Name Norman Mapp Role Musical Artist | Died 1988 | |
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Albums Jazz Ain't Nothin' but Soul, Cool Blue Essential Jazz Masters Similar People Tommy Flanagan, Clark Terry, Dave Bailey, Seldon Powell | ||
Free Spirits
Norman Mapp, b. John Norman Mapp, (1928–1988) was a jazz vocalist, composer and recording artist.
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Biography
Mapp was born and raised in Corona/East Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, New York. He was married to Marilyn Patricia Folk Lewis Mapp, and was the father of four sons, one daughter and one stepson, David, John, Brian, Eric, Robin and Norman respectively. He started his music career as a singer with the U.S. Army band, while serving in uniform during World War II stationed in Europe, and continued his music career once he returned home, with his honorable discharge.
Dinah Washington, after an evening of performing, went into a Harlem night club to hear Mapp sing at his debut, and she adopted him as her protégé, encouraged him to continue singing and song writing, and helped him launch his career as a soloist and big-band musician.
Norman Mapp's noted songs
In February 1988, Anthony Scaduto wrote Mapp's obituary for New York Newsday, and quoted his best friend and fellow musician jazz trumpeter Clark Terry saying: "He was the warmest human being who ever lived. Very beautiful, very talented." In the same obituary, Norman Mapp was quoted from a previous Newsday interview in 1986 as saying he "never regretted making music his career,...because it brought him a wealth of experience, plus the opportunity to know and work with people such as Count Basie, Dinah Washington, Sy Oliver." On learning of his passing, Arthur Prysock said, "I thought he was a great fellow. He's going to be missed."
Artists performing Norman Mapp's songs