René Marie (born René Marie Stevens, November 7, 1955 in Warrenton, Virginia, United States) is an American songwriter and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

vocalist.

Career

Rene Marie began her professional music career at age 42 performing under her married name René Croan; she released her first album using this name in 1999. That year she performed at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C., and signed a contract with the

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

-based Maxjazz label. She released four albums on the label, the second of which (''Vertigo'') was awarded a coronet ranking by ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'', a distinction given to fewer than 85 recordings in jazz history. In her work, the singer often combines contrasting songs ("Dixie" and the anti-lynching "Strange Fruit" on ''Vertigo'') or combines other works (

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

's ''

Boléro ''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. It is one of Ravel's most famous compositions. It was also one of his last completed works before illness diminished his ability to write music. Composition T ...

'' and

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

's " Suzanne" on ''Live at Jazz Standard''.) René Marie attracted controversy in 2008, when she was invited to sing "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort ...

" at a civic event in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, and substituted the song's lyrics with those from "

Lift Every Voice and Sing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is a hymn with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) and set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954). Written from the context of African Americans in the late 19th century, the hymn is a pr ...

." This arrangement of the national anthem forms part of the titular suite of Marie's 2011 CD, ''The Voice of My Beautiful Country'' ( Motéma Music). She specializes in writing her own music, commenting that this is not the norm in jazz in one of her songs, "This for Joe," after a club manager got angry with her for singing originals. Her 2011 release, ''Black Lace Freudian Slip'' contains only three songs that she did not write, and one of those was written by her son,

Michael A. Croan Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

, who performs on the track with her. She released a number of singles in 2007–2009 focused on homeless issues, "This Is Not a Protest Song", and the racial problems in

Jena, Louisiana Jena () is a town in, and the parish seat of, La Salle Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,155 at the 2020 census. History The site where Jena stands today began to attract settlers in 1802. The Hemphills family entered a c ...

, "3 Nooses Hanging". Besides her purely musical works, she has also written, produced and performed a one-woman show of words and music, ''Slut Energy Theory – U'Dean,'' in which she explores the journey from sexual abuse to self-esteem. More recent productions of the show have shortened the title to "Slut Energy Theory." The soundtrack to this show has been released. A short (approximately 13-minute) documentary, "Tuning René Marie" was directed by Rachel Kessler and produced by Polina Buchak, a Ukrainian film producer currently based in NY. It premiered at the

Woodstock Film Festival The Woodstock Film Festival is an American film festival launched in 2000 by filmmakers Meira Blaustein and Laurent Rejto in the Hudson Valley region of New York. The festival takes place each fall in the towns of Woodstock, Rosendale and Saug ...

in New York. It won the programmer's award for the best short documentary at the

Virginia Film Festival The Virginia Film Festival is a program of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The film festival is held annually during 4 days, usually in late October or early November. History Created in October 1988, the Virginia Festival of Am ...

Personal life

René Marie married at age 18, and was a mother of two children by age 23. When her husband issued an ultimatum after 23 years of marriage for her to stop singing or leave, she chose music over her turbulent marriage.

Discography

* ''Renaissance'' (Flat 5, 1999, as René Croan) * ''How Can I Keep from Singing?'' (Maxjazz, 2000) * ''Vertigo'' (Maxjazz, 2001) * ''Live at the Jazz Standard'' (Maxjazz, 2003) * ''Serene Renegade'' (Maxjazz, 2004) * ''Experiment in Truth'' (2007) * ''Black Lace Freudian Slip'' (Motema, 2011) * ''Voice of My Beautiful Country'' (Motema, 2011) * ''I Wanna Be Evil: With Love to Eartha Kitt'' (Motema, 2013) * ''

Sound of Red ''Sound of Red'' is an album by René Marie. It earned Marie a Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstand ...

'' (Motema, 2016) *

Darius de Haas, Rene Marie, Karen Oberlin, Janis Siegel Darius may refer to: Persian royalty ;Kings of the Achaemenid Empire * Darius I (the Great, 550 to 487 BC) * Darius II (423 to 404 BC) * Darius III (Codomannus, 380 to 330 BC) ;Crown princes * Darius (son of Xerxes I), crown prince of Persia, ma ...

, ''Ice on the Hudson: Songs by Renee Rosnes and David Hajdu'' (SMK, 2018)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marie, Rene 1955 births Living people American jazz singers African-American women singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters People from Warrenton, Virginia Singer-songwriters from Virginia Jazz musicians from Virginia Motéma Music artists 21st-century African-American women singers 21st-century American women singers 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers