About

Gregory Porter

Overview

Gregory Porter (born November 4, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, actor and musician working in vocal jazz, jazz pop and jazz. He has twice won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album: in 2014 for Liquid Spirit and in 2017 for Take Me to the Alley. He is celebrated for his creamy baritone and gospel-rooted songs.

Early life and education

Porter was born in Sacramento, California, and raised in Bakersfield, where his mother Ruth was a minister. She encouraged him to sing in church from an early age and was a major influence on his life. He has seven siblings, and his father, Rufus, was largely absent. After graduating from Highland High School in 1989, he received a full athletic scholarship as a football lineman at San Diego State University (SDSU Aztecs), but a shoulder injury during his junior year ended his football career. His mother died of cancer when he was 21; from her deathbed she told him, "Sing, baby, sing!"

Career

New York and early albums

In 2004 Porter moved to the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn with his brother Lloyd. He worked as a chef at Lloyd's restaurant, Bread-Stuy (now defunct), where he also performed. He played other neighborhood venues such as Sista's Place and Solomon's Porch, then moved on to Harlem's St. Nick's Pub, where he held a weekly residency; his touring band evolved out of it. He was also a member of the original Broadway cast of It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues.

Porter released two albums on the Motéma label, Water (2010) and Be Good (2012). Water was nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards, and the title track of Be Good was nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance at the 55th Grammy Awards. On May 17, 2013, he signed with Blue Note Records (under Universal Music Group).

Liquid Spirit

Produced by Brian Bacchus, his third album Liquid Spirit was released on September 2, 2013, in Europe and September 17 in the US. It won the 2014 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album and reached the top 10 of the UK album chart, a level of commercial success rarely achieved by jazz albums. It was certified gold by the BPI for sales of over 100,000 units in the UK.

2014–2017

In August 2014 Porter released the single "The 'In' Crowd", and on May 9, 2015, he sang "As Time Goes By" at the televised concert VE Day 70: A Party to Remember at Horse Guards Parade, London. His fourth album, Take Me to the Alley, arrived on May 6, 2016, and was The Guardian's album of the week (Alexis Petridis). He played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival on June 26, 2016, Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park in September, and BBC Children in Need in November, a night dedicated to Sir Terry Wogan. In January 2017 he performed "Holding On" on The Graham Norton Show; in September he appeared at Later... with Jools Holland: Later 25 at the Royal Albert Hall; and in October he performed "Mona Lisa" on The Graham Norton Show with Jeff Goldblum on piano. He also released Nat King Cole & Me in 2017.

2020 onward

Porter released his sixth studio album, All Rise, on August 28, 2020. On November 5, 2021, he issued the Blue Note compilation Still Rising - The Collection and performed "Revival" on The Graham Norton Show the same day. He played Jools' Annual Hootenanny on New Year's Eve 2021, and on May 12, 2021, launched the six-episode cooking show The PorterHouse with Gregory Porter. On June 2, 2022, with the London Community Gospel Choir, he sang "A Life Lived with Grace," composed for the lighting of The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Beacons.

On September 14, 2023, he released the single "Somebody" with TSHA and Ellie Goulding, and 2023 also saw remixes of "In My Heart" by Carl Cox, Paul Woolford and Moby, among others. His seventh studio album, Christmas Wish, came out on November 3, 2023, on Decca and Blue Note, and on December 13 he performed in "Christmas at The Royal Albert Hall." In 2024 he released remixes of "Liquid Spirit" (including Jonas Blue), "The World (Is Going Up In Flames)" from the BBC series This Town, a new version of "We Have All The Time In The World," and Christmas Wish (Deluxe) on December 6. In September 2024 he announced a 12-night UK tour starting in April 2025, including Manchester's new Co-op Live arena. In 2025 he competed in season six of The Masked Singer UK as "Dressed Crab," finishing second, and in December released Home For The Holidays and the soundtrack to the Netflix film Goodbye June.

Musical style

Describing his own style in a 2014 interview, Porter named Donny Hathaway, Nat King Cole and Bill Withers, saying he hears something of himself in all of them that is similar to the gospel culture he grew up in. He also hears that gospel familiarity in the songs of Ray Charles, voices rooted in gospel that influence his soul. He writes much of his own material, and critics have praised both his distinctive singing and his compositions. The Daily Telegraph called his voice "a creamy baritone that flows thick and smooth," while The New York Times described him as a jazz singer with thrilling presence and a burnished, uplifting baritone.