She crosses all musical genres, has 17 solo albums to her credit, has performed her award nominated hit songs on the Grammys and Oscars — and as a performer, songwriter and vocalist has a star-studded career that began at the age of four, making her one of the most beloved artists literally the world over.
She is Patti Austin — and this has been another very great year in the life of this extraordinarily talented artist.
She debuted a one-woman show, which she wrote and created, was nominated for yet another Grammy Award for her spectacular recording in tribute to Ella Fitzgerald For Ella, recorded live with the WDR Big Band in Colon, Germany; and co-created the musical extravaganza Beboperella, a modern day music driven ritual, reuniting and fueling the return for the spirits of Bebop, along with the music of Ella Fitzgerald. In conjunction with these two Ella projects, Ms. Austin has been touring the world and was featured in a 60 Minutes Two profile by correspondent Charlie Rose.
Austin, the daughter of a jazz trombonist and goddaughter of musical legends Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington, made her stage debut with Washington at the world-famous Apollo Theater in Harlem. During the 70′s she was the undisputed “queen” of the New York jingle session scene. Her voice was heard on literally hundreds of commercials, behind everyone from Paul Simon, Cat Stevens and Joe Cocker to Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, Luther Vandross and Diana Ross. At the beginning of the 80′s, Quincy Jones gave Patti exposure to a wider audience through her participation on his best-selling album Stuff Like That and the Grammy-winning classic The Dude. Her debut album for Quincy’s Qwest label included the chart-topping hit “Baby Come To Me,” a now classic duet with James Ingram. The pair reprised their success with the Oscar nominated “How Do You Keep the Music Playing?”