Artist: Mark Murphy

Mark Howe Murphy (March 14, 1932 – October 22, 2015) was an American jazz singer based at various times in New York City, Los Angeles, London, and San Francisco.

He recorded 51 albums under his own name during his lifetime and was principally known for his innovative vocal improvisations. He was the recipient of the 1996, 1997, 2000, and 2001 DownBeat  magazine readers' jazz poll for Best Male Vocalist and was also nominated five times for the  Grammy Award for Best Vocal Jazz Performance. He wrote lyrics to the jazz tunes "Stolen Moments" and "Red Clay". 

Murphy graduated from Syracuse University in 1953, having majored in Music and Drama. Whilst there he was spotted singing at the Embassy Club by Sammy Davis Jr, who invited him to perform a guest spot at his own gig shortly afterwards and put him in touch with TV host Steve Allen. The following year Murphy moved to New York City, taking part-time jobs as he looked for work as an actor and singer.

Murphy was eventually introduced to record producer Milt Gabler, who was an artist and repertoire director (A&R) for Decca. His resulting debut recording was Meet Mark Murphy (1956),  followed closely by Let Yourself Go (1957). 

In 1958, Murphy moved to Los Angeles, where he recorded three albums for Capitol Records, and had a minor hit single with "This Could Be the Start of Something". But this was not enough for him to be retained by Capitol, so he returned to New York in the early '60s and recorded two albums for Riverside Records: the album Rah (1961) included "Angel Eyes", a version of Horace Silver's "Doodlin'", and "Green Dolphin Street", featuring Bill Evans, Clark Terry, Urbie Green, Blue Mitchell and Wynton Kelly as accompanists. His favorite recording to date, That's How I Love the Blues, soon followed.

In 1963 Murphy moved to London, England, where he quickly found acceptance and played frequently at Ronnie Scott's Club, as well as making regular appearances on BBC Radio. He recorded three more albums in London, and one in Germany that is amongst his best - Midnight Mood (1968). From London he made frequent trips to Holland, where he worked on Dutch radio, mainly with producer Joop de Roo.

He returned to the States in 1972 and began recording an average of an album per year for more than 14 years on the Muse label. These included the Grammy-nominated albums Satisfaction Guaranteed, Bop for Kerouac and Nat's Choice: Nat King Cole Songbook Vol. II. Murphy's other highly regarded Muse recordings include Bridging a Gap (featuring  Ron Carter, Jimmy Madison, Randy Brecker and  Michael Brecker),  Mark Murphy Sings (again featuring the Brecker Brothers along with David Sanborn),  Living Room, Beauty And the Beast and  Stolen Moments.