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Gil Scott-Heron (born April 1 1949 ) is an American Poet and Musician known primarily for his late 1960s and early 1970s work as a Spoken Word performer. He is associated with African-American militant activism, and is best known for his poem and song " The Revolution Will Not Be Televised ". HISTORY/OVERVIEW Gil Scott-Heron was born in Chicago, Illinois , but spent his early childhood in Tennessee and later moved to the Bronx where he attended high school. After spending a year in college at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania , he released his first novel, ''The Vulture'', which was well-received. He began his recording career in 1970 with the LP ''Small Talk at 125th and Lenox''. He was assisted by Bob Thiele of Flying Dutchman Records , co-writer Brian Jackson , and jazz musicians Hubert Laws , Bernard Purdie (who later recorded "Delights of the Garden" with The Last Poets ), Charlie Saunders, Eddie Knowles, Ron Carter and Bert Jones (see 1970 In Music ). The album included aggressive diatribes against white-owned corporate media and middle-class America's ignorance of the problems of inner cities in songs such as "Whitey on the Moon". His 1971 album ''Pieces of a Man'' used more conventional song structures than the loose, spoken-word feel of ''Small Talk'', and he didn't reach the charts until 1975 with the song "Johannesburg". His biggest hit was 1978's "The Bottle" (produced by Scott-Heron and longtime partner Brian Jackson), which peaked at #15 on the R&B charts (see 1978 In Music ). During the 1980s, Scott-Heron continued recording, frequently criticizing President Ronald Reagan and his conservative policies: ::''"The idea concerns the fact that this country wants nostalgia. They want to go back as far as they can -- even if it's only as far as last week. Not to face now or tomorrow, but to face backwards. And yesterday was the day of our cinema heroes riding to the rescue at the last possible moment. The day of the man in the white hat or the man on the white horse - or the man who always came to save America at the last moment -- someone always came to save America at the last moment -- especially in 'B' movies. And when America found itself having a hard time facing the future, they looked for people like John Wayne. But since John Wayne was no longer available, they settled for Ronald Reagan -- and it has placed us in a situation that we can only look at -- like a 'B' movie."'' (Gil Scott-Heron, "'B' Movie") Scott-Heron was dropped by Arista in 1985 (see 1985 In Music ) and quit recording, though he continued to tour. In 1993, he signed to TVT Records and released ''Spirits'', an album that included the seminal track "Message to the Messengers". The first track on the album was a position point poem to the rap artists of the day and included such comments as:
The poem was a recognition of Scott-Heron's status as a Founding Father of Rap and a plea for the new generation of rappers to speak for change rather than perpetuate the current social situation, and to be more articulate and artistic: ::''"There's a big difference between putting words over some music, and blending those same words into the music. There's not a lot of humour. They use a lot of slang and colloquialisms, and you don't really see inside the person. Instead, you just get a lot of posturing."'' In 2001, Gil Scott-Heron was incarcerated for cocaine possession. While out of jail in 2002, he appeared on the '' Blazing Arrow '' album by Blackalicious . His father, 'The Black Arrow' Gil Heron , was a Soccer player for Glasgow's Celtic Football Club in the 1950s. In fact, when he joined Celtic in 1951 he became the team's first black player ever. At the time, Celtic F.C. was the team of Scotland's Irish immigrants. Mark T. Watson , a student of Scott-Heron's work, dedicated a collection of poetry to Gil entitled '' Ordinary Guy '' which also contained a foreword by Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets . The book was published in the UK in 2004 by Fore-Word Press Ltd . DISCOGRAPHY BOOKS FILMS
SAMPLES
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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