Marlon Derrick Saunders is an American singer,

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, and Professor of Voice at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

. He is best known for his voice work on the

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

-published video games '' Sonic Adventure'' (1998) and '' Sonic Adventure 2'' (2001), as well as '' Burning Rangers'' (1998), '' Phantasy Star Online'' (2000) and '' Nights Into Dreams'' (1996). Saunders provided backing vocals on the song " That's How You Know" by singer Amy Adams, from the 2007 film soundtrack '' Enchanted''. As a

vocal coach A vocal coach, also known as a voice coach (though this term often applies to those working with speech and communication rather than singing), is a music teacher, usually a piano accompanist, who helps singers prepare for a performance, often al ...

and choir director, Saunders has served as a faculty member for both the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and School of Jazz and Contemporary Music program at

the New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

Career

In 1994, Saunders formed the acid-jazz group Jazzhole, which signed with

Rhino Entertainment Rhino Entertainment Company (formerly Rhino Records Inc.) is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded ...

and released seven albums. Originally formed as a duo, it later grew into a band ensemble. In the late 1990s, Saunders worked with video game company

to provide vocal work for their video games. He remains best known for his performances on both versions of the theme song for Knuckles, "Unknown From M.E." in '' Sonic Adventure'' (1998) and '' Sonic Adventure 2'' (2001). Saunders also performs on the soundtrack to the '' Burning Rangers'' (1998) game on one of the ending songs, "We are Burning Rangers", as well as the Christmas

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

version of "Dreams Dreams", the theme from '' Nights into Dreams''. From 2015–2017, Saunders claims to have toured with

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 ...

on the Songs in the Key of Life Tour, as choir director. He has since served as vocal contractor for Sam Smith,

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...

Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

, Mondo Cozmo and

Andrea Bocelli Andrea Bocelli (; born 22 September 1958) is an Italian tenor. He rose to fame in 1994 after winning the newcomers' section of the 44th Sanremo Music Festival performing " Il mare calmo della sera". Since 1994, Bocelli has recorded 15 solo st ...

. He also extended his work to include

music education Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as primary education, elementary or secondary education, secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a rese ...

and vocal coaching, receiving the title "Professor of Voice" at

. In 2019, he formed the

Afrobeats Afrobeats, not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing, is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Ghana, Nigeria, and the UK in the 2000s and 2010s. Afrobeats is less of a st ...

-soul band, Iqram & The Immigrant Groove.

Discography

Solo albums

* ''Enter My Mind'' (2003) * ''A Groove So Deep'' (2005)

Jazzhole albums

*''The Jazzhole'' (February 22, 1994, Mesa/Blue Moon Recordings) *''…And the Feeling Goes Round'' (August 29, 1995, Mesa/Blue Moon Recordings) *''The Beat Is the Bomb! (Remixes)'' (June 18, 1996, Mesa/Blue Moon Recordings) *''Blackburst'' (February 29, 2000, Beave Music) *''Circle of the Sun'' (November 1, 2002, Beave Music) *''Poet's Walk'' (July 13, 2006, Beave Music)

References

External links

Marlon Saunders Official Site
*
Jazzhole Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Marlon Living people American male singer-songwriters Record producers from Maryland Year of birth missing (living people) Jazzhole members Berklee College of Music faculty Berklee College of Music alumni