Gil Scott-Heron

The legendary musician, poet and author Gil Scott-Heron was born in Illinois in 1949, however he spent his childhood in Tennessee, at his grandmother’s place. Gil’s mother was a singer, so he had been acquainted with the world of art since the very childhood. His father was a football player, who became the first black sportsman of Scottish Celtic Football Club. No wonder that the son of such bright parents demonstrated extraordinary talents in many spheres. Thus, Gil moved with his mother to Bronx, where he attended DeWitt Clinton High School. When one of the teachers read young Scott-Heron’s work, he gave it to the head of Fieldston School’s English Department. Due to that Gil got the scholarship and became a student of that prestigious school.

Literature has always been a huge part of Gil’s life, and he issued a number of his poems and a novel The Vulture before the release of his very first long play Small Talk At 125th And Lenox (1970). People interested in Gil’s literature talent were surprised after listening to his music. The mixture of truly intelligent lyrics with music that included elements of soul, blues and jazz turned out to be very successful and managed to represent author’s any mood. In 1971 the musician released his second album titled Pieces Of A Man, created in the same way. That was the work that gave the fans one of Gil’s most recognizable compositions, such as Home Is Where The Hatred Is and The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.

Scott-Heron is among those musicians, who do their best to present their ideas to the listeners. The artist touches on various themes, from politics, different problems and challenges to motives of happiness, optimism and faith to the future. Moreover, Gil is fond of experimenting with the sound, and the album Winter In America (1974) is a great example of that. Numerous experts called it one of the most creative works of the musician. He recorded it jointly with Brian Jackson, whose blues and jazz arrangements will attract the well-deserved attention of music lovers. Style that had been created by Scott-Heron proved to be so revolutionary that many modern hip-hop performers noted that they learned a lot from Gil's works and these pieces of art were also a perfect source of inspiration.

In spite of the long and fruitful career, Gil still pleases his fans with the new compositions. Thus, Scott-Heron released his fresh record I'm New Here in 2010, and that long play became his first studio attempt in sixteen years. The musician presented the acoustic sound with minimal arrangements, so the listeners will be able to concentrate on the artist’s lyrics, which is probably the most significant part of his creativity.