Singer Marlena Shaw dies at 81; had hits with ‘California Soul,’ ‘Woman of the Ghetto’

Related Press

Marlena Shaw, the jazz and R&B vocalist whose “California Soul” was once one of the crucial defining soul songs of the past due Nineteen Sixties, has died. She was once 81.

Shaw’s daughter, Marla Bradshaw, introduced the singer’s loss of life Friday in a video posted on Fb. A explanation for loss of life was once no longer given.

“It’s with a very heavy heart for myself and my family I announce that our beloved mother, your beloved icon and artist Marlena Shaw has passed away today at 12:03,” Bradshaw mentioned within the video. “She went very peacefully, and she went listening to some of her favorite songs.”

Shaw, a charismatic and wide-ranging vocalist, was once best possible recognized for 1969’s “California Soul,” which has persevered as a broadly customery and steadily sampled track. Gang Starr, Stereo MC and Diplo (who remixed it) are only a handful of the artists who’ve sampled it.

“California Soul” was once written via Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the Motown songwriting duo at the back of hits like “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.” Ashford first immune his personal model of the track in 1968, however Shaw recorded her rendition on her 1969 booklet “The Spice of Life.”

The fifth Range and Marvin Gaye additionally recorded “California Soul,” but Shaw’s model turned into the usual. It was once one among two hits that got here from “The Spice of Life.” The alternative was once “Woman of the Ghetto,” which Shaw co-authored and which likewise has been broadly sampled.

Born Marlina Burgess in Unused Rochelle, Unused York, on Sept. 22, 1942, Shaw carried out in jazz golf equipment prior to signing with Chess Data within the past due ‘60s. She released her first two albums on Chess’ Cadet label prior to escape for Blue Observe in 1972.