Claytoven Richardson is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 singer, instrumentalist

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

, and author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

.

Biography

Born Clayton D. Richardson on May 23, 1956. Larry Batiste, a childhood friend (and later business partner), accidentally fused his given name with that of the famous composer to form the name "Claytoven."

Career

His musical career spans nearly three decades, during which he has been awarded several gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards.

In 1979 Claytoven made his recording studio and recording artist debut as a part of the group Bill Summers and Summers Heat. The group recorded one album for Prestige Records

Prestige Records

Prestige Records was a jazz record label founded in 1949 by Bob Weinstock. The company was located at 203 South Washington Avenue in Bergenfield, New Jersey, and recorded hundreds of albums by many of the leading jazz musicians of the day, sometimes issuing them under the names of several...

 and three albums for MCA Records

MCA Records

MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...

. The group saw moderate success with the songs, "Call It What You Want" and "Jam The Box".

After Summers Heat, Claytoven went on to become a session musician

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

 with his first major start singing background vocals for producer Narada Michael Walden

Narada Michael Walden

Narada Michael Walden is an American producer, drummer, singer, and songwriter. He was given the name Narada by guru Sri Chinmoy in the early 1970s and his musical career spans three decades, in which he was awarded several gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards...

 on the hit George Benson

George Benson

George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....

 single "Kisses In the Moonlight". His second recording session was as a guest vocalist and background vocalist on the breakout album "Duotones

Duotones

Duotones is the fourth studio album by saxophonist Kenny G. It was released by Arista Records in 1986, and peaked at number 1 on the Contemporary Jazz Albums chart, number 5 on the Jazz Albums chart, number 6 on the Billboard 200 and number 8 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.The album was certified...

" for saxophonist, Kenny G

Kenny G

Kenneth Bruce Gorelick , better known by his stage name Kenny G, is an American, adult contemporary and smooth jazz saxophonist. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986...

. He has since performed on numerous gold and platinum recordings featuring Tevin Campbell

Tevin Campbell

Tevin Jermod Campbell is an American R&B singer-songwriter and actor. He scored a string of R&B chart hits as a teenager in the early to mid-1990s.-Music career:...

, Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, both on his early solo albums and those recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack...

, Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

, Peabo Bryson

Peabo Bryson

Peabo Bryson is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, born in Greenville, South Carolina...

, New Kids on the Block

New Kids on the Block

New Kids on the Block are an American boy band from Boston, Massachusetts, assembled in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr. The band currently consists of brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood.New Kids on the Block enjoyed success in the late 1980s and...

, Ricky Martin

Ricky Martin

Enrique "Ricky" Martín Morales , better known as Ricky Martin, is a Puerto Rican and Spanish pop singer and actor who achieved prominence, first as a member of the Latin boy band Menudo, then as a solo artist since 1991.During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide...

, Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...

, Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...

, Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lynn Lopez is an American actress, singer, record producer, dancer, television personality, and fashion designer. Lopez began her career as a dancer on the television comedy program In Living Color. Subsequently venturing into acting, she gained recognition in the 1995 action-thriller...

, Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Although known for her soul recordings and referred to as The Queen of Soul, Franklin is also adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel music, and rock. Rolling Stone magazine ranked her atop its list of The Greatest Singers of All...

, Natalie Cole

Natalie Cole

Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...

, Celine Dion

Celine Dion

Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...

, and many others.

After being in the music business for some time he realized a need to increase the pool of well trained professional vocalists. So in 2000 Claytoven also stepped into the role of teacher by founding the "Studio Training Workshop for Vocalists", a workshop designed to help aspiring singers pursue a career as a professional recording vocalist by bridging the gap between the academic and professional music worlds. He currently teaches this and other workshops at San Francisco State University and for various other music programs across the country.

In his efforts to further create growth in the professional music community he has also penned the book, "The Professional Studio Vocalist". Though he is involved with many educational and literary projects, he remains active as a session musician.

Artist Albums

Year	Title	Artist
1979	"On Sunshine"	Bill Summers & Summers Heat
1980	"Call It What You Want"	Bill Summers & Summers Heat
1981	"Jam The Box"	Bill Summers & Summers Heat
1982	"Seventeen"	Bill Summers & Summers Heat
1983	"Private Eye"	Private Eye
1985	"Nside"	Makoto

Session Work

Year	Title	Artist
1982	"Keep It Live"	The Dazz Band
1983	"Love For Love"	The Whispers
1984	"Tiggi Clay"	Tiggi Clay
1986	"While The City Sleeps"	George Benson
-	"Duotones"	Kenny G
-	"Fizzy Qwick"	Fizzy Qwick Fizzy Qwick Fizzy Qwick is an American singer and songwriter who has recorded in various musical styles ranging from R&B to New Wave. Her recordings from the early 1980s have become popular among fans of Northern Soul since the early 21st century.-Biography:Born Debravon Lewis on February 9, 1953 in Solano...
1987	"Whitney"	Whitney Houston
1988	"One Moment In Time"	Whitney Houston
1989	"Through The Storm"	Aretha Franklin
-	"A Collection"	Barbra Streisand
1990	"I'm Your Baby Tonight"	Whitney Houston
1991	"So Intense"	Lisa Fischer
-	"Time, Love & Tenderness"	Michael Bolton
1992	"Heaven And Earth"	Al Jarreau
1993	"Duets"	Elton John
1995	"Take me Higher"	Diana Ross
1996	"Soulful Strut"	Grover Washington
1997	"Butterfly"	Mariah Carey
1998	"In & Out Of Love"	Patti Austin
1999	"Marc Anthony"	Marc Anthony
2000	"Sound Loaded"	Ricky Martin
2001	"Renaissance"	Lionel Ritchie
2002	"A New Day Has Come"	Celine Dion

Soundtracks

Year	Title
1987	"Beverly Hills Cops II"
1989	"Everybody’s All American"
1992	"The Bodyguard"
1993	"Mr Wonderful"
1994	"Street Fighter"
-	"Jason's Lyric"
-	"Crooklyn"
1996	"The Associate"
1997	"A Smile Like Yours"
-	"Hercules"
-	"In & Out"
-	"The Hunchback Of Notre Dame"
1999	"Our Friend Martin"
2001	"Snow Dogs"
2005	"Rent"