Jill Scott

Jill Scott grew up an only child in the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was raised by her mother, Joyce Scott, and her grandmother. She indicated in an interview with Jet Magazine that she had a happy childhood and was "very much a loved child".^[1] Scott attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls and after graduating, attended Temple University while simultaneously working two jobs. She studied secondary education for three years and had planned on becoming a high school English teacher, but after spending time as a teacher's aide, Scott became disillusioned with the teaching profession and dropped out of school.^[2]

Prior to her breakthrough in the music industry, Scott worked at a variety of jobs, including a number of retail positions and stints at a construction site and an ice cream parlor. She remains close to her mother and grandmother, nicknamed Blue Babe, and currently resides in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey.

[edit] Personal life

Scott recently divorced her husband Lyzel Williams who is a graphic artist and DJ, after five years. (Scott wrote and recorded the song "He Loves Me (Lyzel in E Flat)" about Williams.) Scott has said they were together for twelve years, seven of those they dated.^[3]

On June 20, 2008, at a concert in Carnegie Hall, Scott told the audience she was engaged to her drummer, Lil' John Roberts, after they enjoyed a long kiss on stage.^[4]

[edit] Music career

Scott began her performing career as a spoken word artist, appearing at live poetry readings to perform her work. She was eventually discovered by Amir "?uestLove" Thompson of The Roots. QuestLove invited her to join the band in the studio, and the collaboration resulted in a co-writing credit for Scott for the song, "You Got Me." In 2000, Erykah Badu and The Roots won the Grammy for best rap performance by a duo or group for "You Got Me".^[5] Subsequently, Scott collaborated with Eric Benet, Will Smith, and Common, and broadened her performing experience by touring Canada in a production of the Broadway musical Rent.

Scott was the first artist signed to Steve McKeever's 'Hidden Beach Recordings' label. Her debut album, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 was released in 2000. She experienced some chart success and notice with the single "A Long Walk", which eventually earned her a Grammy nomination in early 2003 for Best Female Vocal Performance. Scott lost that award, but won a 2005 Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative R&B Performance for "Cross My Mind." The live album, Experience: Jill Scott 826+, was released November 2001. Scott's second full-length album, Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2, followed in 2004.

Scott continues to write poetry; a compilation volume of her poems, The Moments, The Minutes, The Hours, was published and released by St. Martin's Press in April 2005.^[6] In early 2007 Scott was featured on the George Benson & Al Jarreau collaboration "God Bless The Child", which earned Scott her second Grammy award, Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, at the 2007 Grammy Awards ceremony. Scott shared the win with Benson & Jarreau. Recently, Scott was prominently featured on hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco's 2006 single "Daydreaming" which won a 2008 Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance and also appeared on a new Scott collection called Collaborations on January 30, 2007.^[7][8]

The Collaborations collection served as "an appetizer" for her next studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 released September 25, 2007.^[9] A clip of the title track was released on a bonus disc from Hidden Beach Records and included with Collaborations. The lead single "Hate on Me", gained airplay in May 2007 with a video released in mid-July. In advance of the album's release, Hidden Beach released a 17-minute album sampler through their forums.^[10] Interspersed between the dozen songs previewed on the sampler was a personal explanation from Jill for the inspiration behind some of her songs.

[edit] Other appearances and song-writing

Her live performance in 2004 with members of The Roots, which also included backing a performance by Erykah Badu, is featured in Dave Chappelle's 2006 concert film, Dave Chappelle's Block Party. UK dance duo Goldtrix covered Scott's song "It's Love", re-naming it "It's Love (Trippin')" with singer Andrea Brown taking over vocal duties. The song became a top ten hit in the UK, peaking at number six.

[edit] Vocal profile

Scott is a vocalist who infused jazz, R&B, spoken word, and hip hop among other genres to create a distinct style that many refer to as neo soul. Her vocal capabilities are so rich that a reviewer on Pop Matter, referring to Scott's vocal ability stated, 'Scott draws on her upper register recalling the artistry of the late "songbird" Minnie Riperton and Deniece Williams'.^[11] The same reviewer in another article stated, 'The song evokes the artistry of Minnie Riperton as Scott sings in the upper register that makes its only appearances on Who is Jill Scott? on the teasing "I Think It's Better" and "Show Me."^[12] Scott has "a very rare facility to hit notes in the sixth and seventh octave, as displayed on songs such as 'Gimme' where she hits a D6 with full vibrato, and on 'Spring Summer Feeling' where she hits a C7 in the background".^[13]

[edit] Film and television

On advice of her good friend, director Ozzie Jones, she began pursuing a career in acting in 2000.^[14] She joined a fellowship at a theater company in Philadelphia. For two years, she took small, menial, jobs in exchange for acting lessons.

In 2004, Scott expanded her resume by appearing in several episodes of season four of UPN's "Girlfriends", playing Donna, a love interest to main character, William Dent. She also appeared in the Showtime movie Cavedwellers, starring Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick,^[15] She stars as Precious Ramotswe in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, a 13-episode television series co-funded by HBO and the BBC.^[16]

In 2007, Scott appeared in Hounddog (as Big Mama Thornton) and in Tyler Perry's movie, Why Did I Get Married? and, in 2008, appeared as Precious Ramotswe in Anthony Minghella’s film adaption of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

[edit] Charity work and advocacy

Scott has established the Blues Babe Foundation, a program founded to help young minority students pay for university expenses. The Blues Babe Foundation offers financial assistance to students between the ages of sixteen to twenty-one, and targets students residing in Philadelphia, Camden, and the greater Delaware Valley. Scott donated USD$100,000 to help start the foundation. The foundation was named after Scott's grandmother, known as "Blue Babe" because of the bluish tint in her brown complexion.

On the foundation's website, it defines its mission statement as one where it "seeks to provide financial support and mentoring for those students who have shown the aptitude and commitment to their education, but whose families may not have the resources to ensure completion of their undergraduate degrees".^[17]

In the spring of 2003, the Blues Babe Foundation made a donation of more than $60,000 to the graduating class of the Creative Arts School in Camden, New Jersey. Any student who maintained a 3.2 GPA received a yearly stipend for the next three years that was put toward his or her college education.

At the Essence Music Festival in July 2006, Scott spoke out about how women of color are portrayed in the lyrics of rap songs, and in rap music videos. Scott criticized the content for being "dirty, inappropriate, inadequate, unhealthy, and polluted" and urged the listening audience to "demand more".^[18]

On Sunday 23rd March 2008 Jill Scott appeared in the BBC Drama "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency", directed by Anthony Minghella, a television adaptation from the novel by Alexander McCall Smith.