Gregory Joel Abbott (born April 2, 1954) is an American

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and producer. Although he continues to record to date, he is best known for his singles in the mid-1980s including his platinum single, " Shake You Down", from his 1986 debut album.

Biography

Early life

Abbott was born in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. Abbott's parents were from

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and

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

. During his early years, Abbott's mother taught him how to play

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and encouraged him to develop vocally. Before his career as a

, Abbott studied

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and creative writing at

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

; where he won a Wallace Stegner fellowship. Before becoming a musician, Abbott taught as a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.

Music career

One of Abbott's first opportunities in his studio was an album for an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

record label, which gave him the opportunity to do a

duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

with

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

. Continuing on, Abbott produced for the group EQ on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. In 1986, Abbott released his first solo album, '' Shake You Down''. The

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

for the album was a success, going

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

and topping the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The album's second single, "I Got the Feelin' (It's Over)", reached Number 5 on the R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

. On the strength of its singles, the album reached platinum status and earned Abbott several awards. Internationally, Abbott has also had success, winning first prize at the Tokyo Music Festival. The title track of his second album, '' I'll Prove It to You'', which was released in 1988, was featured on a Japanese movie soundtrack. In

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, he performed with Princess Stephanie of

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

. Over the years much of his new music has been released via his own Mojo Man Entertainment label. Abbott has continued with his R&B sound, but he added a Caribbean influence to his 1996 album ''One World!'' In 2011, an album entitled ''Drop Your Mask'' was released. Abbott continues to release singles including a smooth jazz song "Chill" featuring saxophonist Gerald Albright.

Personal life

Abbott was married to American singer

Freda Payne Freda Charcilia Payne (born September 19, 1942Some sources give a birth year of 1945, but this appears to be an error as all sources agree that she is older than her sister Scherrie, born 1944.) is an American singer and actress. Payne is best ...

from 1976 until 1979. Their son, Gregory Joel Abbott, Jr., was born in 1977.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Compilation albums

* ''Super Hits'' (

Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is an American record label that is a division of Sony Music. Formed in 1990 after Sony's acquisition of CBS Records, Legacy originally handled the archives of Sony Music-owned labels Columbia Records and Epic Records. In 2 ...

, 1998) * ''Rhyme and Reason'' (

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

, 2006)

References

External links

* *
Mojo Man Entertainment

Smooth Jazz Artist Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Gregory 1954 births Living people 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers American contemporary R&B singers Musicians from Manhattan People from Harlem American soul singers Columbia Records artists Singers from New York City UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Musicians from Berkeley, California Singer-songwriters from California Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty 20th-century African-American academics 20th-century American academics African-American male songwriters 21st-century African-American male singers 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state) 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics