Stacy Kent

Stacy Kent attended Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey. She graduated with a Degree in Comparative Literature from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, and moved to England after her graduation. While studying at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she met the tenor saxophonist, Jim Tomlinson, whom she married on August 9, 1991.In the early 90's, Stacey began her professional career singing regularly in a popular nightspot, Cafe Boheme in London's Soho. Here a generation of young Londoners came to appreciate her unique, sophisticated and timeless approach to the Great American Songbook. After two or three years, Kent began opening for established jazz acts across the road at London's famous Ronnie Scott's nightclub.Her first CD, Close Your Eyes, was released in 1997. She has released five CDs since then, as of 2006, and has also featured on Tomlinson's albums, most recently The Lyric (2005), which won "Album of the Year" at the 2006 BBC Jazz Awards.Kent's music has been championed by critic and jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton, and she won the 2001 British Jazz Award and the 2002 BBC Jazz Award for Best Vocalist. She also presents jazz programmes on BBC Radio 2 and 3.At the 2006 BBC Jazz Awards, Jim Tomlinson announced that Kent had signed with Blue Note records label.Kent's album, The Boy Next Door achieved Gold album status in France in September, 2006.
Breakfast On The Morning Tram (2007) achieved Gold album status in France in November, 2007 and Gold album status in Germany in February, 2008.
Stacey appeared in Ian McKellen's 1995 film version of Richard III, singing a jazz version of Christopher Marlowe's poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.Booker Prize-winning novelist Kazuo Ishiguro wrote the liner notes to Kent's 2003 album, In Love Again. Ishiguro has co-written four of the songs on the fall 2007 Blue Note album Breakfast on the Morning Tram. One of the songs written by Ishiguro, "The Ice Hotel," with music composed by Jim Tomlinson won first prize in the International Songwriting Competition in April 2008.
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Neoyorkina de nacimiento y licenciada en literatura comparada, Stacey Kent es una gran cantante de jazz de vocación sobrevenida (entró en una escuela de música en Inglaterra casi por casualidad) y su progresión desde "Close Your Eyes", su primer disco grabado en el 97, ha sido extraordinaria. Admiradora de Joan Baez, Stacey logró su mayor éxito con su disco "The Boy Next Door", interpretando temas clásicos de diversos compositores que hicieron historia desde diferentes ambitos y épocas musicales. El 2004, Stacey realizó una gira por todo el mundo presentando su álbum posterior "Shall We Dance" y, en los tiempos muertos, fué dando cuerpo a su nuevo trabajo en compañía de Jim Tomlimson, saxofonista casado con Stacey desde el 91. En "Breakfast On The Morning Tram", interviene el novelista Kazuo Ishiguro componiendo la letra de algunos temas y, por supuesto, su marido Jim. Temas como "Landslide" (Stevie Nicks), "So Many Stars" (Sergio Mendes), "What A Wonderful World" (Louis Armstrong) y "Ces Petits Riens" (Serge Gainsbourg), interpretados con esa voz para nada poderosa, pero rica en matices y original como pocas, destacan en este nuevo y recomendable disco.