Born Marlina Burgess or Marlene Bradshaw, on September 22, 1942, in New Rochelle, NY.

A true survivor of the African-American music scene, Marlena Shaw began her career in the 1960s and was still going strong in the early 2000s. Her music crossed genre boundaries with unusual ease, as she made her mark on jazz, R&B, disco, and soul music at various times, all without changing her sharp, rather jaded yet soulful musical personality. Shaw found her strongest fan base in the African-American community and during her long career was able to see her music honored by the next generation, in the form of samples from her songs that appeared in hip-hop recordings.

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