More Info on Bobby McFerrinSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
For|the album|Bobby McFerrin (album)Use mdy dates|date=July 2011lead too short|date=December 2010Infobox musical artist| name = Bobby McFerrin| image = Bobby McFerrin 2011.jpg| caption = Bobby McFerrin in March 2011| image_size =| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Robert McFerrin, Jr| alias =| Born = Birth date and age|mf=yes|1950|3|11|f=y Manhattan , New York| origin =| instrument = Vocals, piano, bass guitar, clarinet | genre = Jazz , Reggae , World Music , Classical Music| occupation = Musician Songwriter musical conductor|Conductor Arrangement|Arranger Producer| years_active = 1977–present| label = Manhattan Records Blue Note Records Elektra Records Sony Classical | associated_acts = Chick Corea Herbie Hancock | website = http://www.bobbymcferrin.com Robert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is a virtuoso American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song " Don't Worry, Be Happy ". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner. He is well known for his unique vocal techniques and singing styles.
Life
Bobby McFerrin was born in Manhattan , New York City, the son of operatic baritone Robert McFerrin and singer Sara Copper. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6684999_ITM Accessmylibrary.com. Accessmylibrary.com. Retrieved on July 1, 2011. Robert Sr. was the first African American to be a regular with New York's Metropolitan Opera . Sara is a former soloist with regional opera companies and in Broadway shows, and is a professor emeritus of music at Fullerton College in Fullerton, California .
Bobby McFerrin married Debbie Green in 1975. They have three children. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0568858/bio IMDB
McFerrin's song " Don't Worry, Be Happy " was a No. 1 U.S. pop hit in 1988 and won Grammy Award for Song of the Year|Song of the Year and Grammy Award for Record of the Year|Record of the Year honors. McFerrin has also worked in collaboration with instrumental performers, including pianists Chick Corea , Herbie Hancock , and Joe Zawinul , drummer Tony Williams (drummer)|Tony Williams , and cellist Yo-Yo Ma .
Vocal technique
As a vocalist, McFerrin often switches rapidly between modal and falsetto registers to create polyphonic effects, performing both the main melody and the accompanying parts of songs. He makes use of percussive effects created both with his mouth and by tapping on his chest. McFerrin is also capable of Overtone singing|multiphonic singing , as observed in his song "Drive" from the 2005 DVD Live in Montreal .cite video |people = Bobby McFerrin (performer) |date = 2 July 2005 |title = Bobby McFerrin - Drive (Live from Montreal) |url = http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=codmxk7uLv8 |medium = YouTube
A notable document of McFerrin's approach to singing is his 1984 album The Voice (Bobby McFerrin album)|The Voice , the first solo vocal jazz album recorded with no accompaniment or overdubbing .Allmusic|class=album|id=r143475|pure_url=yes Allmusic.com
Career
In 1986, McFerrin was the voice of Santa Bear in "Santa Bear's First Christmas," and in 1987 he was the voice of Santa Bear/Bully Bear in the sequel "Santa Bear's High Flying Adventure." That same year, he performed the theme song for the opening credits of Season 4 of The Cosby Show , as well as the music for a Cadbury chocolate commercial.Citation needed|date=April 2011 In 1988, McFerrin recorded the hit song " Don't Worry, Be Happy ", which brought him widespread recognition across the world. However, the song's success "ended McFerrin's musical life as he had known it," and he began to pursue other musical possibilities – on stage and in recording studios. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php? storyId=125725036& sc=fb& cc=fp Bobby McFerrin's Improv-Inspired 'Vocabularies'. Npr.org. Retrieved on July 1, 2011. The song was used in George H. W. Bush 's U.S. presidential election, 1988|1988 U.S. presidential election as Bush's 1988 official presidential campaign song, without Bobby McFerrin's permission or endorsement. In reaction, Bobby McFerrin publicly protested that particular use of his song, including stating that he was going to vote against Bush, and completely dropped the song from his own performance repertoire, to make the point even clearer.Citation needed|date=April 2011 In 1989, he composed and performed the music for the Pixar short film Knick Knack . The rough cut to which McFerrin recorded his vocals had the words "blah blah blah" in place of the end credits (meant to indicate that he should improvise ). McFerrin spontaneously decided to sing "blah blah blah" as lyrics, and the final version of the short film includes these lyrics during the end credits. Also in 1989, he formed a ten-person "Voicestra" which he featured on both his 1990 album Medicine Music and in the score to the 1989 Oscar-winning documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt . The song "Common Threads" has frequently reappeared in some public service advertisements for AIDS. McFerrin also performed with the Vocal Summit .Citation needed|date=April 2011 As early as 1992, widespread rumors circulated that falsely claimed McFerrin committed suicide. The rumors intentionally made fun of the distinctly positive nature of his popular song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by claiming McFerrin ironically took his own life. http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/mcferrin.asp "Don't Worry, Be Dead". Snopes.com. Retrieved on July 1, 2011.
In 1993 McFerrin sang Henry Mancini 's "Pink Panther" theme for the movie Son of the Pink Panther .
In addition to his vocal performing career, in 1994 Mr. McFerrin was appointed as creative chair of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra . He makes regular tours as a guest conductor for symphony orchestras throughout the United States and Canada, including the San Francisco Symphony (on his 40th birthday), the New York Philharmonic , the Chicago Symphony Orchestra , the Cleveland Orchestra , the Philadelphia Orchestra , the Los Angeles Philharmonic , the London Philharmonic Orchestra|London Philharmonic , the Vienna Philharmonic and many others. In McFerrin's concert appearances, he combines serious conducting of classical pieces with his own unique vocal improvisations, often with participation from the audience and the orchestra. For example, the concerts often end with McFerrin conducting the orchestra in an a cappella rendition of the " William Tell Overture ," in which the orchestra members sing their musical parts in McFerrin's vocal style instead of playing their parts on their instruments. For a few years in the late 1990s, he toured a concert version of Porgy and Bess , partly in honor of his father, who sang the role for Sidney Poitier in the 1959 Porgy and Bess (film)|film version , and partly "to preserve the score's jazziness" in the face of "largely white orchestras" who tend not "to play around the bar lines, to stretch and bend". McFerrin says that because of his father's work in the movie, "This music has been in my body for 40 years, probably longer than any other music."Cori Ellison, "'Porgy' and Music's Racial Politics", December 13, 1998, The New York Times ; available online here http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/13/arts/music-porgy-and-music-s-racial-politics.html, accessed July 15, 2010.
McFerrin also participates in various music education programs and makes volunteer appearances as a guest music teacher and lecturer at public schools throughout the U.S. McFerrin has collaborated with his son, Taylor, on various musical ventures. Taylor has recently been singing, rapping, and playing minimal keyboard accompaniment with Vernon Reid (leader-guitarist of Living Colour ) in the eclectic metal-fusion-funk group Yohimbe Brothers.Citation needed|date=April 2011 In 2009, McFerrin and musician-scientist Daniel Levitin served as co-hosts of "The Music Instinct", a 2 hour award-winning documentary produced by PBS and based on Levitin's best-selling book This Is Your Brain On Music . Later that year, the two appeared together on a panel at the World Science Festival where McFerrin demonstrated audience participation with the ubiquitous nature of human understanding of the pentatonic scale by singing and dancing, and having the audience sing while following his movements. http://vimeo.com/5732745 Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event "Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus", from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009., accessed April 11, 2010
In October 2010, Bobby McFerrin appeared on National Public Radio|NPR 's news quiz show '' Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me . http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html? action=1& t=1& islist=false& id=130920798& m=130921009 NPR Media Player. Npr.org. Retrieved on July 1, 2011.
In February 2011, Bruce Hornsby noted that McFerrin is in the process of organizing a super-group to debut in 2012.cite web|last=Hornsby|first=Bruce|title=Facebook Chat|url=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? story_fbid=500166052983& id=9390219
http://www.girbakalim.net/bobby-mcferrin-istanbul-konseri.html McFerrin Istanbul Concert (2012)
Grammy Award for Song of the Year 1980sGrammy Award for Record of the Year 1980s
Persondata|NAME= McFerrin, Bobby |ALTERNATIVE NAMES=McFerrin, Robert, Jr. |SHORT DESCRIPTION=Singer-songwriter, musician, musical conductor|conductor , producer |DATE OF BIRTH=March 11, 1950 |PLACE OF BIRTH=New York |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH=
Chick Corea DEFAULTSORT:Macferrin, Bobby Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:African American musicians Category:American conductors (music) Category:American jazz singers Category:California State University, Sacramento alumni Category:Musicians from New York City Category:Grammy Award winners
