Kenny G

Amidst to breathing difficulty due to asthma, Kenneth Bruce Gorelick better known as Kenny G, blew  a way to the pinnacle of his success as Grammy award winning saxophone player.

Kenny G was born in Seattle, Washington and came into contact with a saxophone when he heard someone performing with one on The Ed Sullivan Show. Thereof, he studied under a local trumpet player and played along with records and eventually honed to perfection.

His childhood was undistinguished. He experienced rejections like when he tried out for the high school jazz band. Persistently, he tried again the next year and was accepted.

His musical career spurred when he was 18 years old as a sideman for Barry White Love Unlimited Orchestra. During his College years at University of Washington, he played with a funk band and began his solo musical career.

In 2003, the Recording Industry of America (RIIA) recognized Kenny G as the 25th highest selling artist in America with 48 million albums sold in the U.S. as of mid-2006. Consequently, he won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for Forever in Love.

Kenny G has been diagnosed with asthma. One would think this would be a difficult disability to have and play a musical instrument such as the saxophone. However, it has been studied that playing an instrument or singing may actually help those with asthma by improving muscle flexibility of the lungs, allowing them to take a deeper breath without fatigue.

Jeff Healey

A blind Canadian jazz guitar singer, Jeff Healey, who can see through the eyes of music.

Jeff Healey is one of the Canada’s most successful exports and one of the world’s most celebrated guitarists, the Jeff Healey Band sold millions of records. Healey lost his sight at the age of one, after developing eye cancer. He began playing guitar when he was three years old and began performing with his band Blues Direction at the age of 17. Healey formed the Jeff Healey Band in 1985, featuring bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephen. This trio released one single on its own Forte record label, which led to a contract with Arista Records. The Jeff Healey Band released their debut album, See the Light, in 1988 and the guitarist immediately developed a devoted following in blues-rock circles. Featuring the hit single “Angel Eyes,” the record went platinum in the U.S. While the Jeff Healey Band’s subsequent records were popular, none were as successful as the debut.

What made Jeff Healey different from other blues-rockers was also what kept some listeners from accepting him as anything other than a novelty — the fact that the blind guitarist played his Fender Stratocaster on his lap, not standing up. With the guitar in his lap, Healey could make unique bends and hammer-ons, making his licks different and more elastic than most of the competition. Unfortunately, his material leaned toward standard AOR blues-rock, which rarely let him cut loose, but when he did; his instrumental prowess could be shocking.

In 2008, a month before the release of his last studio-recorded blues album, Mess of Blues, Healey died from cancer.

No doubt, his unusual story embarked in the history of music. He taught us to see what he had seen- the beauty of music.

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker, nicknamed “Yardbird” (“Bird” for short), a saxophone player, had an undistinguished early carrier but ended up being one of the creators of bebop jazz in the 1940s.

He was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the only child of Charles and Addie Parker. His father, Charles, a pianist, had influenced and inspired him to go into music.

At public schools, he discovered his own talent for music. He started playing baritone horn in the school band.

At the early age of 15, he began to practice playing saxophone diligently wherein he mastered improvisation and developed new ideas that led to bebop, a form of jazz with fast tempo.

In 1938, Parker together with his first band, toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City. Parker had a morphine addiction while in hospital after automobile accident and was also addicted to heroin.

In the following year, he worked as a professional musician in New York who was then featured as a regular performer at a Chicago night club after a year. His New York experience was tough that he was at first forced to wash dishes in order to get by.

His humble beginnings were paid off when he was known and recognized for his musical invention, the bebop.

Parker died on March 12, 1955 from lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had suffered a heart attack.

Sharon Musgrave

Sharon Musgrave was born in the UK, and raised in Canada. Her career shot to prominence in the 90′s with William Orbit. She left Canada for London in 1986 to pursue a career in music. She achieved international chart status with the hit “Fascinating Rhythm” (Virgin) which Sharon performed and wrote. In 1992 Sharon was asked by WEA Records in London to work with jazz pianist Julian Joseph on his “Language of Truth” album, performing Curtis Mayfield’s, “The Other Side of Town.” The single off the album.

After a career span of 10 years of touring all parts of the world, Singing in Commercials and constantly honing in on her writing abilities, she returned to Canada to settle and have a family. But her calling for creativity and performance brought her back on the stage in 1998, when she produced her first solo album project “Selah” with renowned engineer L.Stu Young.

Her Canadian solo release “Selah”(Zosar) earned her two nominations from the Urban Music Association of Canada – “Best Songwriter” and “Best Spoken Word”, for the album’s title track “Selah.” The video shot to the top 20 on Bravo’s video chart count down. She performed throughout Canada after making a debut performance at the Toronto Jazz Festival at Harbourfront Center in Toronto.

Then in 2003 a dance track she wrote and performed entitled “Nobody” was internationally released on the CD “Soulfragettes”, released on timewarp in Europe. The song was then singled out for “Ibiza Lounge-3″, a compilation which includes Nora Jones and Coldplay.

In 2009 “Fantasy,” was released on producer Steve Miller’s, Electrosensitive album. A dance track she co-wrote and performed, (Defected records). Also included on (Hedkandi) Beach House Compilation.

January 2012, saw the release of her track “Circles” produced by DJ Thor, on Chillbar Vol. 3 out through the dance label (Sine Music.)

Musgrave’s newest Solo project “Outflow” produced with Peter Grimmer plus remixes from international DJ producers, affirms her song writing and vocal prowess as a jazzy, soulful, funk, hiphop, dance fusion goddess. It’s a treasure to embrace, with the magic of its first single “Beautiful Music” available online for download and can be ordered from her site, HMV.com, or Amazon.com, also available on itunes.

Get ready for Sharon’s latest remix album entitled “Get Down Wit Cha,” a collaboration with DJ Thor once more. Album is about to be released for download purchase only.