Marlena Shaw. Sep 22, 1942 – Jan 19, 2024

She was truly one of a kind. A singer’s singer with a voice instantly recognizable. She recorded from 1968 until 2007, starting with the Cadet release “Out Of Different Bags” (1968) and “The Spice Of Life” (1969), which featured one of her signature songs, “Go Away Little Boy” all the way up to a recording with Freddy Cole which was recorded live in Japan in 2003 and released in 2007 and which was the follow-up to her brilliant “Lookin’ For Love” album. In between, she recorded for Blue Note, Columbia, South Bay, Verve, and Concord.

I remember I met her once for an interview and when I mentioned to her that we share the same birthday (not the same year though ;-), she started to get all philosophical and we ended up talking about a lot of things, music and non-music and somehow totally forgot about pushing her latest record at the time. She was a wonderful person to be around during those 35 minutes and I still cherish those precious memories. The last time I saw her live was at North Sea Jazz in 2007. She was as brilliant as ever. Smooth sailing Marlena!