Martha Redbone
 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject. (March 2025) |
Martha Redbone | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | New York City |
| Origin | New York City, New York, and Kentucky, United States |
| Genres | Rhythm and Blues, Folk and Soul |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, composer |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | Dome Records[1] |
| Website | martharedbone |
Martha Redbone (born 1966) is an American singer known for blending rhythm and blues and soul with elements of Native American music[2]
Early life and education
[edit]Redbone spent time with her maternal grandparents in Harlan County.[3] According to Redbone, her late mother, whose family has been rooted for generations in the mountains of Kentucky and Virginia, was a mix of Cherokee, Shawnee and Choctaw; her late father was an African-American from North Carolina.[citation needed] She has never conducted a DNA test, but says she looks like people from the Igbo tribe in Nigeria.[3]
Career
[edit]Redbone composed the new music score for the late Ntozake Shange's choreopoem "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuff" with her husband and collaborator Aaron Whitby, which premiered on Broadway in 2022. In 2019, they were the composers of the Public Theatre's iteration of the choreo-poem.[4] Redbone and Whitby won a Drama Desk award for Outstanding Music in a Play for the Original score for "For Colored Girls"[5] Redbone became a musician and singer, combining music styles with Black American and Native American roots music.[6] Her stage name, "Redbone", comes from Southern slang for people of black and Native ancestry.[7] She was mentored in songwriting and music production by Junie Morrison of the Ohio Players and Parliament Funkadelic.[8] In early 2007, Redbone's Skintalk won The 6th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best R&B Album.[9]
Her 2012 work, The Garden of Love – Songs of William Blake, sets Blake's poem of the same name to music that draws from rural influences of Appalachia: English folk, African American, and Native American traditions. She tours nationally with the Martha Redbone Roots Project.[10]
Personal life
[edit]Redbone is married to Aaron Whitby, and the couple has a son.[3]
Discography
[edit]- Home of the Brave (2001)
- Skintalk (2004)
- Future Street (2006)
- The Garden of Love – Songs of William Blake (2012)
References
[edit]- ^ "Martha Redbone". Discogs. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Martha Redbone", Soultracks
- ^ a b c Martin-Brown, Becka (10 November 2019). "'Good Music Is A Celebration': Martha Redbone combines cultures in 'brilliant collision'". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ "Composers Martha Redbone and Aaron Whitby Set "for colored girls" to Music".
- ^ https://playbill.com/article/a-strange-loop-the-inheritance-moulin-rouge-win-big-at-2020-drama-desk-awards
- ^ Colson, Nicole S. (21 March 2013). "Choctaw, Cherokee and African-American descent have shaped Martha Redbone". SentinelSource.com. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
- ^ Adams, Jim (13 September 2018). "Martha Redbone does it her way". ICT News. Retrieved 16 July 2024.
- ^ "Martha Redbone".
- ^ "6th Annual Winners" Archived 2009-05-01 at the Wayback Machine, Independent Music Awards
- ^ "The Martha Redbone Roots Project" Archived 2013-12-07 at the Wayback Machine, August 2013, The Ark (Ann Arbor, MI), accessed 16 June 2014
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- African-American women songwriters
- American soul musicians
- American people of Cherokee descent
- American people of Choctaw descent
- American people of Shawnee descent
- Living people
- American singers
- American women songwriters
- Musicians from Brooklyn
- Independent Music Awards winners
- Songwriters from New York (state)
- Singers from Kentucky
- Songwriters from Kentucky
- 21st-century African-American women singers
- 21st-century American women singers
- 1966 births