Marla Glen is an American

United States

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

 jazz and (rhythm and) blues singer.

Life

Marla grew up on the South Side of Chicago, the daughter of Dell Glen (American-Jamaican) and Cortez Glen (Mexican-American). Glen's father was a blues guitarist, her grandmother a gospel singer, and her mother was friends with the legendary blues guitarist BB King. Her mother Dell graduated from the University of Chicago

University of Chicago

The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 and went on to become a successful banker who worked for Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...

. Glen's father, an American patriot who joined the military at a young age, became an engineer based in Frankfurt, Germany. Like many other children in Chicago's historic Bronzeville neighborhood (also known as the Black Metropolis) who received gifts and inspiration from folks like Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters

McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...

 and BB King, Marla was given a toy harmonica as a child, and her musical talent became immediately apparent. Glen was only 11 years old when she wrote her first song "Repertoire", a title that has won 3 gold records and one platinum, and appears on Glen's 1996 release, "Love and Respect".
Since 1998 she lives in Heilbronn

Heilbronn

Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....

 in Germany.
On July 2, 2004 she entered a civil union

Civil union

A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...

 with Sabrina Conley at the local Rathaus

Rathaus

Rathaus is a German word literally translating as “council house”, meaning “city hall” or “town hall”. Many specific buildings are referred to as Rathaus even when spoken about in English.Some important Rathäuser are:* Rathaus Schöneberg...

. In the meantime, they got divorced.

Career

As a teenager, Marla Glen set out to pursue her musical career. The story of Glen's early days "taking a gamble" on her musical abilities is recorded in the lyrics of "Travel," a song that appears on her first breakthrough album, "This Is Marla Glen".

The gamble paid off: Glen won first prize performing at a local Jam-session in New Orleans and was rewarded with a trip to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, where she first performed before a European audience. When invited to stay in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, she did, and formed the Marla Glen Band in Niort

Niort

Niort is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France.The Latin name of the city was Novioritum.The population of Niort is 60,486 and more than 137,000 people live in the urban area....

 France. In 1993, catapulted to stardom overnight sensation her debut album "This Is Marla Glen" (two-time gold, two-time platinum).

Marla Glen was ruthlessly exploited by the music industry, and spent a period in deep reflection, which she talks about in a 2002 interview with Jakob Buhre (in German). The interview is accompanied by a spectacular series of photos which may say as much to the English-language reader as the German words can barely convey.

In 1998, Glen went on tour with her 1997 release "Our World", and made a strong comeback in 2003, with "Friends".

Glen is known for her haunting lyrics, for her fierce commitment to social change and the cause of human unity. Most recently, she has dedicated her time and efforts to the education of children, and was declared the "patron saint" of the Knowledge Festival, organized by Bildung ohne Grenzen (Education without Barriers) in Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Germany (2007).

Discography

Albums:

• 1993: This Is Marla Glen
• 1996: Love and Respect
• 1997: Our World
• 1998: The Best of Marla Glen
• 2003: Friends
• 2005: Greatest Hits Live
• 2006: Dangerous
• 2011: Humanology

External links

• Marla Glen's official homepage

Photo Collections:

• Marla Glen signing autographs February 2003.
• Photos from concert in Germany, 2002
• Marla Glen in concert in Cologne, 2002 (Click on the words "Galerie Öffnen")
• Marla Glen at the Jazz Fest in Wiesen, 2003