Gil Scott-Heron

• Genre: Jazz-Funk
• Hometown: New York

About

Jazz and R&B-infused street poet Gil Scott-Heron is considered to be one of the godfathers of rap but while his impressive baritone adds weight to his often politically charged poems, he's also able to kick in with a robust, Lou Rawls-style singing voice. Heron's early albums with Brian Jackson were Jazz-Funk affairs that had a greater connection to the radical FM rock of the early 1970s than to most R&B of the day. But by the middle of that decade, Heron's voice and material were strong enough to get airtime on urban airwaves, and he scored hits with "The Bottle" and "Johannesburg." Heron has only recorded once during the '90s, but his original, multigenre mix of songs and spoken word has been embraced by the British Acid Jazz generation but serious personal demons have waylaid his career.

- Nick Dedina