'' * ''Songs from Other Places'' (Candid/Token, 2021),

Singles

* ''Three Little Birds'' (Single, Exceleration/Token 2020) * ''Lovely Day'' (Single, Exceleration/Token 2021) * ''I Wish I Could Go Travelling Again'' (Single, from "Songs From Other Places" series. Exceleration/Token 2021) * ''Landslide'' (Single, from "Songs From Other Places" series. Exceleration/Token 2021) * ''Bonita'' (Single, from "Songs From Other Places" series. Exceleration/Token 2021) * ''Craigie Burn'' (Single, from "Songs From Other Places" series. Exceleration/Token 2021) * ''

American Tune "American Tune" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Paul Simon. It was the third single from his third studio album, ''There Goes Rhymin' Simon'' (1973), released on Columbia Records. The song, a meditation on the American experience, ...

'' (Single, from "Songs From Other Places" series. Exceleration/Token 2021)

As featured vocalist

* ''Eau Calme'' with enzo enzo (2020) - 1 song * ''Frenchy'' with

Thomas Dutronc Thomas Dutronc (born 16 June 1973 in Paris) is a French singer and jazz manouche guitarist. His mother is the singer, songwriter, guitarist Françoise Hardy; his father the singer, songwriter, guitarist, and film actor Jacques Dutronc. Career On ...

(Sony, 2019) - 1 song * ''Danilo Caymmi Canta Jobim'' with Danilo Caymmi (Sony, 2013) - 1 song * ''Ao Vivo'' DVD with Marcos Valle (Sony, 2015) - full DVD * ''Ao Vivo'' with Marcos Valle (Sony, 2013) - full album * ''Brazil'' with

Quatuor Ébène In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations ...

, Bernard Lavilliers (Erato/Warner, 2014) - 6 songs * ''Fiction'' with

, (Erato/Warner, 2012) - 1 song

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kent, Stacey 1965 births Living people Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama American expatriates in the United Kingdom American women jazz singers American jazz singers American people of Russian descent American radio personalities BBC Radio 3 presenters Blue Note Records artists Candid Records artists Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Singers from New York (state) People from South Orange, New Jersey Newark Academy alumni Sarah Lawrence College alumni American women radio hosts 21st-century American women Okeh Records artists