Cory Alexander Henry (born February 27, 1987) is an American

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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

organist, pianist,

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

musician, and producer. A former member of Snarky Puppy, Henry launched his solo artist career in 2018 with ''Art of Love'', his first independent release. In 2020, he released his sophomore full-length project, called ''Something to Say'', which included the Marc E. Bassy-written track "No Guns". That same year he released ''Art of Love Live'' and ''Christmas with You'', both under Culture Collective management and records. Henry was selected by

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

to headline his curated ''Soundtrack of America'' series opening of The Shed in NYC. On August 5, 2021,

Beats Electronics Beats Electronics, LLC (also known as Beats by Dr. Dre, Beats by Dre or simply Beats) is an American consumer audio products manufacturer headquartered in Culver City, California. The company was founded in 2006 by the music producer Dr. Dre and ...

premiered a commercial featuring athlete Sha'Carri Richardson featuring the track "Run to Glory", which was co-produced and written by Henry,

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

and Dr. Dre. Henry was later credited as a producer and composer for the song " 24" from West's tenth studio album, '' Donda''.

Early life

Henry was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, where he was playing both the piano and B3 organ at two years old. He played a show at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use Theater (structure), theater at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of U ...

when he was six.

Career

His musical touring began in 2006, and he has since toured with many mainstream artists, including

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

, Michael McDonald, P. Diddy,

Boyz II Men Boyz II Men ( ) is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. Formed in 1985, they have been a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris, tenor Wanya Morris, Wanyá Mo ...

, Kenny Garrett, and

The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...

, and gospel artists, among them Israel Houghton, Donnie McClurkin,

Kirk Franklin Kirk Dewayne Franklin (born January 26, 1970) is an American Gospel music, gospel musician. One of the List of best-selling gospel music artists, best-selling gospel music artists, his accolades include 20 Grammy Awards. ''Variety (magazine), Var ...

, and

Yolanda Adams Yolanda Yvette Adams (born August 27, 1961) is an American gospel singer, actress, and host of her own nationally syndicated morning gospel show. She is one of the best-selling gospel artists of all time, having sold over 10 million albu ...

. He released his album ''First Steps'' on July 21, 2014, with Wild Willis Jones Records. The album charted on the ''Billboard'' charts and placed on the Top Jazz Albums and

Top Heatseekers The Heatseekers charts were "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales b ...

Albums, peaking at numbers five and 30, respectively. His second album, a live recording, ''The Revival'', was released on March 18, 2016, by GroundUp Music. The album charted on the

Top Gospel Albums Top Gospel Albums is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States, ranking the popularity of gospel albums. As of Tuesday, January 31, 2017 (with the charts dated February 11, 2017), it uses the same multi-metric m ...

and Top Jazz Albums, where it peaked at number five and number two respectively. In 2018, Henry left Snarky Puppy to launch his solo career. On April 13, 2018, Henry released his debut single, "Trade It All", with his band The Funk Apostles. Three months later, on July 13, 2018, Henry released ''Art of Love'', his first album with The Funk Apostles. Henry has frequently collaborated with Vulfpeck. On October 31, 2020, Henry released his sophomore full-length record, called ''Something to Say''. In October 2019, Henry taught a songwriting workshop at the Brown Arts Institute at

Brown University Brown University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. It is the List of colonial colleges, seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the US, founded in 1764 as the ' ...

. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Henry released three personal projects and was featured as a writer and performer on multiple other releases, including

Imagine Dragons Imagine Dragons are an American pop rock band formed in 2008, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band currently consists of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, and bassist Ben McKee. They first gained exposure with the release of ...

' " Cutthroat" and " Follow You", Jazmine Sullivan's "First Noel", and Marc E. Bassy's "Free Like Me". He appeared on

's album '' Donda'', playing organ on " 24" (a.k.a. "Run to Glory"). On September 10, 2021, Henry performed the national anthem with

Michelle Williams Michelle Williams or Michele Williams may refer to: * Michelle Ann Williams (born circa 1965), American public health scholar * Michelle Williams (singer) (born 1979), American singer, previously a member of Destiny's Child * Michelle Williams (actr ...

at the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

's season opener in Tampa Bay, Florida. On September 17, 2021, Henry released his third solo album, ''Best of Me'', featuring Henry performing on vocals, Hammond B3 organ,

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

, and Harpejji. According to Henry, the album is "a collection of songs written and inspired by ismusical heroes," with influences including

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player an ...

Donny Hathaway Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto" ...

, P-Funk, and

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 ...

. On December 25, 2021, Henry was featured on

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

's 9-minute untitled song release on his

Beats 1 Apple Music 1, previously branded as Beats 1, is a 24/7 music radio station owned and operated by Apple Inc. It is accessible through iTunes or the Apple Music app on a computer, smartphone or tablet, smart speaker (such as the Apple HomePod), ...

radio show ''Blonded Radio''. He is also featured as a credited writer and performer on the song "G3 N15" from Spanish singer

Rosalía Rosalia Vila Tobella (born 25 September 1992), known mononymously as Rosalía (, ), is a Spanish Pop music, pop and flamenco singer. She has been described as an "atypical pop star" due to her genre-bending musical styles. After being enthral ...

's 2022 album ''

Motomami ''Motomami'' is the third studio album by Spanish singer Rosalía. It was released on 18 March 2022 through Columbia Records. Rosalía enlisted producers Noah Goldstein, Michael Uzowuru, Dylan Wiggins and Pharrell Williams as well as longtime ...

''. On July 2, 2022, Henry was featured again with

in "Continual". In 2022, Henry released a studio album, ''Operation Funk'', which he followed up with a live version of the album later in the year. On September 6, 2022, Henry announced on Twitter that he would be retiring from the music business in the near future so he can concentrate on playing music for his own enjoyment rather than financial reasons.

Discography

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, - , rowspan="4",

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, '' Something to Say'' , Best Progressive R&B Album , , - , ''New Light'' , Best Progressive R&B Album , , - , '' Donda'' , Album of The Year , , - , '' Donda'' , Best Rap Album , , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, ''Operation Funk'' , Best Progressive R&B Album , , - ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, ''Live at the Piano'' , Best Alternative Jazz Album , , - ,

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, ''Church'' , Best Roots Gospel Album ,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Henry, Cory 1987 births Living people African-American jazz musicians African-American Christians American jazz organists Grammy Award winners American male organists Musicians from Brooklyn Jazz musicians from New York City Songwriters from New York (state) 21st-century American musicians 21st-century American organists 21st-century American male musicians American male jazz musicians GroundUPmusic artists 21st-century American keyboardists Snarky Puppy members African-American songwriters 21st-century African-American musicians 20th-century African-American musicians American male songwriters