MARION MEADOWS

Marion Meadows was born in West Virginia and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut. He began playing the clarinet and studying classical music at the age of nine.

He started playing tenor sax in high school, and then migrated to soprano sax. His passion for various types of music led him down an eclectic musical path.

After studying jazz at Rippowam High School in Stamford, CT with Anthony Truglia, Meadows attended Berklee College of Music. There he majored in arranging and composition. He later went to the SUNY Purchase School for the Arts. During his college years he played in a number of bands including disco, R&B and various jazz ensembles and perfected his craft studying with Sonny Fortune, Joe Henderson, Dave Liebman and Eddie Daniels.

“Not long after I finished school, (drummer) Norman Connors recorded one of my songs, “Invitation” and then asked me to join his band. I later produced his Passion album with my colleague Jacques Burvick (Aquarium Dream,” said Meadows 

After that, things just fell into place. He hooked up with numerous artists and musicians, becoming a well-known sideman--recording or performing with Brook Benton, Eartha Kitt, Phyllis Hyman, Jean Carne, The Temptations, Michael Bolton, Angela Bofill, Will Downing, Bob Baldwin, Chuck Loeb, and John Lee, among many others.

In the late ‘80s, Meadows stretched his boundaries by becoming a member of a New York avant-garde band called the Aboriginal Music Society. In 1990 Meadows submitted a solo project to Steve Backer at Novus/RCA and was signed to a recording contract, thus marking the beginning of his solo career.  

Meadows’ first RCA release “For Lover’s Only” in 1990 was a huge success and was followed by his groundbreaking “Keep it Right There” album in 1992.

He became a staple of the contemporary jazz format with his subsequent recordings, which include Body Rhythm (1994) and Forbidden Fruit (1996), Pleasure (1997), Another Side Of Midnight (1999), Next To You (2000), In Deep (2002), Players Club (2004), Dressed To Chill (2006), Secrets (2009) Whisper (2013) Soul Traveler (2015, Soul City (2018) and Twice As Nice (2021).

Meadows is a semi-pro cyclist, graphic artist and designer. Marion received a doctorate from Wilberforce University in 2016.