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Marlena Shaw (1942 - 2024)
Photo: Jordi Vidal / Redferns / Getty Images
With her songs she delivered some of the central pieces of the Black Power movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The grim soul-jazz number “Woman Of The Ghetto” with its driving bassline is considered a prime example of black self-empowerment.
Marlena Shaw came to singing as a child through the gospel choir.
After her first engagements as a singer, she was signed by the influential Chess label in 1966.
The single “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” for which she wrote the lyrics, was also released there.
The song was subsequently performed by several other artists in the genre.
From 1968 she toured for several years as a permanent singer with the Count Basie Orchestra.
She recorded a total of 17 albums, including some for the renowned jazz label Blue Note.
Club hit “Remember Me”
Shaw had her biggest hit in 1969 with “California Soul”.
The song was written by the Motown songwriter duo Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson.
It was later performed by stars such as The 5th Dimension and Marvin Gaye.
But Shaw's version was particularly remembered - not least because it was sampled by a number of hip-hop artists, for example Gang Starr or Stereo MC.
“Woman Of The Ghetto” also later achieved fame in sampled form.
The Blue Boy's 1997 club hit "Remember Me" consists entirely of samples from a live version of the Shaw original.
Marlena Shaw died on Friday at the age of 81, her daughter announced.
cbu/AP