About Kirk Whalum
Kirk Whalum is an American R&B and smooth jazz saxophonist and songwriter. Whalum has recorded a series of commercially and critically acclaimed solo studio albums. Along with several film soundtracks, with music ranging from pop to R&B to smooth jazz. While he's been bestowed with one win out of 12 Grammy nominations.
Whalum is a member, together with trumpeter Rick Braun and guitarist Norman Brown, of jazz group BWB. He's also worked with artists such as Whitney Houston, Bob James, Jonathan Butler and Quincy Jones. What's more, he's collaborated with the likes of Michael McDonald, Chante Moore, Luther Vandross, Patrice Rushen, Will Downing and Brian Culbertson.
Kirk Whalum was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Melrose High School and Texas Southern University, where he was a member of the renowned Ocean of Soul Marching Band. In addition to singing in his father's church choir, Whalum learned to love music from his grandmother, Thelma Twigg Whalum, a piano teacher, and two uncles, Wendell Whalum and Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum, who performed with jazz bands around the country. He told John H. Johnson's magazine Ebony Man in a 1994 profile, "The music I like to play and write encompasses the four elements I grew up with: Memphis R&B, gospel, rock, and jazz. The emphasis, though, is on melody, period."
In 1986, he performed at Jean-Michel Jarre's giant concerts Rendez-Vous Houston and Rendez-Vous Lyon. At each concert, he performed the track "Last Rendez-Vous," also known as "Ron's Piece," in place of Jarre and Whalum's mutual friend, saxophonist and astronaut Ron McNair, who died in the Challenger disaster.
Whalum recorded a duet with R&B singer, Jevetta Steele called "Love is a Losing Game" in 1993.
Whalum has worked on a number of film scores, including for The Prince of Tides, Boyz n the Hood, The Bodyguard, Grand Canyon and Cousins. He toured with Whitney Houston for more than seven years and soloed in her single "I Will Always Love You", the best-selling single by a female artist in music history. He was also featured on many Luther Vandross albums, most often playing on the singer's covers of older pop and R&B standards such as "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "I ", and "Love Won't Let Me Wait".
Whalum has recorded a series of well received solo albums and film soundtracks, with music ranging from pop to R&B to smooth jazz. His musical accomplishments have brought him a total of 12 Grammy nominations. He won his first Grammy award in 2011 for Best Gospel Song alongside lifelong friend and writer Jerry Peters.
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