Marlena Shaw, best known for her 1969 hit “California Soul,” died Friday, January 19.
Shaw’s daughter, Marla Bradshaw, announced the news in a video posted on the singer’s Facebook page Friday night.
“It is with a heavy heart for myself and my family that I announce the passing of our beloved mother, your beloved icon and artist Marlena Shaw today,” Bradshaw said in the video.
The jazz singer “went very peacefully,” her daughter said, and the family was also “at peace” when she died.
“She went to listen to some of her favorite songs,” her daughter said.
Bradshaw said she would not share “too many details” about her mother’s death, the cause of which has not been released, adding: “When it needs to be known, it will be.”
According to her daughter, the singer was 84 years old at the time of her death.
Marlena Shaw performs on stage at Sala Apolo in January 2009 in Barcelona, Spain.
Jordi Vidal/Redferns
During her long career, Shaw was signed to several record labels. She began with Cadet Records, where she released two studio albums, including 1969’s Spice of lifewhich featured her version of Ashford & Simpson’s “California Soul,” the song for which she became best known.
In 1972, she signed a contract with Blue Note group Universal Music, making history as their first singer.
She released five albums and several singles while with Blue Note, according to their biography of her, and “dazzled audiences with her heady mix of straight-ahead jazz, soul, pop and classic R&B.”
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Marlena Shaw performs on stage at Sala Apolo in January 2009 in Barcelona, Spain.
Jordi Vidal/Redferns
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Shaw also worked with Verve Records, the same label Ella Fitzgerald was signed to, and the label released a statement Friday in response to the news of her death.
“We are saddened by the passing of Marlene Shaw, the wonderful singer whose ‘California Soul’ is as popular today as it ever was and whose album It Is Love: recorded live at Vine St. they helped relaunch the Verve label in 1987,” the statement said.
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Source: HIS Education