Benard Ighner

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Benard Ighner (January 18, 1945 – August 14, 2017) was an American jazz singer, musician, songwriter and record producer.

Biography

Ighner was born in

U.S. Army. He learned multiple instruments including piano, guitar and saxophone, and after his discharge in 1965 recorded with Dizzy Gillespie. As Bernard Ito, he recorded a vocal version of the Gillespie composition "Con Alma" on Mercury Records, and for a while took over as Gillespie's featured singer on tour. Later, using the pseudonym Alexander St. Charles, he began working and recording with composer and arranger Lalo Schifrin on the 1971 album Rock Requiem, and co-wrote with Schifrin the song "Like Me" which he sang on the soundtrack of the film Dirty Harry.[1] He also sang on David Axelrod's 1972 album, The Auction.[2]

Ighner became a session singer in Hollywood. In 1974, he sang his own composition "Everything Must Change", a track on Quincy Jones' best-selling album Body Heat. Though not issued as a single, it is claimed that "the haunting masterwork went a long way toward selling the full-length album.."[3] The song was later recorded as the title track of a 1976 album by Randy Crawford, as well as by Barbra Streisand, Peggy Lee, George Benson, Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Judy Collins, June Christy, Jean Carn, Oleta Adams and others.[3]

Also in 1974, he produced and played on

The Planet Is Alive...Let it Live! (also known as Let It Live - Sarah Vaughan Sings 'One World One Peace'), a series of settings of verse by Pope John Paul II.[3]

In 1985, Ighner appeared and performed in the season one episode "The Big Piano Play-Off" of 227.

Ighner died of lung cancer in Houston in 2017, aged 72.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b Benard Ighner's Page, The Jazz Network Worldwide Archived 2017-08-17 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 August 2017
  2. ^ Alexander Saint Charles, Discogs.com. Retrieved 16 August 2017
  3. ^ a b c d "Rest in Peace Benard Ighner, Composer of the Standard “Everything Must Change”", The Urban Music Scene, 15 August 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2017
  4. ^ Jason Ankeny, review of Who Is This Bitch, Anyway?, Allmusic.com. Retrieved 16 August 2017
  5. ^ Benard Ighner, Discogs.com. Retrieved 16 August 2017
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Benard_Ighner&oldid=1215766069"