René Marie (born René Marie Stevens, November 7, 1955 in Warrenton, Virginia, United States) is an American songwriter and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

vocalist.

Career

She began her professional music career at age 42. Originally she performed as René Croan; she released her first album using this name in 1999. That year she also performed at

Blues Alley Blues Alley, founded in 1965, is a jazz nightclub in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Musicians who have performed at Blues Alley include John Abercrombie, Monty Alexander, Mose Allison, Tony Bennett, Rory Block, Ruby Braff, G ...

in Washington, D.C. and signed a contract with the St. Louis-based

Maxjazz Maxjazz (corporately styled MAXJAZZ) was an American jazz record label founded in 1998 by investment banker Richard McDonnell. Maxjazz recordings are generally regarded as a "straight-ahead" acoustic style of jazz. It was based in St. Louis, Mis ...

label. She released four albums on the label, the second of which (''Vertigo'') was awarded a coronet ranking by ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'', a distinction given to less than 85 other recordings in jazz history. In her work, the singer often combines contrasting songs ("Dixie" and the anti-lynching "Strange Fruit" on ''Vertigo'') or combines other works (

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

's ''

Boléro ''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. At least one observer has called it Ravel's most famous composition. It was also one of his last completed works before illness forced him into retirement. Co ...

'' and

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

's " Suzanne" on ''Live at Jazz Standard''.) René Marie attracted controversy in 2008, when she was invited to sing "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the ...

" at a civic event in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and substituted the song's lyrics with those from "

Lift Every Voice and Sing "Lift Every Voice and Sing" is a hymn with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) and set to music by his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson (1873–1954). Written from the context of African Americans in the late 19th century, the hymn is a pray ...

." This arrangement of the national anthem forms part of the titular suite of Marie's 2011 CD, ''The Voice of My Beautiful Country'' (

Motéma Music Motéma Music is a jazz and world music record label in the United States. It was founded in 2003 in San Francisco Bay Area. This record label’s catalog spans genres, cultures, and generations and has received Grammy recognition for over twen ...

). She specialises in writing her own music, and she comments on the fact that this is not the norm in jazz in one of her songs, "This for Joe," after a club manager who got mad at her for singing originals. Her 2011 release, ''Black Lace Freudian Slip'' contains only three songs that she did not write, and one of those was written by her son, Michael A. Croan, who performs on the track with her. She also released a number of singles in 2007–2009, focused on homeless issues, "This Is Not a Protest Song", and the racial problems in Jena, Louisiana, "3 Nooses Hanging". Besides her purely musical works, she has also written, produced and performed a one-woman show of words and music, ''Slut Energy Theory – U'Dean,'' in which she explores the journey from sexual abuse to self-esteem. More recent productions of the show have shortened the title simply to "Slut Energy Theory." The soundtrack to this show has been released.

Personal life

René Marie married at age 18, and was a mother of two children by age 23. When her husband issued an ultimatum after 23 years of marriage for her to stop singing or leave, she chose music over her turbulent marriage.

Discography

* ''Renaissance'' (Flat 5, 1999, as René Croan) * ''How Can I Keep from Singing?'' (Maxjazz, 2000) * ''Vertigo'' (Maxjazz, 2001) * ''Live at the Jazz Standard'' (Maxjazz, 2003) * ''Serene Renegade'' (Maxjazz, 2004) * ''Experiment in Truth'' (2007) * ''Black Lace Freudian Slip'' (Motema, 2011) * ''Voice of My Beautiful Country'' (Motema, 2011) * ''I Wanna Be Evil: With Love to Eartha Kitt'' (Motema, 2013) * ''

Sound of Red ''Sound of Red'' is an album by René Marie. It earned Marie a Grammy Award nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album The Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and ...

'' (Motema, 2016) * Darius de Haas, Rene Marie, Karen Oberlin, Janis Siegel, ''Ice on the Hudson: Songs by Renee Rosnes and David Hajdu'' (SMK, 2018)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marie, Rene 1955 births Living people American jazz singers African-American women singer-songwriters People from Warrenton, Virginia Singer-songwriters from Virginia Jazz musicians from Virginia Motéma Music artists 21st-century African-American women singers 20th-century African-American women singers