Gil Scott-Heron

• 1. Chicago To Lincoln

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  Gilbert Scott-Heron arrived in Chicago on the 1st of April 1949. His mother Bobbie Scott was an opera singer who performed with the Oratorio Society of New York. His father Gil Heron carried the nickname The Black Arrow and played football for Celtic F.C. in Glasgow during the 1950s. Parents separated early so young Gilbert moved to Jackson Tennessee to live with his grandmother Lillie Scott. He returned to The Bronx after she died when he turned twelve years old. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School before transferring to The Fieldston School. An administrator once asked him how he would feel seeing a classmate pass by in a limousine while walking up from the subway. Scott-Heron replied that they felt the same way because neither could afford such vehicles. This boldness became a hallmark of his later recordings.

• 2. First Records And Rhymes

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  Flying Dutchman Records released Small Talk at 125th and Lenox in 1970. Bob Thiele produced the album while Eddie Knowles and Charlie Saunders handled conga duties. David Barnes contributed percussion and vocals to the fourteen-track project. Themes included television superficiality and white middle-class ignorance regarding inner-city struggles. Whitey on the Moon appeared as a spoken-word poem within the collection. Brian Jackson joined Scott-Heron shortly after this debut. Pieces of a Man arrived in 1971 with more conventional song structures than its predecessor. Ron Carter played bass guitar alongside Bernard Pretty Purdie on drums. Hubert Laws added flute and saxophone to the mix. Free Will followed in 1972 with the same core musicians returning for another session.

• 3. Winter In America

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  Bob Adams took over drumming duties for Winter in America recorded in 1974. Danny Bowens played bass during these sessions. Critics regard this collaboration between Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson as their most artistic effort. The following year Midnight Band: The First Minute of a New Day emerged from their partnership. Johannesburg became a single rallying cry against apartheid in South Africa released in 1975. It later reappeared in 12-inch format alongside Waiting for the Axe to Fall and B-movie. A live album titled It's Your World arrived in 1976. The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron offered a recording of pure spoken poetry in 1978. Angel Dust peaked at number fifteen on R&B charts that same year. No Nukes concerts held at Madison Square Garden featured We Almost Lost Detroit in 1979.

• 4. Prison And Return

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  A New York State court sentenced Scott-Heron to one to three years imprisonment in 2001 for cocaine possession. He appeared on Blackalicious Blazing Arrow album while out on parole in 2002. BBC TV broadcast a documentary about him called Gil Scott-Heron: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised in 2003. Police arrested him again in October 2003 for crack pipe possession resulting in six months behind bars. Another sentence ranging from two to four years began the 5th of July 2006 after he left a drug rehabilitation center. He claimed the clinic refused HIV medication which led to public presumption of his status confirmed in 2008. Parole came the 23rd of May 2007 allowing him to resume performing. A show at SOB's restaurant and nightclub in New York marked his return the 13th of September 2007. He announced work on a new album and resumed writing The Last Holiday memoir during this period.

• 5. Final Albums And Death

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  XL Recordings released I'm New Here on the 9th of February 2010 as his first studio album in sixteen years. Richard Russell produced the record with engineer Lawson White working at Clinton Studios. The twenty-eight-minute collection contained fifteen tracks plus casual interludes collected during sessions. Critics praised the half-sung half-spoken delivery as intimate yet haunting. We're New Here remix arrived in 2011 featuring production by Jamie xx. Nothing New followed the 19th of April 2014 as stripped-down piano and vocal recordings. Scott-Heron died the 27th of May 2011 in New York City following a European trip. He had disclosed being HIV-positive for several years in a 2008 interview. His memorial service took place the 2nd of June 2011 at Riverside Church where Kanye West performed two songs from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. He rests at Kensico Cemetery in Westchester County.

• 6. Estate Battles And Honors

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  No will existed when Scott-Heron passed away so Raquiyah Kelly-Heron filed papers in Manhattan Surrogate's Court August 2013. She claimed Rumal Rackley was not his son and should be excluded from the estate. Rackley stated court papers indicated Scott-Heron asked him to administer the estate. A 2011 lawsuit between Rackley and daughter Gia settled for an undisclosed sum early 2013. DNA tests completed by Rackley using Scott-Heron's brother revealed no common male lineage though he refused further testing. The case concluded December 2018 when the court ruled all three were legal heirs. Letters of Administration granted to Rackley May 2019. Posthumous honors included a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award presented 2012. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted him 2021 receiving the Early Influence Award. The Last Holiday memoir published January 2012 contained episodic storytelling about late twentieth century America.