Spencer Day (born June 28, 1978) is a modern jazz singer and songwriter best known for his hit Jazz single "Till You Come to Me" as well as appearing on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

television network show ''

Star Search ''Star Search'' was an American television show that was produced by T.P.E./ Rysher Entertainment from 1983 to 1995, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Al Masini. A relaunch was produced by 2929 Productions from 2003 to 2004. On both versio ...

'' in 2002–2003. He has released six studio albums to date. His latest album ''Broadway By Day'', funded through a PayPal crowdfunding campaign and originally set for a late 2019 release, will be released in Fall 2021.

Early life

Spencer Day was born on June 28, 1978, in a small town in Utah. Growing up, Day said, his mother wanted to get him involved in singing, but he was not interested. Following his parents' separation, he lived with his grandparents in Arizona. After working at a gas station, he moved to California. When he was 20, his roommate heard him singing in the shower and suggested he take lessons. Day took the advice, and he began studying piano seriously. Mostly self-taught, Day sang and played piano at bars and retirement homes, typically playing jazz standards.

Career

''Star Search'', debut album, and ''Movie of Your Life''

In 2002, he auditioned and was selected to compete on the

television network show ''

''. Day soon made it to the semi-finals against singers Ugochi Nwaogwugwu and Nikki Kimbrough for the Adult Singer category, eventually moving onto the finals against Adult Singer

Jake Simpson Jacob David Simpson (born 27 October 1990) is a former English footballer who played for Shrewsbury Town in the Football League. Having played in the youth teams for Blackburn Rovers, he moved to Shrewsbury Town, where his father Paul was manage ...

, Junior Singers

Tiffany Evans Tiffany Evans (born August 4, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Evans rose to fame in 2003 as a contestant on ''Star Search'' (hosted by Arsenio Hall), she became the first contestant in ''Star Search'' history to earn a perfe ...

and Lisa Tucker, Comedians

Loni Love Loni Love (born July 14, 1971) is an American comedian, television host, actress, author, and former electrical engineer. While working as an electrical engineer in the early 2000s, she switched to music engineering, until later launching a caree ...

and John Roy, and Models Porschla Coleman and Candace Campfield. Following the show, his cover of "What a Wonderful World" was released as a single alongside

's "There's a Winner in You." In 2004, he released his debut album ''Introducing Spencer Day'', which featured his love of jazz standards. His second album ''Movie of Your Life'' the following year featured his own songs and the title track won San Francisco

Academy of Art University The Academy of Art University (AAU or ART U), formerly Academy of Art College and Richard Stephens Academy of Art, is a private for-profit art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded as the Academy of Advertising Art by Richard S. S ...

's 2005 competition for best original song.

Dolby Laboratories Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in Noise reduction#In audio, audio noise reduction, Audio data compression, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and ...

chose the video version of the song for use in its global launch of the

Dolby Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (often shortened to Dolby Labs and known simply as Dolby) is an American company specializing in audio noise reduction, audio encoding/compression, spatial audio, and HDR imaging. Dolby licenses its technologies to ...

7.1 system.''Frontiers in L.A.''
Larry Dean Harris, "Spencer Day: The Boy Next Door Packs up his Piano and Hits the Road"
p. 30, September 7–20, 2009, accessed January 3, 2011 The same year, he collaborated with improvisation actor Rafe Chase on a 20-song musical revue, ''Someday, Love'', which premiered at San Francisco's

New Conservatory Theatre Center The New Conservatory Theatre Center is a not-for-profit theatre company located in San Francisco, California. NCTC showcases an eight-show Pride Season, an In-Concert/Cabaret Series, Family Theatre performances, ''YouthAware'' Touring Educational ...

. In addition to writing the score, Day also starred in the show. Day performed at the 2007

San Francisco Jazz Festival San Francisco Jazz Festival is an annual three-week music festival produced by SFJAZZ, a non-profit organization dedicated to jazz and jazz education. Notable performers 1995 Jack DeJohnette, Keith Jarrett, Christian McBride, Charles McPherson, ...

, and has been a recurring headliner in a number of high-profile Bay Area clubs, including

Yoshi's Yoshi's (also known as Yoshi's Jazz Club and Yoshi's Oakland) is a nightclub located in Jack London Square in Oakland, California, United States. The venue originally opened in 1972 as a restaurant in Berkeley, later moving to Claremont Avenue i ...

, Plush Room,

Great American Music Hall The Great American Music Hall is a concert hall in San Francisco, California. It is located on O'Farrell Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood on the same block as the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre. It is known for its decorative balconies ...

and the

Herbst Theatre The Herbst Theatre is an auditorium in the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in the Civic Center, San Francisco. The 928-seat hall hosts programs as diverse as ''City Arts & Lectures'', SF Jazz, and San Francisco Performances. Architectu ...

. On the opposite coast, he has earned raves for performances at the

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

Joe's Pub Joe's Pub, one of the six performance spaces within The Public Theater, is a music venue and restaurant that hosts live performances across genres and arts, ranging from cabaret to modern dance to world music. It is located at 425 Lafayette St ...

and the Canal Room in New York City, and 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 ...

in Washington, DC. He has also appeared at both the

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jaz ...

and the

Tanglewood Jazz Festival The Tanglewood Jazz Festival, was a summer music festival, featuring contemporary jazz artists. In 2012, the event was cancelled. It was held every year on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Labor Day weekend, in Lenox, Massachusetts. The festival wa ...

. In March 2008, Day opened for

Rufus Wainwright Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded 10 studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set ...

at the Napa Valley Opera House. He appeared at the

in the summer of 2008. Of Day's Tanglewood performance of

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Op ...

's "Born to be Blue" with

Marian McPartland Margaret Marian McPartland OBE ( Turner;Hasson, Claire"Marian McPartland: Jazz Pianist: An Overview of a Career" PhD Thesis. Retrieved 12 August 2008. 20 March 1918 – 20 August 2013), was an English–American jazz pianist, composer, and wri ...

on piano, NPR's David Lyon said he "can croon with the best of them." The ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...

'' described Day in 2010 as "a prodigious singing/songwriting and piano-plunking talent." ''

The Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...

'' said: "Day uses intuition and improvisation as his primary tools to craft a sound that is traditional and familiar, yet fresh and innovative at the same time, creating a blend too subtle to parse into neatly defined categories," and described him as "a balladeer for the new century".

''Vagabond'' and "Till You Come to Me"

Whereas his first two albums were largely self-distributed, Day's third album, ''Vagabond'' in 2009, was co-produced by Spencer and Ben Yonas for

Concord Jazz Concord Jazz is a record company and label founded in 1973 by Carl Jefferson, the former owner of Jefferson Motors Lincoln Mercury dealership in Concord, California. The label was named after the city in the East San Francisco Bay area, and the j ...

. The album peaked at #11 on ''Billboard'''s Jazz Albums Chart and stayed in the charts for 47 weeks. It featured his single "Till You Come to Me" which he performed on ''

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson ''The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Scottish actor and comedian Craig Ferguson. This was the third iteration of the ''Late Late Show'' franchise, airing from January 3, 2005, to December 19, ...

'' on September 8, 2009. The single ending up peaking at #3 on its Jazz Charts on May 1, 2010. The Smooth Jazz Top 20 Countdown ranked "Til You Come to Me" the #1 cut for 2010, the first time a vocalist earned that honor. The song was broadcast often on Easy Listening stations such as New York City's 106.7 Lite FM (

WLTW WLTW (106.7 FM) is an adult contemporary radio station licensed to New York City and serving the New York metropolitan area. WLTW is owned by iHeartMedia and broadcasts from studios in the former AT&T Building in the Tribeca neighborhood of ...

). His "Vagabond" tour took him from coast to coast with a few performances in England and Japan. The song "Joe" on the album is semi-autobiographical and reflects his growing up.

''The Mystery of You'', ''Daybreak'' to present

Following the success of his third album, Day spent some time reflecting and soon was ready to release a new album in 2013. His fourth album ''The Mystery of You'' was released on March 12, 2013 on

Concord Records Concord Records is an American record label owned by Concord and based in Los Angeles, California. Concord Records was launched in 1995 as an imprint designed to reach beyond the company's foundational Concord Jazz label. The label's artists have ...

. Featuring newer influences that ranged from smoky noir to Latin jazz to surf guitar to Middle Eastern and Asian melodies, the album marked a growth in Day's career. The following year, he released his fifth studio album ''Daybreak''. In 2015, he started an Indiegogo campaign for his sixth studio album ''Angel City'', which successfully met its goal in December. Since then, he performed and completed the album, which was released in 2018. The set's first single "72 and Sunny" garnered critical praise and peaked at number 27 on ''Billboard''s Adult Contemporary chart. He is currently working on rolling out his latest album, ''Broadway By Day'', featuring "the unlikely friendship between jazz and musical theatre." The album is set for a Fall 2021 release.

Influences

He grew up listening to a wide cross-section of composers, including

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. Born to ...

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

. And the classic

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

musicals in the local theater – the only options available in his hometown – eventually left their mark on his creative sensibilities. His track "The Answer" pays homage to

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...

, a longtime favorite of Day. Responding to an interviewer's request to describe his musical influences and styles, he said: "

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

meets

Personal life

In a March 2010 interview, Day discussed how he came out as gay to his family and how

and

k.d. lang Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop (music), pop and country music, country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical perfor ...

have helped to minimize the impact of his coming out on his career and avoid having his music labeled with his sexuality: "What I do, the causes I'm behind, that's what's important. Who I am, unless it is particularly relevant, has no place in my music." In May 2010, Day discussed his homosexuality and said: "I wanted to stand and be counted....I was born in Utah and I grew up

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

and I want to be part of building a bridge between the LGBT community and the Mormon community."

Activism

Day's charitable activities have included performances on behalf of Catholic Charities' support for HIV/AIDS, the Horizons Foundation, a community-based LGBT philanthropic organization, the children's health charity ONEXONE, and the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGB ...

's Salt Lake City fund-raising dinner. On June 30, 2010, Day rang

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

's closing bell in recognition of his donation of earnings from downloads of his single "Better Way" to

Feeding America Feeding America is a United States–based nonprofit organization that is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies. ...

.NASDAQ
"Recording Artist Spencer Day to Ring NASDAQ Stock Market Closing Bell"
June 29, 2010, accessed January 3, 2011

Discography

Albums

*''Introducing Spencer Day'' (2004) *''Movie of Your Life'' (2005) *''Vagabond'' (2009) – #11 Jazz Albums *''The Mystery of You'' (2013) – #13 Jazz Albums, #39 Heatseekers *''Daybreak'' (2014) – #20 Jazz Albums *''Angel City'' (2018)

EPs

*''If Christmas Doesn't Kill Me'' (2012)

Singles

*"What a Wonderful World" (2003) *"Till You Come to Me" (2009) *"Something Wicked" (2013) *"Christmas with You" (featuring The Joel Evans Big Band) (2014) *"72 and Sunny" (2017)

References

External links

Official Web Site

Jazz Session, Tanglewood interview audio, September 12, 2008

Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz, May 8, 2009, originally recorded August 30, 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Spencer 1978 births Living people American male singer-songwriters American gay musicians LGBT people from Utah 21st-century American singers 21st-century American male singers 20th-century American LGBT people 21st-century American LGBT people