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FM
Former Member
quote:
Originally posted by Dove:

Jon Lucien, Smooth Singer of Mellow Jazz and Soul, Dies at 65


By BEN SISARIO

August 22, 2007

Jon Lucien, whose deep, buttery croon made him a mainstay of smooth jazz since the early 1970s, died on Saturday in Orlando, Fla. He was 65 and lived in Poinciana, Fla.


Jon Lucien in 1988

The cause was respiratory failure, said his wife, Delesa. He had been plagued by kidney problems in recent years and had a kidney transplant two years ago.

Singing over quiet arrangements and swaying rhythms that borrowed from Caribbean and Brazilian music, Mr. Lucien had a suave, romantic delivery, and even in his most passionate crescendos never seemed to break a sweat.

Songs like "Would You Believe in Me," "Lady Love" and his version of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Dindi" have entered eternal rotation on easy-listening radio, but Mr. Lucien never had a Top 40 hit. He complained that early in his career, his hybrid of light jazz and soul fell through the cracks of the music business.

"The record company was attempting to package me as a sort of ˜black Sinatra,' " he said in a recent interview. "Once the white women started to swoon at my performances, their attitudes quickly changed."

Born Lucien Harrigan on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, he grew up on nearby St. Thomas, an American territory. A fan of Nat King Cole, he played bass in his father's Latin band and moved to New York at 19, playing in wedding and bar mitzvah bands and recording jingles. His break came when an RCA executive heard him at a wedding. His debut album, "I Am Now," was released in 1970.

He recorded a string of albums for RCA and Columbia in the '70s, including "Rashida" and "Song for My Lady." He quit music for a time in the '80s but returned in 1991 with "Listen Love" (Mercury), which shot to the top of Billboard's contemporary jazz chart.

Two daughters died before him: Zeudi Jacira and Dalila, who died in the crash of TWA 800 off the coast of Long Island in 1996.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sisters, Esperanza and Leaita Harrigan; three brothers, Maxwell and Richard Harrigan, and Pedrito Robles; two sons, Hanif Lucien and Jamil Jerome; a stepson, Mark Lee; a daughter, Celesa Lucien; and two grandchildren.

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OMG I love this dude...Cain is the Jazz fest. TO over or is that during the Labour day weekend.. u know once when I was studing in TO I went to a Bistro at College and Spadina n I heard the best jazz one can at that time..love it.. wavey.gif
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quote:
Originally posted by cain:
Is like nobody know the man,or y'all not into jazz.

RIP dude.

Dove, is he one of your favs?


...seem so, yes, he is... I have some of his work personally given to me some years ago... I didn't know his music well then but I loved it when I listened to them... je tamie Msr. Lucien... my Frech is rusty... hope that was okay... Smile
FM
Isn't that wild how you can come across something/someone who can just turn your crank and yet others don't seem to have ever heard of them?

Hear this one. I heard an album by someone who I found out was a Canadian named John Mills Cockell who had one album I knew of, only a few of us seemed to know of this guy. About a year ago, I walked into a store that carried albums and decided to ask about this guy. Again, no one in the store knew of him but there were about six boxes of record under the counter and they were all Canadian artistes.
The guy laughed and said, he has quite a few more downstairs also. I walked to the counter stooped down and pulled out a few records, the third one was the darn trecord I had been searching for , for about 25 years now.
The guy took my business card after hearing what work I was into and about one week later he called to let me know that he had another by the same artist.

What do ya call that?
cain
Cain..glad u got the album...same thing happened to me in Bracebridge... my nephew insisted that we go up to Muskoko (sp) when I was there two years ago. We stayed at the place in Deer Hurst...because of the golfing etc...and I spend two night in Bracebridge at the Riverside Inn...walking up the street there I came up with stores selling all kinds of stuff and what u know I found some records that to this day my dad played "Hank" "Jim"...also this woman was selling a setting of culteries from some ship in the early 1900's in its original case owned by the Captain ..it was in great conditions I brought the whole set for $150.00 CD ..took it to auction and its worth was Euro1,500... wavey.gif so always tek a peek under the table...so to speak.. Big Grin
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