SIEDAH GARRETT

Grammy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated Siedah Garrett has worked with Quincy Jones for many years. She is a venerable performer and vocalist, and has written for everyone from Aretha Franklin to Barry White. When Michael Jackson was looking for songs for his smash LP, Bad, his producer, Quincy Jones, played him a song that Garrett had co-written with songwriter/producer, Glen Ballard.  That song was “Man In The Mirror”.  Jackson loved the song, and was also so impressed with the voice of the girl singing the demo, he decided that he had to meet her.  When Jackson and Garrett met, they quickly hit it off.  “Man In The Mirror” went on to become the third #1 single from the multi-platinum Bad album, and one of Jackson’s all-time favorite songs.  But aside from singing background vocals on “Man In The Mirror,” Jackson decided Garrett was the natural choice for the duet, “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You,” which was to be the album’s first single.  Not surprisingly, the result was a #1 smash, which sold over a million copies worldwide.  Garrett toured with Jackson for almost two years, singing their duet as well as background vocals for his “Dangerous World Tour.”  Garrett also had the privilege of having co-written a song with Jackson, entitled “Keep The Faith”, which is featured on Jackson’s Dangerous CD. Garrett has been asked by Jones to come to Bermuda to join in a special performance of “Man in the Mirror” in celebration of Jackson.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, in the 70’s, it was apparent early on that Garrett was blessed with many talents.  Her early influences were Chaka Kahn, Stevie Wonder and, of course, The Jackson Five.  Since Garrett blew onto the scene via an open audition for Quincy Jones, she has done a multitude of background vocal session work with everyone from Johnny Mathis to RuPaul.

Garrett has enjoyed tremendous success as a songwriter, co-penning songs for everyone from the King of Pop, to the Queen of Soul, and many, many artists in between.  But she’s also had some amazing successes as a recording artist in her own right.  Garrett’s first Billboard Top 5, solo single, “Do You Want It Right Now”, with former Temptation, Dennis Edwards, exploded onto the national and international scenes.

Garrett was commissioned to write songs with and for The Brand New Heavies, a popular British neo-soul band.  After having co-written more than half of their CD, entitled Shelter, Garrett was invited to become a full member of the band, living and working in London, replacing former lead singer, N’Dea Davenport.  The Shelter album went gold in the United Kingdom, and has sold over a million CDs worldwide.

On July 4^th, 2000, Garrett was in Paris to participate in a history making performance with mentor, Quincy Jones, along with the entire French National Orchestra.  The performance was in honor of would have been Duke Ellington’s 100^th birthday.  The entire event was filmed by “Bravo,” as part of a biography piece on Jones.  Performing along with Garrett was singer/songwriter Phil Collins, Duke Ellington’s blues crooner Milt Grayson, harmonica aficionado Toots Tillman, songwriter Michele LeGrand, as well as French national treasure, Henry Salvadore.

Most recently, Garrett was nominated for an Academy award, and won a Grammy award for having co-penned, “Love You, I Do,” with composer Henry Krieger, sung by Oscar winning actress, Jennifer Hudson in the hit film, Dreamgirls.

The stage is set and, after her groundbreaking collaborations and contributions on history making albums as an incredible vocalist and award-winning songwriter, Garrett has proven herself a force to be reckoned with.  Siedah Garrett, a triple threat, is the quintessential artist, singer and songwriter.  A true Renaissance woman.