Jon Lucien

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Jon Lucien , actually John Lucien "Billy" Harrigan , (born January 8, 1942 in Tortola , British Virgin Islands , † August 14, 2007 in Orlando , Florida ) was a US-based smooth jazz singer and crooner with Caribbean roots.

Live and act

Lucien grew up as the son of a blind guitarist in Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands, learned guitar and piano and was influenced by Nat King Cole at an early age while he was still playing bass in his father's band. In 1961 he went to New York City , where he first made his way as a singer at weddings and bar mitzvahs . A wedding guest was at RCA Records , and in 1970 there appeared his debut album I am Now , followed in 1973 by Lady Love and Rashida , both a Grammy received, and Mind's Eye 1974 (with lists Love and World of Joy ) supported by Dave Grusin produced has been. At RCA he was supposed to be built up as a kind of "black Frank Sinatra ", but followed his own Latin American (he covered, among others, Dindi by Antônio Carlos Jobim ) and Caribbean-influenced style. By the end of the 1970s he recorded two albums on CBS ( Song for my lady 1975, Premonition 1976), the emerging disco wave pushed him to the sidelines. After one of his daughters, Zeudi Jacira, drowned in a swimming pool in 1980 , he fell into depression, accompanied by cocaine addiction. In 1982 Romantico was released , then it went underground for almost ten years. In 1991 he made a comeback with Listen Love (Mercury), and his old songs were played more often on the radio again. In 1993 Mother Natures Son (Polygram) was published. In England his music was popular as a remix with acid jazz fans.

In 1996, his 17-year-old daughter Dalila died in a TWA-800 plane crash off Long Island. He dedicated his album Endless is Love (Shanachie 1997) to her and the passengers . In 1999, By Request and Precious appeared . He also increasingly recorded sacred songs, for example on his last album The Wayfarer - Songs of Praise . Four albums were released on his Sugar Apple Records label . In 2005 he underwent a kidney transplant, which resulted in his death.

Lucien was married four times.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lucien, Jon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harrigan, John Lucien (real name); Harrigan, Billy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American smooth jazz singer and crooner
DATE OF BIRTH January 8, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Tortola , British Virgin Islands
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 2007
Place of death Orlando , Florida