Gilbert Scott-Heron was born in Chicago on 1 April 1949 to Bobbie Scott, an opera singer, and Gil Heron, a soccer player. After his parents divorced he was raised by his grandmother in Jackson, Tennessee, and later lived in New York City. He attended Lincoln University and began as a writer, publishing poems and novels. He called himself a bluesologist. His debut Small Talk at 125th and Lenox (Flying Dutchman, 1970) set his poems largely to percussion, and with Brian Jackson he developed a jazz, funk and soul sound on Pieces of a Man (1971) and Free Will (1972). Those records used jazz players including Ron Carter, Hubert Laws and Bernard Purdie. He recorded Winter in America with Jackson for Strata-East (1974) and then signed to Arista, where his work with Jackson continued through 1976. His music is regarded as an influence on later hip hop and neo soul. He made I’m New Here for XL Recordings in 2010. Scott-Heron died in New York City on 27 May 2011, aged 62.