About Me
Recipient of seven Grammy nominations for best jazz vocal performance, Mark Murphy is one of the world's best jazz vocalists performing today. During his prolific 40-year recording career, Murphy has released more than 60 albums, performed on the Tonight Show and in venues such as the Apollo Theater and acquired a fan base that ranges from vocal great Peggy Lee to composer Alec Wilder to legendary Ella Fitzgerald, who once declared "he is my equal."It was Sammy Davis, Jr. who first discovered the young Mark Murphy in 1953 at a jam session in Murphy's hometown of Syracuse, New York. Impressed with Murphy's talent, Davis invited him to his show that night and ultimately was responsible for getting him on the Tonight Show with Steve Allen. It was Allen's composition, "This Could Be the Start of Something Big," that Murphy recorded a hit rendition of in 1959.In the early '60s, Murphy hit the charts again with his single of "Fly Me To the Moon" and was voted "New Star of the Year" in Downbeat Magazine's Reader's Poll. He also spent several years in London, working clubs and building an audience throughout Europe. By the 70's, he was recording an average of an album a year with the Muse label, where he produced some of his finest work -- the Nat King Cole Songbook Vol. I and II, Bop for Kerouac I and II, Living Room, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Beauty and the Beast and his classic, Stolen Moments. Murphy's talent by the '80's was widely known and critically acclaimed, resulting in numerous Grammy nominations. In recent years, he has written, sung and rapped songs with some of the industry's finest and continues to tour internationally.Quite clearly, Mark Murphy's jazz is timeless, and he transcends generations. As Liza Minelli once stated about his appeal, "There's a party goin' on in Mark's head, and I want to go to it!"
