Shaun Murphy (singer)
Encyclopedia
Shaun Murphy is an American R&B singer songwriter, best known for her powerhouse singing style. Her recording career started in 1971 with Motown Records
and continues to this day.
and was noticed by an employee of Motown in a touring theater production along with Texas native Meat Loaf
. The two were signed by Rare Earth Records, a division of Motown Records
as Stoney and Meatloaf
in 1971. The pairing was short-lived, and became defunct, as a decision of Motown management. Only Murphy was retained under contract after the breakup of the duo.
After a period of inactivity with the new division of Motown in Los Angeles, she made a decision to leave Motown, due to corporate changes within the company, and contacted Punch Andrews
for possible opportunities back in her high school
home
town
of Detroit. Murphy then relocated back to Detroit, to work with Bob Seger
, in 1973, with The Borneo Band. Murphy had worked with Seger previously in his very early years prior to his later notoriety. In the liner notes of Bob Seger's live album Nine Tonight
, she is credited for singing backup vocals for the entire tour. Murphy also toured with Bob Seger on his 2006–2007 Face the Promise Tour, as well as all tours and studio session work with Seger since 1973.
She returned again to live in Los Angeles in 1985 to work with Eric Clapton
on his Behind the Sun
album. Murphy was then offered a position by Clapton as a member of his band to do the entire tour after hearing her vocal style. The Behind The Sun tour was featured at the first Live Aid
concert in 1985.
Murphy's career in vocals has been both as lead singer, and as a Session musician
throughout her many years in the music industry. She has sung, toured, and recorded with such acts as The Moody Blues
, Bob Seger
, Herbie Hancock
, Phil Collins
, Glenn Frey
, Joe Walsh
, Maria Muldaur
, Bruce Hornsby
, Michael Bolton
, J.J. Cale
, Coco Montoya
. and Alice Cooper
, in addition to Broadway theater, in national road companies in two popular rock musicals, "Hair" and "Sgt. Pepper's".
In September 1993, Murphy joined the highly acclaimed band Little Feat
, hired as a lead singer replacing Craig Fuller
. Murphy is quoted as saying that she took no one's place, nor would she, as a lead singer with Little Feat. Murphy left the band at the end of February 2009, after 16 years' tenure and over 1,400 live appearances.
She is now pursuing her blues and soul solo projects. In September 2009 she released the album Livin' The Blues. A second album, The Trouble With Lovin, followed in 2010.
She also continues to work with Bob Seger.
(2009)
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
and continues to this day.
Biography
Murphy moved to Detroit, Michigan as a teenager, singing in venues such as Detroit's historic Grande BallroomGrande Ballroom
The Grande Ballroom is a historic live music venue located at 8952 Grand River Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. The building was designed by Detroit engineer and architect Charles N. Agree in 1928 and originally served as a multi-purpose building, hosting retail business on the first floor and a large...
and was noticed by an employee of Motown in a touring theater production along with Texas native Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
. The two were signed by Rare Earth Records, a division of Motown Records
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
as Stoney and Meatloaf
Stoney & Meatloaf (band)
Stoney & Meatloaf is a duet of singer Meat Loaf and Stoney . They released only one album in 1971, by the team's same name. Meat Loaf and Murphy met while performing with the Detroit cast of Hair. Meat Loaf, whose name was styled "Meatloaf" on the album, had a minor hit "What You See Is What You Get"...
in 1971. The pairing was short-lived, and became defunct, as a decision of Motown management. Only Murphy was retained under contract after the breakup of the duo.
After a period of inactivity with the new division of Motown in Los Angeles, she made a decision to leave Motown, due to corporate changes within the company, and contacted Punch Andrews
Punch Andrews
Edward "Punch" Andrews was a music producer who produced many albums of Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band. Andrews was also Seger's manager.- References :...
for possible opportunities back in her high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
home
Home
A home is a place of residence or refuge. When it refers to a building, it is usually a place in which an individual or a family can rest and store personal property. Most modern-day households contain sanitary facilities and a means of preparing food. Animals have their own homes as well, either...
town
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
of Detroit. Murphy then relocated back to Detroit, to work with Bob Seger
Bob Seger
Robert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s...
, in 1973, with The Borneo Band. Murphy had worked with Seger previously in his very early years prior to his later notoriety. In the liner notes of Bob Seger's live album Nine Tonight
Nine Tonight
Nine Tonight is a live album by American rock band Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, released in 1981 . The album was recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan, in June 1980 and at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts in October 1980. "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You" was a U.S...
, she is credited for singing backup vocals for the entire tour. Murphy also toured with Bob Seger on his 2006–2007 Face the Promise Tour, as well as all tours and studio session work with Seger since 1973.
She returned again to live in Los Angeles in 1985 to work with Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
on his Behind the Sun
Behind the Sun (Eric Clapton album)
Behind the Sun is a 1985 album by the English guitarist Eric Clapton. The title of the album comes from a line from Albert King's "Louisiana Blues". It is also Clapton's first collaborative project with Phil Collins. Often referred to as his "comeback album", it was received very well in both the...
album. Murphy was then offered a position by Clapton as a member of his band to do the entire tour after hearing her vocal style. The Behind The Sun tour was featured at the first Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
concert in 1985.
Murphy's career in vocals has been both as lead singer, and as 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...
throughout her many years in the music industry. She has sung, toured, and recorded with such acts as The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
, Bob Seger
Bob Seger
Robert Clark "Bob" Seger is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s...
, Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...
, Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
, Glenn Frey
Glenn Frey
Glenn Lewis Frey is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as a founding member of the Eagles. Frey formed the Eagles after he met drummer Don Henley in 1970 and the two eventually joined Linda Ronstadt's backup band for her summer tour. The Eagles formed in 1971 and...
, Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh
Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...
, Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s...
, Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Hornsby
Bruce Randall Hornsby is an American singer, pianist, accordion player, and songwriter. Known for the spontaneity and creativity of his live performances, Hornsby draws frequently from classical, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Motown, rock, blues, and jam band musical traditions with his songwriting and...
, 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...
, J.J. Cale
J.J. Cale
JJ Cale , born John Weldon Cale on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and musician. Cale is one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz influences. Cale's personal style has...
, Coco Montoya
Coco Montoya
Coco Montoya is an American blues guitarist and former member of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.-Musical career:...
. and Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, in addition to Broadway theater, in national road companies in two popular rock musicals, "Hair" and "Sgt. Pepper's".
In September 1993, Murphy joined the highly acclaimed band Little Feat
Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....
, hired as a lead singer replacing Craig Fuller
Craig Fuller
Craig Fuller is an American musician and songwriter. Co-founder of Pure Prairie League, along with John David Call and George Ed Powell. Fuller departed after their second album, Bustin' Out, due to draft board problems. He returned to the music business in 1976 for two LPs with American Flyer...
. Murphy is quoted as saying that she took no one's place, nor would she, as a lead singer with Little Feat. Murphy left the band at the end of February 2009, after 16 years' tenure and over 1,400 live appearances.
She is now pursuing her blues and soul solo projects. In September 2009 she released the album Livin' The Blues. A second album, The Trouble With Lovin, followed in 2010.
She also continues to work with Bob Seger.
Other entries
- The Shaun Murphy BandThe Shaun Murphy BandThe Shaun Murphy Band was founded in early 2009 by veteran blues and soul singer Shaun Murphy. Within a matter of a few weeks after release of the band's first album, Livin' The Blues, the album jumped to position 10 on the Roots Report Top 50 Blues Weekly Chart...
Livin' The Blues (album)
Livin' The Blues is an album recorded by The Shaun Murphy Band, released in September 2009. It was the first release by Shaun Murphy after leaving Little Feat in February 2009.The album was recorded at The Colemine Studios and produced by Randy Coleman....
(2009)