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Bobby McFerrin

Article Discussion

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist

Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. (born March 11, 1950)<ref name="LarkinGE">Template:Cite book</ref> is an American singer, songwriter, and conductor. His vocal techniques include singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in pitch—for example, sustaining a melody while also rapidly alternating with arpeggios and harmonies—as well as scat singing, polyphonic overtone singing, and improvisational vocal percussion. He performs and records regularly as an unaccompanied solo vocal artist. He has frequently collaborated with other artists from both the jazz and classical scenes.<ref name="AllMusic">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

McFerrin's song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" is the only acapella track to ever reach No. 1 in the US, which it reached in 1988 and additionally won Song of the Year and Record of the Year honors at the 1989 Grammy Awards.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> McFerrin has also worked in collaboration with jazz fusion instrumentalists including pianists Chick Corea (of Return to Forever), Herbie Hancock (of The Headhunters), and Joe Zawinul (of Weather Report), drummer Tony Williams, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.<ref name="AllMusic" />

Early life and educationEdit

McFerrin was born in Manhattan, New York City in 1950, the son of operatic baritone Robert McFerrin, who was the first Black man to sing at America's flagship opera company – the Metropolitan Opera, and singer Sara Copper (1924-2019). He attended Cathedral High School in Los Angeles,<ref name="mercurynews.com">Template:Cite news</ref> Cerritos College,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> University of Illinois Springfield (then known as Sangamon State University)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and California State University, Sacramento.<ref name="mercurynews.com"/>

His mother Sara (Copper) McFerrin was a soloist and taught voice at Fullerton College in Southern California.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

CareerEdit

File:Bobby McFerrin, 1982 - 32.jpg
McFerrin, 1982

McFerrin's first recorded work, the self-titled album Bobby McFerrin, was not produced until 1982, when he was 31 years old. Before that, he had spent six years developing his musical style, the first two years of which he attempted not to listen to other singers at all, in order to avoid sounding like they sounded. He was influenced by Keith Jarrett, who had achieved great success with a series of solo improvised piano concerts including The Köln Concert of 1975, and wanted to attempt something similar vocally.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1984, McFerrin performed at the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles as a sixth member of Herbie Hancock's VSOP II, sharing horn trio parts with the Marsalis brothers.

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. On September 24 of that same year, he recorded the theme song for the opening credits of Season 4 of The Cosby Show.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1988, McFerrin recorded the song "Don't Worry, Be Happy", which became a hit and brought him widespread recognition across the world. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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.<ref name=npr>Template:Cite news</ref> The song was used as the official campaign song for George H. W. Bush in the 1988 U.S. presidential election, without McFerrin's permission or endorsement. In reaction, McFerrin publicly protested the use of his song, and said that he was going to vote against Bush. He also dropped the song from his own performance repertoire.<ref name="Carl Anthony Online">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1989, McFerrin composed and performed the music for the Pixar short film Knick Knack. The rough cut to which he recorded his vocals had the words "blah blah blah" in place of the end credits (meant to indicate that he should improvise). He 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.

Around 1992, an urban legend began that McFerrin had committed suicide; it has been suggested that the false story spread because people enjoyed the irony of a man known for the positive message of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" suffering from depression in real life.<ref name="Snopes">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1993, he sang Henry Mancini's "Pink Panther Theme" for the 1993 comedy film Son of the Pink Panther.

File:Bobby McFerrin 1994.jpg
McFerrin in 1994

In addition to his vocal performing career, in 1994, 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 Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and many others.<ref name="datebook">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In McFerrin's concert appearances, he combines serious conducting of classical pieces with his own 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, McFerrin toured a concert version of Porgy and Bess. He said that his production was partly in honor of his father, who sang the role for Sidney Poitier in the 1959 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".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea.jpg
McFerrin performing with Chick Corea at the 2008 edition of the New Orleans Jazz Festival.

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. He has collaborated with his son, Taylor, on various musical ventures.Template:Fact

File:Bobby McFerrin 2011.jpg
McFerrin participating at a TED conference in March 2011.

In July 2003, McFerrin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music during the Umbria Jazz Festival where he conducted two days of clinics.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2009, McFerrin and psychologist Daniel Levitin hosted The Music Instinct, a two-hour 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.

McFerrin was given a lifetime achievement award at the A Cappella Music Awards on May 19, 2018.Template:Fact He received the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters award on August 20, 2020.Template:Fact

McFerrin was honored with the Grammy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022. This award is given to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

McFerrin is married to Debbie Green and has three children; musicians Taylor and Madison, and actor Jevon.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="datebook" />

In an interview with Daniel Levitin, McFerrin revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, prompting him to sell his home in rural Pennsylvania and move to San Francisco.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Vocal techniqueEdit

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. He is also capable of multiphonic singing.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

A document of McFerrin's approach to singing is his 1984 album The Voice, the first solo vocal jazz album recorded with no accompaniment or overdubbing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

DiscographyEdit

As leaderEdit

Studio albumsEdit

Year Album Peak chart positions Record label
US
<ref name="Awards">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation 		CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

US R&B
<ref name="Awards"/> 		US Jazz
<ref name="Awards"/> 		US Cont. Jazz
<ref name="Awards"/> 		AUS
<ref name="AUS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation 		CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

UK
<ref name="UK">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation 		CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

1982 Bobby McFerrin — — 41 — — — Elektra/Musician
1984 The Voice — — 24 — — —
1986 Spontaneous Inventions 103 62 6 2 — — Blue Note
1988 Simple Pleasures 5 12 — 1 26 92 EMI
1990 Medicine Music 146 — — 2 — —
1992 Play
(with Chick Corea) 		— — 3 — — — Blue Note
Hush
(with Yo-Yo Ma) 		— — — — — — Sony Masterworks
1995 Bang!Zoom — — — 10 — — Blue Note
Paper Music — — — — — — Sony Classical
1996 The Mozart Sessions
(with Chick Corea) 		— — — — — —
1997 Circlesongs — — — — — —
2002 Beyond Words — — — 5 — — Blue Note
2010 Vocabularies — — 2 — — — EmArcy
2013 Spirityouall — — — — — — Sony Masterworks
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

SinglesEdit

Year Song Peak chart positions Certifications
US Hot 100
<ref name="VF"/> 		US Adult
<ref name="VF">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation 		CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

US R&B
<ref name="VF"/> 		AUS
<ref name="AUS"/> 		CAN
<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation 		CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

UK
<ref name="UK"/><ref name="VF"/>
1982 "Moondance / Jubilee" ― ― ― ― ― ―
"You've Really Got a Hold on Me"
(with Phoebe Snow) 		― ― ― ― ― ―
1988 "Don't Worry, Be Happy" 1 7 11 1 1 2
"Thinkin' About Your Body" ― ― ― ― ― 46
"Good Lovin'" ― ― ― ― ― ―
1990 "The Garden" ― ― ― ― ― ―
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

As sidemanEdit

Grammy AwardsEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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