- Claytoven Richardson
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Claytoven Richardson Birth name Clayton D. Richardson Born May 23, 1956 Origin Berkeley, California Genres R&B, Pop, Jazz Years active 1979-Present Labels Prestige (1979-1980)
MCA (1980-1982)
Fantasy(1983-1984)
Qwest (1985)Website www.claytoven.com Claytoven Richardson (born 1956, in Berkeley, California) is an American singer, instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, and author.
Contents
Biography
Born Clayton D. Richardson on May 23, 1956.[1] Larry Batiste, a childhood friend (and later business partner), accidentally fused his given name with that of the famous composer to form the name "Claytoven."[2]
Career
His musical career spans nearly three decades, during which he has been awarded several gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards.[3]
In 1979 Claytoven made his recording studio and recording artist debut as a part of the group Bill Summers and Summers Heat. The group recorded one album for Prestige Records and three albums for MCA Records. The group saw moderate success with the songs, "Call It What You Want" and "Jam The Box".
After Summers Heat, Claytoven went on to become a session musician with his first major start singing background vocals for producer Narada Michael Walden on the hit George Benson single "Kisses In the Moonlight". His second recording session was as a guest vocalist and background vocalist on the breakout album "Duotones" for saxophonist, Kenny G. He has since performed on numerous gold and platinum recordings featuring Tevin Campbell, Michael Bolton, Elton John, Peabo Bryson, New Kids on the Block, Ricky Martin, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Celine Dion, and many others.
After being in the music business for some time he realized a need to increase the pool of well trained professional vocalists. So in 2000 Claytoven also stepped into the role of teacher by founding the "Studio Training Workshop for Vocalists", a workshop designed to help aspiring singers pursue a career as a professional recording vocalist by bridging the gap between the academic and professional music worlds. He currently teaches this and other workshops at San Francisco State University and for various other music programs across the country.
In his efforts to further create growth in the professional music community he has also penned the book, "The Professional Studio Vocalist". Though he is involved with many educational and literary projects, he remains active as a session musician.[4]
Selected discography
Artist Albums
Year Title Artist 1979 "On Sunshine" Bill Summers & Summers Heat 1980 "Call It What You Want" Bill Summers & Summers Heat 1981 "Jam The Box" Bill Summers & Summers Heat 1982 "Seventeen" Bill Summers & Summers Heat 1983 "Private Eye" Private Eye 1985 "Nside" Makoto Session Work
Year Title Artist 1982 "Keep It Live" The Dazz Band 1983 "Love For Love" The Whispers 1984 "Tiggi Clay" Tiggi Clay 1986 "While The City Sleeps" George Benson - "Duotones" Kenny G - "Fizzy Qwick" Fizzy Qwick 1987 "Whitney" Whitney Houston 1988 "One Moment In Time" Whitney Houston 1989 "Through The Storm" Aretha Franklin - "A Collection" Barbra Streisand 1990 "I'm Your Baby Tonight" Whitney Houston 1991 "So Intense" Lisa Fischer - "Time, Love & Tenderness" Michael Bolton 1992 "Heaven And Earth" Al Jarreau 1993 "Duets" Elton John 1995 "Take me Higher" Diana Ross 1996 "Soulful Strut" Grover Washington 1997 "Butterfly" Mariah Carey 1998 "In & Out Of Love" Patti Austin 1999 "Marc Anthony" Marc Anthony 2000 "Sound Loaded" Ricky Martin 2001 "Renaissance" Lionel Ritchie 2002 "A New Day Has Come" Celine Dion Soundtracks
Year Title 1987 "Beverly Hills Cops II" 1989 "Everybody’s All American" 1992 "The Bodyguard" 1993 "Mr Wonderful" 1994 "Street Fighter" - "Jason's Lyric" - "Crooklyn" 1996 "The Associate" 1997 "A Smile Like Yours" - "Hercules" - "In & Out" - "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame" 1999 "Our Friend Martin" 2001 "Snow Dogs" 2005 "Rent" References
- ^ "California Birth Index, 1905-1995 [database on-line"]. United States: The Generations Network. 2005. http://www.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
- ^ "about Claytoven". United States. http://www.claytoven.com/about_claytoven/index.html. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
- ^ Claytoven Richardson at Claytoven.com
- ^ Course Technology - ISBN 1-59863-279-5
- ^ Claytoven Richardson at Allmusic.com/Claytoven Richardson
- ^ Claytoven at Allmusic.com/Claytoven
Categories:- African American singers
- American rhythm and blues singers
- American dance musicians
- 1956 births
- Musicians from California
- Living people
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