Events

927 – Battle of the Bosnian Highlands: the Croatian army, led by King Tomislav, defeats the Bulgarian Army.

1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death.

1153 – Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland.

1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.

1798 – The Battle of Oulart Hill takes place in Wexford, Ireland.

1799 – War of the Second Coalition: Austrian forces defeats the French at Winterthur, Switzerland, securing control of the northeastern Swiss Plateau because of the town's location at the junction of seven cross-roads.

1812 – Bolivian War of Independence: In Bolivia, the Battle of La Coronilla, in which the women from Cochabamba fight against the Spanish army.

1813 – War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.

1849 – The Great Hall of Euston station in London is opened.

1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian Unification.

1863 – American Civil War: First Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson.

1883 – Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.

1896 – The F4-strength St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri and East Saint Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and causing $2.9 billion in damage (1997 USD).

1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.

1907 – Bubonic plague breaks out in San Francisco, California.

1919 – The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.

1927 – The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacture of the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make the Ford Model A.

1930 – The Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public.

1933 – New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.

1933 – The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon Three Little Pigs, with its hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?"

1933 – The Century of Progress World's Fair opens in Chicago, Illinois.

1935 – New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).

1937 – In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.

1940 – World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops. Two survive.

1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an "unlimited national emergency".

1941 – World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men.

1942 – World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is assassinated in Prague.

1957 – Toronto's CHUM-AM, (1050 kHz) becomes Canada's first radio station to broadcast only top 40 Rock n' Roll music format.

1958 – The F-4 Phantom II makes its first flight.

1960 – In Turkey, a military coup removes President Celal Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.

1962 – The Centralia, Pennsylvania mine fire starts.

1965 – Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.

1967 – Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census.

1967 – The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is launched by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.

1968 – The meeting of the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (National Union of the Students of France) takes place. 30,000 to 50,000 people gather in the Stade Sebastien Charlety.

1971 – The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25 near Wuppertal.

1975 – The Dibble's Bridge coach crash near Grassington, North Yorkshire, England kills 32 – the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom.

1980 – The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.

1995 – In Culpeper, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition.

1996 – First Chechnya War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.

1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that Paula Jones can pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Bill Clinton while he is in office.

1998 – Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.

1999 – The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.

2001 – Members of Islamist separatist group Abu Sayyaf seize twenty hostages from an upscale island resort on Palawan in the Philippines; the hostage crisis would not be resolved until June 2002.

2005 – Australian Schapelle Corby is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in Kerobokan Prison for drug smuggling by a court in Indonesia.

2006 – The May 2006 Java earthquake strikes at 5:53:58 AM local time (22:53:58 UTC May 26) devastating Bantul and the city of Yogyakarta killing over 6,600 people.

Births

1332 – Ibn Khaldun, Arab polymath (d. 1406)

1519 – Girolamo Mei, Italian historian (d. 1594)

1576 – Caspar Schoppe, German scholar (d. 1649)

1601 – Antoine Daniel, French Jesuit missionary and martyr (d. 1648)

1623 – William Petty, English scientist and philosopher (d. 1687)

1626 – William II, Prince of Orange (d. 1650)

1651 – Louis-Antoine, Cardinal de Noailles, French cardinal (d. 1729)

1652 – Liselotte von der Pfalz, Duchess of Orléans (d. 1722)

1738 – Nathaniel Gorham, 8th President of the United States in Congress Assembled (d. 1796)

1756 – King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (d. 1825)

1794 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American entrepreneur (d. 1877)

1818 – Amelia Bloomer, American suffragette (d. 1894)

1819 – Julia Ward Howe, American poet (The Battle Hymn of the Republic) (d. 1910)

1820 – Mathilde Bonaparte, French princess and socialite (d. 1904)

1827 – Samuel F. Miller, New York representative to the U.S. House of Representatives (d. 1892)

1836 – Jay Gould, American financier (d. 1892)

1837 – Wild Bill Hickok, American gunfighter (d. 1876)

1837 – Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter (d. 1887)

1860 – Manuel Teixeira Gomes, 7^th President of Portugal (d. 1941)

1864 – Ante Trumbić, Croatian politician (d. 1938)

1867 – Arnold Bennett, British novelist (d. 1931)

1871 – Georges Rouault, French painter and graphic artist (d. 1958)

1876 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish writer (d. 1945)

1876 – Sir William Stanier, British railway engineer (d. 1965)

1879 – Karl Bühler, German linguist and psychologist (d. 1963)

1879 – Hans Lammers, German SS officer (d. 1962)

1884 – Max Brod, Czech-born writer, literary executor of Franz Kafka (d. 1968)

1888 – Louis Durey, French composer (d. 1979)

1891 – Claude Champagne, French-Canadian composer (d. 1965)

1893 – Hermann Dörnemann, German supercentenarian (d. 2005)

1894 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (d. 1961)

1894 – Dashiell Hammett, American author (d. 1961)

1897 – John Cockcroft, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)

1900 – Uładzimir Zylka, Belarusian poet (d. 1933)

1904 – Chūhei Nambu, Japanese athlete (d. 1997)

1906 – Antonio Rosario Mennonna, Italian Catholic bishop (d. 2009)

1907 – Nicolas Calas, Greek-American poet and art critic (d. 1988)

1907 – Rachel Carson, American biologist and science writer (d. 1964)

1909 – Dolores Hope, American singer and philanthropist

1911 – Hubert H. Humphrey, 38th Vice President of the United States and Senator from Minnesota (d. 1978)

1911 – Teddy Kollek, Austrian-born Israeli politician (d. 2007)

1911 – Vincent Price, American actor (d. 1993)

1912 – John Cheever, American author (d. 1982)

1912 – Sam Snead, American golfer (d. 2002)

1912 – Terry Moore, American baseball player (d. 1995)

1913 – Wols, German painter (d. 1951)

1915 – Esther Soré, Chilean musician (d. 1996)

1915 – Herman Wouk, American writer

1918 – Yasuhiro Nakasone, Japanese politician

1921 – Caryl Chessman, American robber and rapist (d. 1960)

1922 – Christopher Lee, English actor

1923 – Henry Kissinger, 56th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Peace Prize laureate

1923 – Sumner Redstone, American entrepreneur

1924 – Ernest Ingenito, American mass murderer (d. 1995)

1925 – Tony Hillerman, American writer (d. 2008)

1930 – John Barth, American novelist

1930 – William S. Sessions, 8th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

1932 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress

1933 – Manfred Sommer, Spanish comic artist (d. 2007)

1933 – Ted Rogers, Canadian entrepreneur (d. 2008)

1934 – Harlan Ellison, American author

1935 – Lee Meriwether, Miss America (1955) and actress

1935 – Ramsey Lewis, American pianist

1935 – Mal Evans, British road manager of The Beatles (d. 1976)

1936 – Louis Gossett Jr., American actor

1936 – Marcel Masse, Canadian politician

1937 – Allan Carr, American film producer and writer (d. 1999)

1939 – Socratis Kokkalis, Greek businessman

1939 – Don Williams, American country singer

1942 – Lee Baca, American law enforcement official

1943 – Cilla Black, English singer and presenter

1943 – Bruce Weitz, American actor

1944 – Christopher Dodd, American politician, senior Senator from Connecticut

1944 – Alain Souchon, French singer and songwriter

1945 – Bruce Cockburn, Canadian musician

1946 – Lewis Collins, English actor

1946 – Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Danish jazz bassist (d. 2005)

1947 – Branko Oblak, Slovenian footballer

1948 – Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant

1951 – Ana Belén, Spanish singer and actress

1954 – Pauline Hanson, Australian politician

1954 – Jackie Slater, American football player

1955 – Richard Schiff, American actor

1955 – Eric Bischoff, American professional wrestling promoter

1956 – Cynthia McFadden, American television anchor

1957 – Siouxsie Sioux, English musician (Siouxsie and the Banshees)

1957 – Duncan Goodhew, English Olympic swimmer, 1980 gold medalist

1958 – Neil Finn, New Zealand singer and songwriter (Split Enz, Crowded House)

1958 – Linnea Quigley, American actress

1961 – Peri Gilpin, American actress

1962 – Ray Borner, Australian basketball player

1962 – Steven Brill, American film writer and director

1962 – Ravi Shastri, Indian cricketer

1964 – Adam Carolla, American comedian and television personality

1964 – Zheng Geping, Singaporean actor

1965 – Todd Bridges, American actor

1965 – Pat Cash, Australian tennis player

1966 – Heston Blumenthal, British chef and restaurateur

1967 – Paul Gascoigne, English footballer

1968 – Jeff Bagwell, American baseball player

1968 – Frank E. Thomas, American baseball player

1969 – Todd Hundley, American baseball player

1969 – Jeremy Mayfield, American race car driver

1969 – Dondre Whitfield, American actor

1970 – Michele Bartoli, Italian cyclist

1970 – Tim Farron, British politician

1970 – Joseph Fiennes, English actor

1970 – Cherry Pie Picache, Filipino actress

1971 – Mathew Batsiua, Nauruan politician

1971 – Paul Bettany, English actor

1971 – Wayne Carey, Australian rules footballer

1971 – Kaur Kender, Estonian author

1971 – Lisa Lopes, American singer (TLC) (d. 2002)

1971 – Glenn Ross, Northern Irish strongman

1971 – Monika Schnarre, Canadian model and actress

1971 – Lee Sharpe, English Footballer

1972 – Todd Demsey, American golfer

1972 – Ivete Sangalo, Brazilian singer

1973 – Jack McBrayer, American actor and comedian

1973 – Tana Umaga, New Zealand rugby union player

1974 – Derek Webb, American singer and songwriter (Caedmon's Call)

1974 – Danny Wuerffel, American football player

1975 – André 3000, American rapper (OutKast)

1975 – Michael Hussey, Australian cricketer

1975 – Jadakiss, American rapper (D-Block)

1975 – Jamie Oliver, English chef and television personality

1976 – RJD2, American hip-hop producer

1977 – Abderrahmane Hammad, Algerian athlete

1977 – Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lankan cricketer

1977 – Tommie van der Leegte, Dutch footballer

1978 – Adin Brown, American footballer

1979 – Stuart Manning, British actor

1979 – Mile Sterjovski, Australian footballer

1980 – Craig Buntin, Canadian figure skater

1981 – Marcelo Bonan. Brazilian footballer

1981 – Özgür Çevik, Turkish singer and actor

1981 – Fivos Constantinou, Cypriot distance and cross country runner

1981 – Johan Elmander, Swedish footballer

1981 – Miloy, Angolan footballer

1982 – Nattie Neidhart, Canadian professional wrestler

1983 – Bobby Convey, American footballer

1984 – Blake Ahearn, American basketball player

1984 – Kalle Spjuth, Swedish bandy player

1985 – Chiang Chien-ming, Taiwanese baseball player

1985 – Roberto Soldado, Spanish footballer

1986 – Conor Cummins, Manx motorbike racer

1986 – Timo Descamps, Flemish actor and singer

1987 – Eric Kolelas, French actor

1990 – Chris Colfer, American actor

1997 – Danny McKinnon, Canadian actor

Deaths

366 – Procopius, Roman usurper (b. 326)

866 – King Ordoño I of Asturias (b. 831)

927 – Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria (b. 864 or 865)

1039 – Dirk III, Count of Holland (b. between 981 and 989)

1444 – John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English military leader (b. 1404)

1508 – Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1452)

1525 – Thomas Müntzer, German rebel leader (b. c. 1488)

1541 – Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (b. 1473)

1564 – John Calvin, French religious reformer (b. 1509)

1610 – François Ravaillac, French assassin of Henry IV of France (b. 1578)

1615 – Margaret of Valois, Queen of Henry IV of France (b. 1553)

1661 – Archibald Campbell, Scottish religious dissident (b. 1607)

1675 – Gaspard Dughet, French painter (b. 1613)

1690 – Giovanni Legrenzi, Italian composer (b. 1626)

1702 – Dominique Bouhours, French essayist and critic (b. 1628)

1707 – Marquise de Montespan, French mistress of Louis XIV of France (b. 1640)

1781 – Giovanni Battista Beccaria, Italian physicist (b. 1716)

1797 – François-Noël Babeuf, French revolutionary (b. 1760)

1831 – Jedediah Strong Smith, American explorer (b. 1799)

1840 – Niccolò Paganini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1782)

1896 – Aleksandr Grigorievich Stoletov, Russian physicist (b. 1839)

1910 – Robert Koch, German physician, Nobel laureate (b. 1843)

1918 – Ōzutsu Man'emon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 18^th Yokozuna (b. 1869)

1919 – Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Indian social activist (b. 1848)

1926 – Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet (b. 1904)

1941 – Gunther Lutjens, German admiral, died in sinking of the German battleship Bismarck (b. 1889)

1941 – Ernst Lindemann, German captain, died in sinking of the German battleship Bismarck (b. 1894)

1945 – Enno Lolling, German SS-Standartenführer died by suicide (b. 1888)

1947 – Ed Konetchy, American baseball player (b. 1885)

1949 – Robert Ripley, American cartoonist (Ripley's Believe It or Not!) (b. 1890)

1953 – Jesse Burkett, American baseball player (b. 1868)

1960 – James Montgomery Flagg, American illustrator (b. 1877)

1963 – Gregoris Lambrakis, Greek physician and politician (b. 1912)

1964 – Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian politician (b. 1889)

1967 – W. Otto Miessner, American composer and music educator (b. 1880)

1967 – Ernst Niekisch, German politician (b. 1889)

1969 – Jeffrey Hunter, American actor (b. 1926)

1973 – P.Ramlee, Malaysian actor, singer and songwriter (b. 1922)

1986 – Isma'il Raji al-Faruqi, Palestinian-born philosopher (b. 1921)

1986 – Giorgos Tzifos, Greek actor (b. 1918)

1987 – John Howard Northrop, American chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1891)

1989 – Arseny Tarkovsky, Russian poet (b. 1907)

1990 – Robert B. Meyner, 44th Governor of New Jersey (b. 1908)

1991 – Leopold Nowak, Austrian musicologist (b. 1904)

1992 – Uncle Charlie Osborne, American fiddler (b. 1890)

1993 – Mary Philbin, American actress (b. 1903)

1993 – Werner Stocker, German actor (b. 1955)

1994 – Charles Rodman Campbell, Executed American rapist and killer (b. 1954)

1997 – Matt Gunther, American pornographic actor (b. 1963)

2000 – Kazimierz Leski, Polish engineer, fighter pilot, intelligence and counter-intelligence officer (b. 1912)

2000 – Sir Crawford Murray MacLehose, Scottish statesman, 25th Governor of Hong Kong (b. 1917)

2000 – Maurice Richard, Canadian hockey player (b. 1921)

2001 – Ramon Bieri, American actor (b. 1929)

2003 – Luciano Berio, Italian composer (b. 1925)

2006 – Rob Borsellino, American columnist (b. 1949)

2006 – Paul Gleason, American actor (b. 1939)

2006 – Craig Heyward, American football player (b. 1966)

2006 – Alex Toth, American cartoonist (b. 1928)

2006 – Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Indian actor (b. 1944)

2007 – Izumi Sakai, Japanese singer (Zard) (b. 1967)

2007 – Gretchen Wyler, American actress (b. 1932)

2007 – Ed Yost, American inventor (b. 1919)

2008 – Franz Künstler, last remaining Austro-Hungarian Empire World War I veteran (b. 1900)

2009 – Thomas Franck, American lawyer (b. 1931)

2009 – Sir Clive Granger, British economist and Nobel Prize winner (b. 1934)

2009 – Abram Hoffer, Canadian Orthomolecular psychiatrist (b. 1917)

2009 – Gérard Jean-Juste, Roman Catholic priest and Haitian political activist (b. 1946)

2009 – Carol Anne O'Marie, American Roman Catholic nun and mystery novelist (b. 1933)

2009 – Sir William Refshauge, Australian public health administrator (b. 1913)

2009 – Paul Sharratt, British-born American television producer (b. 1933)

2010 – Payut Ngaokrachang, Thai animator (b. 1929)

2011 – Jeff Conaway, American actor (b. 1950)

2011 – Margo Dydek, Polish basketball player (b. 1974)

2011 – Gil Scott-Heron, American poet, musician and author (b. 1949)

Holidays and observances

Armed Forces Day (Nicaragua)

Children's Day (Nigeria)

Christian Feast Day:

* Augustine of Canterbury

* Bruno of Würzburg

* Eutropius of Orange

* Hildebert

* Julius the Veteran

* May 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Mother's Day or Día de la Madre (Bolivia)

Slavery Abolition Day (Guadeloupe, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin)

External links

BBC: On This Day

On This Day in Canada

----

Category:Days of the year Category:May

Coordinates	43°36′49″N116°12′12″N
Name	Gil Scott-Heron
Landscape	no
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Gilbert Scott-Heron
Born	April 01, 1949 (age 61) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Instrument	Vocals, electric piano, guitar
Genre	Soul, jazz poetry, spoken word soul, jazz-funk, proto-rap
Occupation	Poet, singer, songwriter, author
Years active	1969–present
Influences	Langston Hughes, Mose Allison, John Coltrane, Malcolm X, Richie Havens, Otis Redding, Jose Feliciano, Billie Holiday, Huey Newton, Nina Simone, Brian Jackson
Label	RCA, Flying Dutchman, Strata East, Arista, TVT, XL Recordings
Associated acts	Brian Jackson, Ron Holloway, Musicians United for Safe Energy, Black and Blues

Gil Scott-Heron (born April 1, 1949) is an American poet, musician, and author known primarily for his late 1970s and early 1980s work as a spoken word performer and his collaborative soul works with musician Brian Jackson. His collaborative efforts with Jackson featured a musical fusion of jazz, blues and soul music, as well as lyrical content concerning social and political issues of the time, delivered in both rapping and melismatic vocal styles by Scott-Heron. The music of these albums, most notably Pieces of a Man and Winter in America in the early 1970s, influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. Scott-Heron's recording work is often associated with black militant activism and has received much critical acclaim for one of his most well-known compositions "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised". His poetic style has been influential upon every generation of hip hop since his popularity began. When Scott-Heron was 13 years old, his grandmother died and he moved with his mother to the Bronx in New York City, where he enrolled in DeWitt Clinton High School. He later transferred to The Fieldston School after one of his teachers, a Fieldston graduate, showed one of his writings to the head of the English department at Fieldston and he was granted a full scholarship.

Scott-Heron attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, as it was the college chosen by his biggest influence Langston Hughes. It was here that Scott-Heron met Brian Jackson with whom he formed the band Black & Blues. After about two years at Lincoln, Scott-Heron took a year off to write the novels The Vulture and The Nigger Factory. He returned to New York City, settling in Chelsea, Manhattan. The Vulture was published in 1970 and well received. Although Scott-Heron never received his undergraduate degree, he has a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Recording career

{| style="font-size:100%" align="right" border="0" color="black" width=130px | |}

Scott-Heron began his recording career in 1970 with the LP Small Talk at 125th and Lenox. Bob Thiele of Flying Dutchman Records produced the album, and Scott-Heron was accompanied by Eddie Knowles and Charlie Saunders on conga and David Barnes on percussion and vocals. The album's 15 tracks dealt with themes such as the superficiality of television and mass consumerism, the hypocrisy of some would-be Black revolutionaries, white middle-class ignorance of the difficulties faced by inner-city residents, and homophobia. In the liner notes, Scott-Heron acknowledged as influences Richie Havens, John Coltrane, Otis Redding, Jose Feliciano, Billie Holiday, Langston Hughes, Malcolm X, Huey Newton, Nina Simone, and the pianist who would become his long-time collaborator, Brian Jackson.

Scott-Heron's 1971 album Pieces of a Man used more conventional song structures than the loose, spoken-word feel of Small Talk. He was joined by Johnny Pate (conductor), Brian Jackson on keyboards, piano, Ron Carter on bass and bass guitar, drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, Burt Jones playing electric guitar, and Hubert Laws on flute and saxophone, with Thiele producing again. Scott-Heron's third album, Free Will, was released in 1972. Jackson, Purdie, Laws, Knowles, and Saunders all returned to play on Free Will and were joined by Jerry Jemmott playing bass, David Spinozza on guitar, and Horace Ott (arranger and conductor).

1974 saw another LP collaboration with Brian Jackson, the critically acclaimed opus Winter in America, with Bob Adams on drums and Danny Bowens on bass. The album contained Scott-Heron's most cohesive material and featured more of Jackson's creative input than his previous albums had. Winter in America has been regarded by many critics as the two musicians most artistic effort. The following year, Scott-Heron and Jackson also released Midnight Band: The First Minute of a New Day. A live album, It's Your World, followed in 1976 and a recording of spoken poetry, The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron, was released in 1979. In the July 1976 Bicentennial issue of Playboy Scott-Heron was profiled; the accompanying artwork shows Scott-Heron singing or speaking into a microphone as it melts from the heat of his words. Another hit success followed with the hit single "Angel Dust", which he recorded as a single with producer Malcolm Cecil. "Angel Dust" peaked at #15 on the R&B; charts in 1978.

In 1979, Scott-Heron played at the No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden. The concerts were organized by Musicians United for Safe Energy to protest the use of nuclear energy following the Three Mile Island accident. Scott-Heron's song "We Almost Lost Detroit", written about a previous accident at a nuclear power plant, was included in the No Nukes album of concert highlights. (We Almost Lost Detroit is the title of a book about the accident by John G. Fuller.) Scott-Heron was a frequent critic of President Ronald Reagan and his conservative policies.

Scott-Heron recorded and released only four albums during the 1980s; 1980 and Real Eyes in 1980, Reflections in 1981 and Moving Target in 1982. Ron Holloway on tenor saxophone was added to Gil's ensemble in February 1982. He toured extensively with Scott-Heron and contributed to his next album, Moving Target that same year. His tenor is prominently featured on the songs "Fast Lane" and "Black History/The World". Holloway continued with Scott-Heron until the summer of 1989, when he left to join Dizzy Gillespie. Several years later, Scott-Heron would make cameo appearances on two of Ron Holloway's CD's; Scorcher (1996) and Groove Update (1998), both on the Fantasy/Milestone label.

Scott-Heron was dropped by Arista Records in 1985 and quit recording, though he continued to tour. Also that year, Scott-Heron helped compose and sing the song "Let Me See Your I.D." on the Artists United Against Apartheid album Sun City, containing the famous line, "The first time I heard there was trouble in the Middle East, I thought they were talking about Pittsburgh." The song compares racial tensions in the US with those in apartheid-era South Africa, implying that the US was not too far ahead in race relations.In 1993, he signed to TVT Records and released Spirits, an album that included the seminal track "'Message to the Messengers". The first track on the album criticized the rap artists of the day. Scott-Heron is known in many circles as "the Godfather of rap" and is widely considered to be one of the genre's founding fathers. Given the political consciousness that lies at the foundation of his work, he can also be called a founder of political rap. Message to the Messengers was a plea for the new generation of rappers to speak for change rather than perpetuate the current social situation, and to be more articulate and artistic. On hip hop music in the 1990s, Scott-Heron later said in an interview:

Later years

In 2001, Gil Scott-Heron was sentenced to one to three years' imprisonment in New York State for possession of cocaine. While out of jail in 2002, he appeared on the Blazing Arrow album by Blackalicious. He was released on parole in 2003. On July 5, 2006, Scott-Heron was sentenced to two to four years in a New York State prison for violating a plea deal on a drug-possession charge by leaving a drug rehabilitation center. Scott-Heron's sentence was to run until July 13, 2009. He was paroled on May 23, 2007. The reason given for the violation of his plea was that the clinic refused to supply Scott-Heron with HIV medication. This story led to the presumption that the artist is HIV positive.

After his release, Scott-Heron began performing live again, starting with a show at SOB's in New York on September 13, 2007. On stage, he stated that he and his musicians were working on a new album and that he had resumed writing a book titled The Last Holiday, previously on long-term hiatus, about Stevie Wonder and his successful attempt to have the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. declared a federally recognized holiday in the United States.

On October 10, 2007, the day before a scheduled (but ultimately cancelled) second SOBs performance, he was arrested on felony possession of cocaine charges. However, he has continued to make live appearances at various US venues during the course of 2008 and 2009, including further appearances at SOBs in New York. He has also stated in interviews that work is continuing on his new album, which will consist mainly of new versions of some of his classic songs plus some cover versions of other artists' work.

Having originally planned to publish The Last Holiday in 2003, before it was put on hold, Canongate Books now tentatively intend to issue it in January, 2011. The book was due to be previewed via a website set to be launched on April 1, 2009, but this did not appear.

Mark T. Watson, a student of Scott-Heron's work, dedicated a collection of poetry to Gil titled Ordinary Guy that contained a foreword by Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets. The book was published in the UK in 2004 by Fore-Word Press Ltd. Scott-Heron recorded one of the poems in Watson's book Black & Blue due for release in 2008 as part of the album Rhythms of the Diaspora by Malik & the OG's on the record label CPR Recordings.

Gil Scott-Heron released his new album I'm New Here on independent label XL Recordings on February 9, 2010. Produced by XL label owner Richard Russell, 'I'm New Here' is Scott-Heron's first studio album in sixteen years.The pair started recording the album in 2007, with the majority of the record being recorded over the last twelve months with engineer Lawson White at Clinton Studios in New York. In 2009, a new Gil Scott-Heron website, gilscottheron.net, was launched with a brand new track 'Where Did The Night Go' made available as a free download from the site.

In April 2009 on BBC Radio Four, poet Lemn Sissay presented a half-hour documentary on Gil Scott-Heron entitled Pieces of a Man . Having interviewed Gil Scott-Heron in New York a month earlier, Pieces of a Man was the first UK announcement from Gil of his forthcoming album and return to form.

In November 2009 the BBC's Newsnight interviewed Gil Scott-Heron for a feature titled 'The Legendary Godfather of Rap Returns.' Meanwhile, I'm New Here has already started to pick up substantial critical acclaim with The Guardian newspaper's Jude Rogers declaring it one of the next decade's best records. The first single from the album will be Me And The Devil which is set for release on February 22, 2010. It was debuted by BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe as his "Hottest Record In The World", along with other specialist DJs such as Gilles Peterson and Benji B.

Influence

The music of Scott-Heron's work during the 1970s influenced and helped engender later African-American music genres such as hip hop and neo soul. He has been described by music writers as "the godfather of rap" and "the black Bob Dylan". The Washington Post wrote that "Scott-Heron's work presaged not only conscious rap and poetry slams, but also acid jazz, particularly during his rewarding collaboration with composer-keyboardist-flutist Brian Jackson in the mid- and late '70s." The Observers Sean O'Hagan discussed the significance of Scott-Heron's music with Brian Jackson, stating:

Scott-Heron's influence over hip-hop is primarily exemplified by his definitive single "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," sentiments from which have been explored by various rappers, including Aesop Rock, Talib Kweli and Common. In addition to his vocal style, Scott-Heron's indirect contributions to rap music extend to his and co-producer Brian Jackson's compositions, which have been sampled by various hip-hop artists; among the most notable is rapper/producer Kanye West, who has sampled Scott-Heron and Jackson's "Home is Where the Hatred Is" and "We Almost Lost Detroit" for his song "My Way Home" and the single "The People," respectively, both of which are collaborative efforts between West and Common. Scott-Heron, in turn, has acknowledged West's contributions, sampling the latter's 2007 single "Flashing Lights" on his latest album, 2010's I'm New Here. West has gone on to name Gil Scott-Heron, among others, as a major influence on his own latest offering, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, where portions of his work "Comment #1" appear on the album. "We Almost Lost Detroit" has also been sampled by Brand Nubian member Grand Puba ("Keep On"), Native Tongues duo Black Star ("Brown Skin Lady"), and underground notable MF DOOM ("Camphor"). Furthermore, Black Star MC Mos Def has sampled Scott-Heron's "A Legend in His Own Mind" on the Q-Tip-featuring song "Mr. Nigga," and producer Dr. Dre (some of whose early G-Funk compositions mirror Scott-Heron's musical style in both texture and sentiment, specifically "Lil' Ghetto Boy," which in fact samples Scott-Heron contemporary Donny Hathaway) recorded the song "Blunt Time," on which former Death Row Records rapper RBX interpolates the opening lyrics from Scott-Heron's recording "Angel Dust." In 2000, CeCe Peniston as well used a sample of a Heron's song ("The Bottle") while recording her single "My Boo".

Discography

Studio albums

{|class="wikitable" !Year !Album !Label |- |1970 |Small Talk at 125th and Lenox |Flying Dutchman Records |- |1971 |Pieces of a Man |Flying Dutchman Records |- |1972 |Free Will |Flying Dutchman Records |- |1974 |Winter in America |Strata-East Records |- |1975 |The First Minute of a New Day |Arista Records |- |1976 |From South Africa to South Carolina |Arista Records |- |1976 |It's Your World |Arista Records |- |1977 |Bridges |Arista Records |- |1978 |Secrets |Arista Records |- |1980 |1980 |Arista Records |- |1980 |Real Eyes |Arista Records |- |1981 |Reflections |Arista Records |- |1982 |Moving Target |Arista Records |- |1994 |Spirits |TVT Records |- |2010 |I'm New Here |XL Recordings |}

Live albums

{|class="wikitable" !Year !Album !Label |- |1976 |It's Your World |Arista Records |- |1990 |Tales of Gil Scott-Heron and His Amnesia Express |Castle Music UK/Peak Top Records |- |1994 |Minister of Information: Live |Peak Top Records |- |2004 |The Best Of Gil Scott-Heron Live |Intersound |- |2004 |Tour De Force |Phantom Sound & Vision |- |2004 |Save The Children |Delta Music |- |2004 |Winter In America, Summer In Europe |Pickwick |- |2005 |Greatest Hits Live |Intersound |- |2008 |Live At The Town & Country 1988 |Acadia / Evangeline Records |- |}

Compilations

{|class="wikitable" !Year !Album !Label |- |1974 |The Revolution Will Not Be Televised |Flying Dutchman |- |1979 |The Mind of Gil Scott-Heron |Arista Records |- |1984 |The Best of Gil Scott-Heron |Arista Records |- |1988 |The Revolution Will Not Be Televised |Bluebird Records |- |1990 |Glory: The Gil Scott-Heron Collection |Arista Records |- |1998 |The Gil Scott-Heron Collection Sampler: 1974-1975 |TVT Records |- |1998 |Ghetto Style |Camden Records |- |1999 |Evolution and Flashback: The Very Best of Gil Scott-Heron |RCA Records |- |2005 |Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson - Messages (Anthology) |Soul Brother Records |- |2006 |The Best Of Gil Scott-Heron |Sony/BMG |- |2010 |Storm Music (The Best Of Gil Scott-Heron) |Phantom Sound & Vision |- |}

Bibliography

{|class="wikitable" !Year !Title !ISBN |- |1970 |The Vulture |0862415284 |- |1970 |Small Talk at 125th and Lenox | |- |1972 |The Nigger Factory |0862415276 |- |1990 |So Far, So Good |0883781336 |- |2001 |Now and Then: The Poems of Gil Scott-Heron |086241900X |- |2003 |The Last Holiday (unpublished) |1841953415 |}

Filmography

Black Wax (1982). Directed by Robert Mugge.

Word Up (2005). Directed by Malik Al Nasir for Fore-Word Press UK.

The Paris Concert (2007).

References

External links

Official Web Site

Gil Scott-Heron at Discogs

BBC biography of Gil Scott-Heron

Text and Audio of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

Interview with Gil Scott-Heron from December 11, 2007

Review of Gil Scott-Heron's album I'm New Here

A Surprising Record From Gil Scott Heron - audio report by NPR

Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:American musicians of Jamaican descent Category:American soul musicians Category:American rappers Category:Ethical Culture Fieldston School alumni Category:American people of Jamaican descent Category:Lincoln University (Pennsylvania) alumni Category:Spoken word soul Category:Spoken word poets Category:Strata-East Records artists Category:TVT Records artists Category:Arista Records artists Category:Flying Dutchman Records artists Category:RCA Records artists