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Marcus Miller

American musician, composer and producer (born 1959) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marcus Miller
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This article is about the musician. For the football goalkeeper, see Markus Miller. For 19th-century General officer, see Marcus P. Miller.

William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandross, and saxophonists Wayne Shorter and David Sanborn, among others.[1][2][3] He was the main songwriter and producer on three of Davis' albums: Tutu (1986), Music from Siesta (1987), and Amandla (1989). His collaboration with Vandross was especially close; he co-produced and served as the arranger for most of Vandross' albums, and he and Vandross co-wrote many of Vandross' songs, including the hits "I Really Didn't Mean It", "Any Love", "Power of Love/Love Power" and "Don't Want to Be a Fool". He also co-wrote the 1988 single "Da Butt" for Experience Unlimited.

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Early life

William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on June 14, 1959.[4] He grew up in a musical family; his father, William Miller, was a church organist and choir director. Through his father, he is the cousin of jazz pianist Wynton Kelly.[5] He became classically trained as a clarinetist and later learned to play keyboards, saxophone, and guitar.

Career

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Miller in 2007

Miller began to work regularly in New York City, eventually playing bass and writing music for jazz flautist Bobbi Humphrey and keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith. Miller's earliest influences include James Jamerson and Larry Graham.[6] He spent approximately 15 years performing as a session musician. During that time he also arranged and produced frequently. He was a member of the Saturday Night Live band between 1979 and 1981.[7][8] He co-wrote Aretha Franklin's "Jump To It" along with Luther Vandross,[7] and sang alongside Vandross on the 1986 David Bowie single "Underground" from the movie Labyrinth.[9] He has played bass on over 500 recordings, appearing on albums by such artists as Michael Jackson, Beyoncé, Herbie Hancock, Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, The Crusaders, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Frank Sinatra, George Benson, Dr. John, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Joe Walsh, Jean-Michel Jarre, Grover Washington Jr., Donald Fagen, Bill Withers, Bernard Wright, Kazumi Watanabe, Chaka Khan, LL Cool J and Flavio Sala.[2][10][11] He won the "Most Valuable Player" award (given by NARAS to recognize studio musicians) three years in a row and was subsequently awarded "player emeritus" status and retired from eligibility.

In the mid-1980s, Miller began a solo career as a funk/R&B singer, with the albums Suddenly (1983) and Marcus Miller (1984). He was the main songwriter, producer and instrumentalist on these albums. He has since then released ten more solo albums, although he has only occasionally sung on these subsequent albums.[citation needed]

Between 1988 and 1990, Miller was the musical director and house band bass player (in the "Sunday Night Band") during two seasons of the late-night TV show Sunday Night (also known as Night Music) on NBC, hosted by David Sanborn and Jools Holland.[12][13]

As a composer, Miller co-wrote and produced several songs on the Miles Davis album Tutu, including the title track.[14][15] He also composed "Chicago Song" for David Sanborn and co-wrote "'Til My Baby Comes Home", "It's Over Now", "For You to Love", and "Power of Love" for Luther Vandross. Miller also wrote "Da Butt", which was featured in Spike Lee's School Daze.[2][10] In addition, he composed and provided spoken vocals on "Burn it Up", which was featured on Najee's 1992 album Just An Illusion.

In 1997, he played bass guitar and bass clarinet in the supergroup Legends, featuring Eric Clapton (guitars and vocals), Joe Sample (piano), David Sanborn (alto sax) and Steve Gadd (drums).[2] It was an 11-date tour of major jazz festivals in Europe. In 2008 Miller formed another supergroup, SMV, with fellow bassists Stanley Clarke and Victor Wooten, for a world tour lasting 18 months.[16] He produced SMV's first release, Thunder.[17] In the summer of 2011, Miller toured alongside Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter celebrating Miles Davis on the 20th anniversary of his death.

In 2017, Miller, along with Common, headlined the Playboy Jazz Festival.[18]

Miller hosts a jazz history and influences show called Miller Time with Marcus Miller on the Real Jazz channel of Sirius XM Holdings satellite radio system.[19] In addition to his recording and performance career, Miller has established a parallel career as a film score composer. He has written numerous scores for films, including films directed by Reginald Hudlin and Chris Rock.[20][21]

Miller speaks French and Spanish, which he started learning in his late 40s. He has been known to speak it fluently during interviews, and has introduced songs such as "Preacher's Kid" – a story about his father, in concerts.[22]

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Awards and honors

Miller has been nominated for numerous Grammy Awards as a producer for Miles Davis, Luther Vandross, David Sanborn, Bob James, Chaka Khan and Wayne Shorter, and has won two Grammys. He won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 1992, for Luther Vandross' "Power of Love" and in 2001 he won for Best Contemporary Jazz Album for his seventh solo instrumental album, M².[23] His 2015 album Afrodeezia earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.[24][25][26]

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Miller in 2017

In 2012 Miller was appointed a UNESCO Artist for Peace, supporting and promoting the UNESCO Slave Route Project.

In December 2021, Bass Player magazine awarded Miller a Lifetime Achievement Award.[27]

Instruments

Miller plays a transparent blonde finish 1977 Fender Jazz Bass that was modified by luthier Roger Sadowsky with the addition of a Stars Guitar and later a Bartolini TCT preamp[28] so he could control his sound in the studio.[29] Fender started to produce a Marcus Miller signature Fender Jazz Bass in four-string (made in Japan) and five-string (made in U.S) versions.[30] Later, Fender moved the production of the four-string to their Mexico factory[31] and discontinued both four- and five-string models in 2015. DR Strings also produced a series of Marcus Miller signature stainless steel strings known as "Fat Beams", which come in a variety of sizes.[32] In 2015, Dunlop began producing Marcus Miller Super Bright bass strings which Miller switched to.[33]

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Discography

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Studio albums

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Live albums

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Singles

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Live DVDs

Tutu Revisited – Live 2010

As a member

The Jamaica Boys

  • The Jamaica Boys (WEA, 1987)
  • J. Boys (Reprise, 1990)[7]

As sideman

With Mindi Abair

  • Based on a True Story (Pretty Good For A Girl, 2025)

With Joan Armatrading

With Sweet Pea Atkinson

  • Get What You Deserve (Blue Note, 2017)

With Aztec Camera

With Bee Gees

With George Benson

With Jonatha Brooke

  • Steady Pull (Bad Dog Records, 2001)

With Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack

With Peabo Bryson

With Jimmy Buffett

With Jonathan Butler

  • Heal Our Hand (Jive, 1990)
  • Ubuntu (Artistry, 2023)

With Mariah Carey

With Felix Cavaliere

  • Castles in the Air (Epic, 1979)

With Natalie Cole

With Linda Clifford

  • I'll Keep on Loving You (Capitol, 1982)

With Miles Davis

With Will Downing

  • Invitation Only (Mercury, 1997)
  • Sensual Journey (Verve, 2002)

With Roberta Flack

With Michael Franks

With Whitney Houston

With Billy Idol

With Paul Jabara

With Al Jarreau and George Benson

With Al Jarreau

  • My Old Friend: Celebrating George Duke (Concord, 2014)

With Dr. John

With Elton John

With Toby Keith

With Chaka Khan

With Ben E. King

With Julian Lennon

With Cheryl Lynn

With Richard Marx

With Michael McDonald

With Stephanie Mills

With Melba Moore

With Keb' Mo'

  • Good to Be... (Rounder, 2022)

With Odyssey

  • Hang Together (RCA Victor, 1980)
  • Happy Together (RCA Victor, 1982)

With Teddy Pendergrass

With Corinne Bailey Rae

With Lou Rawls

  • Now Is the Time (Epic, 1982)

With David Sanborn

With Boz Scaggs

With Janis Siegel

  • Experiment in White (Wounded Bird, 1982)

With Carly Simon

With Paul Simon

With Frank Sinatra

With The Spinners

With The Temptations

With Kenny Vance

  • Short Vacation (Gold Castle, 1988)

With Dionne Warwick

With Grover Washington Jr.

With Was (Not Was)

With Bill Withers

With others

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Film scores

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Media appearances

In 2017, Miller appeared on the Armenian talk show Nice Evening.

References

External links

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