Jill Scott

Jill Scott is an American singer, songwriter, model, poet and actress. Her 2000 debut album, Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1, went platinum, and the follow-ups Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2 (2004) and The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 (2007) both achieved gold status.

Scott is a soprano who has infused jazz, opera, R&B, spoken word, and hip hop in a style often called neo-soul. A reviewer at Pop Matters, referring to Scott’s vocal ability (1st soprano), stated, “Scott draws on her upper register, recalling the artistry of the late ‘songbird’ Minnie Riperton and Deniece Williams.” The same reviewer, in another article, stated, “The song evokes the artistry of Minnie Riperton as Scott sings in the upper register that makes its only appearances on ‘Who is Jill Scott?’ on the teasing ‘I Think It’s Better’ and ‘Show Me’.” Other reviewers have celebrated her for “putting bass in her soprano voice,” “elegant vocals,” “warm womanliness” and “populat[ing] her music with images of regular people”.

Scott made her film debut in 2007 in Hounddog and Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?. In 2008, she starred in the BBC/HBO series The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, based on the novels of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith. After a four-year hiatus from music, Scott released her fourth album, The Light of the Sun, in 2011. In 2014, she starred in the film Get on Up as the second wife of James Brown. In 2015, she released her fifth album, Woman. Starting in 2018, Scott appeared in The CW DC Comics superhero series Black Lightning as Lady Eve.