Jazz singer and songwriter Jon Marcus Lucien has been described as having the musical ability to capture the essence of romance. His love songs have been hailed as musical experiences of spirituality and harmony. His music seamlessly bonds jazz, R&B, Caribbean rhythms, and Brazilian music and is considered an outstanding expression of the twin musical formats popular on jazz radio stations, quiet storm" and "smooth jazz."
Background
Tire eldest of eight children, Lucien Leopold Harrigan was born into the musical family of Elouise Turnbull-Harrigan and Eric Lucien Harrigan on the island of Tortola, British Virgin Islands, on January 8, 1942. Jon Lucien spent his childhood on the island of St. Thomas in the American Virgin Islands and learned music from his father, a musician who played a stringed instrument called the tre in his Latin jazz band, Rico and the Rhythmeres.
Education
To keep him away from trouble when he was nine years old, Lucien was sent away to school and by the time he returned home at 17 he was a self-taught musician who could play bass, guitar and piano. While in St. Thomas he played bass with English musician Marty Clark, whose musical repertoire included many jazz standards. Through this experience he met and jammed with established jazz musicians such as Cy Coleman and Bobby Short who vacationed on the island.
Career
Lucien left St. Thomas at the age of 19 and arrived in New York City, where he tried to establish himself in jazz circles, and played in the Catskills music scene. For many years he honed his musical skills playing weddings, bar mitzvahs, and in the Broadway musical Don't Bother Me I Can't Cope. It was a period of his life where he found himself playing with musicians from all over the world and was exposed to musical rhythms and tempos that differed vastly from his own repertoire. As he began to establish his own sound, he also did away with the Leopold Harrigan part of his name a name he had never identified with and legally changed his name to Jon Marcus Lucien.
His 1970 RCA debut, I Am Now, began to reveal what would become his trademark style as a romantic crooner with a powerful baritone voice. The album included Brazilian songwriter Carlos Jobin's classic "Dindi," characterized by Brazilian bandleader Sergio Mendez as one of the best renditions of the song he has ever heard.
His second album, 1973's Grammy-nominated Rashida, was critically acclaimed as innovative in its infusion of bossa nova rhythms. From the early days of their airplay on New York City's R&B radio stations, the songs "Would You Believe in Me" and "Lady Love" were hailed as classics and are still heard today. His music is so eclectic and difficult to pinhole into a particular style that it has been difficult to market him to mainstream audiences. Frustration over this and the surge of the disco genre during the 1970s and 1980s led him to drop out of the recording business for almost a decade. However, after the 1991 release of the CD Listen Love he has recorded and performed steadily.
In 1993 he released Mother Nature's Son, an album that has begun to reward him with a new generation of fans. His 1996 CD, Endless Love, is perhaps the most powerful and profound of all his albums. He began recording it about the same time his 17-year-old daughter Dalila perished on TWA Flight 800, which was destined to land in Paris but exploded in mid-air, killing all passengers aboard.
Lucien's most requested songs were re-recorded and released in 1999 in an album titled By Request. A compilation of his classics was also released under the title Sweet Control: The Best of Jon Lucien. Adding to these successes is the inclusion of cuts from his songs into hip-hop and acid jams music recordings. Original copies of his earlier albums such as Rashida and Mind s Eye are considered collector's items and command very high prices, prompting the recent release in the UK of a double CD anthology containing I Am Now, Rashida, and Mind s Eye.
In 2001 Lucien's established a high-tech production company, Sugar Apple Music Group, Ltd., and released Lucien Romantico. His 2002 album, Man From Paradise, showcases his Caribbean roots and heritage.
Personality
His deep baritone voice and his commanding presence have made him extremely popular on the cabaret/supper-club circuit.