b. 4 April 1972, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. This modern R&B singer toured with the Roots and Erykah Badu before embarking on a solo career, after striking a recording contract with the Hidden Beach label. Her other credits include co-writing the Roots’ Grammy Award-winning single ‘You Got Me’, writing and contributing vocals on Common’s acclaimed 2000 set Like Water For Chocolate, and working with Will Smith and Eric Benét.
Scott’s showbusiness career began with poetry and then theatre appearances, including a role in the musical Rent. Her sophisticated sound combines rap, poetry, hip-hop, jazz and blues and makes musical references to artists such as Gil Scott-Heron and Nikki Giovanni. Her enigmatically titled debut, Who Is Jill Scott? Words And Sounds Vol. 1, was produced by DJ Jazzy Jeff and won universal praise from critics and DJs upon its release in 2000. Inevitably, Scott was compared to her contemporaries, Lauryn Hill and Macy Gray, as part of a new wave of female singers somewhat clumsily described as ‘neo-soul’. Scott returned to the studio later in the year to complete work on tracks for her hastily released second album, Experience: Jill Scott 826+. This double-disc collection included a live set recorded mostly on 26 August 2001, and an additional disc featuring the new studio tracks. One of the singles taken from the album, ‘A Long Walk’, earned the singer a Grammy nomination in 2003.
In 2004, Scott completed work on her third album, Beautifully Human: Words And Sounds Vol. 2. During the same year she made her acting debut in the television movie Cavedweller, upon which she built in 2009 as center of the Showtime series #1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY.
By the end of the decade, Scott had quietly established herself as one of the leading forces of the enduring neo-soul brigade, the poet laureate of contemporary R&B.
