Carleen Cassandra Anderson (born May 10, 1957) is an American musician. She was the vocalist, composer, and musician for the Young Disciples and is known for her numerous, varied collaborations. Her solo career began in 1992. She is credited with composing and writing futuristic Operas. By the time Anderson was three years old, she was singing solos in front of the congregation. By the age of seven, she was playing piano by ear, directing the church choir and writing songs every week for the choir to sing before her grandfather delivered his Sunday sermons. Anderson’s vocal skills were influenced by her paternal aunt, Betty Faye Anderson, a Juilliard scholar, Gospel singer and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first soprano soloist.

Education

After a brief marriage that resulted in the 1979 birth of her son, Bobby Anderson, Carleen Anderson lived as a divorced single mother in Los Angeles. She received several scholarships to study classical and jazz music performance, as well as music education, at

Los Angeles City College Los Angeles City College (LACC) is a public community college in East Hollywood, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard on the former campus of the U ...

(LACC) and the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC). Anderson also studied Creative Literature at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). During her studies, Anderson worked as a student tutor to support herself and her child. Anderson's goal at the time was to become a teacher of music, but her plans were thwarted when the

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

administration removed Arts from the curriculum in government-sponsored schools. With only one semester left before completing her music degree, Anderson was forced to take office-clerk jobs to make ends meet.

Career

Anderson's first solo recording contract was with Virgin Records' Circa label. The initial marketing release was the EP ''Dusky Sappho'' in 1993. Her debut album '' True Spirit'', released in 1994, had pop chart success with single releases "Mama Said", "Let It Last" and "Nervous Breakdown". Anderson's 1998 second solo album, ''Blessed Burden'', gained commercial recognition with singles "Woman in Me" and a cover of

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

's " Maybe I'm Amazed". ''Alberta’s Granddaughter'' was Anderson's first independent and third solo album, released in 2002 on her own label, Dusky Sappho. This work included a cover of

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentDon't Look Back in Anger". Anderson's fourth solo album, ''Grace and Favours'', was recorded live at The Glee Club in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. It was released in 2003 by Orange Room Music on CD and DVD formats with clips that include interviews and impromptu performances with

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

and

Paul Weller John William Weller (born 25 May 1958), better known as Paul Weller, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame in the late 1970s as the guitarist and principal singer and songwriter of the rock band the Jam, alongside ...

. Universal Records released her fifth solo offering, ''Up to Now'', in 2004. It was a compilation of songs over her career up to that date. Her sixth album, ''Soul Providence'', was released on Dome Records in 2005. It features her song "My Door is Open", which was remixed by Richard Earnshaw in 2010 as a dance floor production and was featured on Earnshaw’s album, ''In Time''. From 2002 to 2007 Anderson taught and was Head of the Vocal Department at the

Brighton Institute of Modern Music BIMM University (BIMM) is a private university specialising in music, film, performing arts and creative technology. The university is principally based in the United Kingdom with other centres in Ireland and Germany. It is organised into five ...

(BIMM). She had a bi-annual residency at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

, performing from 2006 to 2015. She sang a varied repertoire of jazz classics, musical theatre and unreleased material, as well as her commercial hits. In March 2007, in celebration of

International Women's Day International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated on 8 March, commemorating women's fight for equality and liberation along with the women's rights movement. International Women's Day gives focus to issues such as gender equality, reproductive righ ...

, Anderson had the honour of singing for Her Majesty the Queen. In 2014

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

awarded Anderson a grant to produce her Tribal Opera ''Cage Street Memorial''. In 2015 she also received a grant from PRS Women Make Music to record her compositions from ''Cage Street Memorial'', released as her seventh album on Freestyle Records in 2016. A Barbican Theatre stage production of the album in 2018 earned her a JazzFM Innovation of the Year nomination. In 2019 Anderson became an Associate Artist at

Hall for Cornwall The Hall for Cornwall, known as Truro City Hall until 1997, is an events venue in Boscawen Street in Truro, Cornwall, England. The building, which was previously the headquarters of Truro City Council, is a Grade II* listed building. History T ...

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

. She was Choir Director for the BBC Singers and UK Vocal Assembly at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

for the August 2019 “Sacred Music” tribute to

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

at the

BBC Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

and contributed to the performance as vocal arranger and curator. In June 2020 Anderson composed the music and was the featured vocalist and narrator for the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Harlem Renaissance author Jean Toomer's ''Cane'', Drama of the Week in the BBC Sounds Electric Decade series.

Recent work

In March 2020, Arts Council England awarded Anderson a grant to develop her second theatre piece, ''MELIOR'', in partnership with Hall for Cornwall,

Falmouth University Falmouth University is a specialist public university for the creative industries based in Falmouth, Cornwall, Falmouth and Penryn, Cornwall, Penryn, Cornwall, England. Founded as Falmouth School of Art in 1902, it was later known as Falmouth C ...

and its Academy of Music and Theatre Arts (AMATA). Due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

restrictions, the music from this ocean-themed time-travel fantasy was released online in anticipation of its live premiere and subsequent tour. ''MELIOR'' introduces Anderson’s new music performance style, “Opus Griot”, a blend of storytelling, singing, poetry, visual art and music ensemble accompaniment. It features the new gesture-controlled digital instrument developed by Imogen Heap, MI.MU Gloves. Following the successful preview performance at Hall for Cornwall in November 2022, plans are in motion for new staging directives replacing the MI.MU Gloves with FX digital sounds to be synchronised with its theatre production development. Anderson is preparing a Southwest England regional premiere performance as well as a worldwide release of a double album of the full music scenes from the opera in autumn 2024.

Personal life

Carleen Anderson is the daughter of singer Vicki Anderson, stepdaughter of Bobby Byrd and goddaughter of

. Vicki Anderson featured with James Brown during the 1960s and 1970s. Her mother was married to Bobby Byrd (musician, producer, bandleader, singer and childhood friend of James Brown). Byrd formed a group with James Brown in the late 1950s called The Flames, which was later named James Brown &

The Famous Flames The Famous Flames were an American rhythm and blues, soul vocal group founded in Toccoa, Georgia, in 1953 by Bobby Byrd. James Brown first began his career as a member of the Famous Flames, emerging as the lead singer by the time of their fir ...

. Carleen's father, Dr. Reuben Anderson Sr., is pastor of the Tower of Faith Evangelistic Church of God in Christ, in Compton California. Carleen's uncle, David Anderson Jr., and his daughters, Pamela and Jhelisa, along with their mother, Yvonne, had a very successful family gospel vocal group that travelled the southern United States. Carleen Anderson has one son, singer-songwriter/music producer Bobby Anderson (aka Wilderman).

Discography

With Young Disciples

* '' Road to Freedom'' (Talkin' Loud, 1991)

Solo recordings

* ''Dusky Sappho EP'' (Circa/Virgin, 1994) No. 38 (this EP was classed as a mini-album as it had too many tracks on it to chart as a single) * '' True Spirit'' (Circa/Virgin, 1994) UK No. 12 * ''True Spirit - Remixes'' (Circa/Virgin, 1995) * ''Blessed Burden'' (Circa/Virgin, 1998) UK No. 51 * ''Alberta's Granddaughter'' (Dusky Sappho Music, 2002) * ''Grace and Favours'' (live performance DVD/CD, 2004) * ''Up To Now: The Best Of'' (Virgin, 2004) * ''Soul Providence'' (Dome, 2005) * ''Cage Street Memorial - The Pilgrimage'' (Freestyle, 2016)

Solo singles

* "Nervous Breakdown" (1994) UK No. 27 * "Mama Said" (1994) UK No. 26 * "True Spirit" (1994) UK No. 24 * "Let It Last" (1995) UK No. 16 * " Maybe I'm Amazed" (1998) UK No. 24 * "Woman in Me" (1998) UK No. 74 * "Don't Look Back in Anger" (2002)

Under the alias Mardou Fox

* Subterraneans feat. Mardou Fox "Taurus Woman" (1993) * Numbers "Ballad of Mardou Fox", "Traffic", "Mardous Lament", "Jack Summerset" (2001)

Collaborations

* Duet with Omar "Who Chooses the Seasons" (1992) * Guru's Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 "Sights in the City" (1993) * Incognito "Trouble Don't Always Last" (1994) (with

Ramsey Lewis Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five RIAA certification, gold records and three Grammy Awards ...

) * Duet with Lewis Taylor "18 With a Bullet" (1998) * Red, Hot + Cool Documentary (1998) * The Brand New Heavies "Saturday Nite", "Apparently Nothing", "Try My Love", "Swinging Big Tom" * The

London Community Gospel Choir The London Community Gospel Choir is Britain's first renowned contemporary "performance touring, inspirational gospel choir band", fusing gospel with multi-genres of music, including pop, soul, jazz, R&B, and classical. It was founded in 198 ...

"Whenever You Call" (2001) * Agent K. "Ride Away Getaway" (2002) * Andy Hamill "Falling" (2003) (with Tony Woods) * Full Flava's album '' Colour of My Soul'', Carlen performs lead vocals on "Stories" and "You Are (My Destiny)" (2003) * The

" I Surrender All" (2003) * Courtney Pine "When The World Turns Blue" (2003) * Mamayo "The Game" "Born to Love" (2005) * Hope Collective "Give and Let Live" (2005) * Duet with

"Wanna Be Where You Are" (2005) * Duet with

Jocelyn Brown Jocelyn Lorette Brown (born November 25, 1950), sometimes credited as Jocelyn Shaw, is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and dance music, dance singer. She has a Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart entry solely in her name. Brown sang ...

"Parting the Waters" (2005) * Incognito "Show Me Love" (2005) * Incognito "Summer in the City", "Tin Man", "That's the Way of the World" (2006) * Shuya Okino features Carleen on their co-write of “Beautiful Sadness” (2006) * Full Flava album '' Music Is Our Way Of Life''. Carleen performs lead vocals on a cover of

Jean Carne Jean Carn, also spelled Jean Carne (born Sarah Jean Perkins; March 15, 1947) is an American R&B/soul and jazz singer. In mid-career, she added a final ''e'' to her name. Carn is a vocalist credited with a five-octave vocal range. Biography Carn ...

's ''Was That All It Was''. (2007) * "Bird in Flight" Tuff Scout Records, written by Gil Cang and Carleen Anderson (2014) * "Grains of Dust" Welsh National Opera Songs of Occupation Protest (2014)

References

External links

* – official site * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Carleen American expatriates in England Living people American rhythm and blues musicians 1957 births Singers from Houston 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers The Brand New Heavies members