Gil Scott-Heron - Did You Know?
December 30, 2018Music facts, music trivia, interesting stories and much more. Introducing the "Did You Know" page about American musician, author and soul and jazz poet, Gil Scott-Heron.
Enjoy!
Gil Scott-Heron was an American musician, author and soul and jazz poet. He is known for his work as a spoken-word performer during the 1970s and 1980s, and his collaborative efforts with musician Brian Jackson featured a musical fusion of blues, jazz and soul, and also lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, which is delivered in both melismatic and rapping vocal styles by Gil Scott-Heron.
Scott-Heron's music during the early 1970s influenced and foreshadowed later African-American music genres like hip hop and neo soul. He is considered to be the first rapper/MC ever, and his recording work received much critical acclaim, especially one of his best-known works, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised".
Gil Scott-Heron talked about his song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" and said that the revolution actually takes place in your mind. Once you change your mind and decide that there's something wrong that you want to effect, that is when the revolution takes place.
Scott-Heron added that it is not all about fighting and going to war. It is about going to war with the problem and deciding that you can effect that problem. When you want to make things better, then you're a revolutionary.
Gil Scott-Heron remained active until he died in 2011. In 2010, Scott-Heron released his first new album in 16 years by the name of I'm New Here, and in 2012, The Last Holiday, a memoir he had been working on for years up to the time of his death, was published posthumously. That same year, Scott-Heron also received a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Gil Scott-Heron is also part of the exhibits at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and in an NMAAHC publication, Dream a World Anew.
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