Siedah Garrett

Siedah Garrett, an unknown legend and native of Los Angeles started off as a singer in a variety of local bands in her early days. When she was 16 her mother Penny was working on R&B singer D.J. Rogers’ home. She kept telling him, “My daughter can sing.” He said, “Sure… your daughter, my plumber’s cousin, my maid’s nephew, everybody can sing!” But Siedahs’ mother was very persistent and D.J. eventually gave in. She took Siedah over to his house, he played a chord on his piano and said “Sing this.” She sang it and he went “Oh?” He played a more complicated riff and she sang it. He went “Ohh!” The next thing she knew, she was in a recording session.

When Siedah auditioned for Quincy Jones a lot of producers and songwriters were in the room. This led to Siedah singing demos for all these producers and songwriters in Los Angeles. Quincy Jones liked what he saw and signed Siedah to his label as an artist and songwriter. As a recording artist, Siedah Garrett’s first big hit was a duet with Dennis Edwards, “Don’t Look Any Further” in 1984. Artists who have recorded her songs include mentor Quincy Jones, Common, Aretha Franklin, Miles Davis, Earth Wind & Fire, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson, will.i.am, Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Toto, Sheena Easton, Natalie Cole, Barry White, The Pointer Sisters, Donna Summer, Dionne Warwick, Patti Austin, Roberta Flack, Al Jarreau, Sergio Mendes, Diana Ross and many others. After Jones played the demo of "Man in the Mirror" with Garrett's vocals for Jackson, he not only loved the song, he loved her voice so much he passed on other notable singers being considered to duet with him on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" and chose her. Both "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" and "Man in the Mirror" became number one hits and changed Garrett's life forever. She was soon catapulted to the status of one of the most sought-after lyricists in the world after she co-wrote “Man in the Mirror” for Michael Jackson’s chart-topping Bad album, and recorded as his duet partner on “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”.