Biography of Bobby McFerrin

McFerrin was born in Manhattan, New York, the son of the late operatic baritone Robert McFerrin, and singer Sara Cooper. Robert, Sr. was the first African American to be a regular with New York's Metropolitan Opera. Sara is a former soloist with regional opera companies, and in Broadway shows, and is a professor emeritus of music at Fullerton College in Fullerton, California.
Bobby McFerrin married Debbie Green in 1975. They have three children.
McFerrin's song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was a #1 U.S. pop hit in 1988 and won Song of the Year and Record of the Year honors. McFerrin has also worked in collaboration with instrumental performers including pianists Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Joe Zawinul, drummer Tony Williams, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
As a vocalist, McFerrin often switches rapidly between normal and falsetto registers to create polyphonic effects, performing both the main melody and the accompanying parts of songs. He makes use of percussive effects created both with his mouth and by tapping on his chest. McFerrin is also capable of multiphonic singing; as observed in his song "Drive" from the 2005 DVD Live in Montreal.
A notable document of McFerrin's approach to singing is his 1984 album The Voice, the first solo vocal jazz album recorded with no accompaniment or overdubbing.
In the late 1970s, while working as a piano accompanist for the University of Utah Modern Dance Department, McFerrin auditioned to play in a local piano bar -- Room at the Top in the Salt Lake Hilton. Hired after auditioning with his entire repertoire of five songs, he learned a song a day for a month before starting.
In 1986, McFerrin was the voice of Santa Bear in "Santa Bear's First Christmas," and in 1987 he was the voice of Santa Bear/Bully Bear in the sequel "Santa Bear's High Flying Adventure." That same year, he performed the theme song for the opening credits of Season 4 of The Cosby Show, as well as the music for a Cadburys chocolate commercial.
In 1988, McFerrin recorded the hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy," which brought him widespread recognition across the world. However, the song's success "ended McFerrin's musical life as he had known it," and he began to pursue other musical possibilities -- on stage and in recording studios.
In 1989, he composed and performed the music for the Pixar short film Knick Knack. The rough cut to which McFerrin recorded his vocals had the words "blah blah blah" in place of the end credits (meant to indicate that he should improvise). McFerrin spontaneously decided to sing "blah blah blah" as lyrics, and the final version of the short film includes these lyrics during the end credits. Also in 1989, he formed a ten-person 'Voicestra' which he featured on both his 1990 album Medicine Music and in the score to the 1989 Oscar-winning documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt. The song 'Common Threads' has frequently reappeared in some public service advertisements for AIDS. McFerrin also performed with the Vocal Summit.
As early as 1992, widespread rumors circulated that falsely claimed McFerrin committed suicide. The rumors intentionally made light of the distinctly positive nature of his popular song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by claiming McFerrin ironically took his own life.
In 1993 McFerrin sang Henry Mancini's "Pink Panther" theme for the movie Son of the Pink Panther.
In addition to his vocal performing career, in 1994, Mr. McFerrin was appointed as creative chair of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He makes regular tours as a guest conductor for symphony orchestras throughout the United States and Canada, including the San Francisco Symphony (on his 40th birthday), the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic and many others. In McFerrin's concert appearances, he combines serious conducting of classical pieces with his own unique vocal improvisations, often with participation from the audience and the orchestra. For example, the concerts often end with McFerrin conducting the orchestra in an a cappella rendition of the "William Tell Overture," in which the orchestra members sing their musical parts in McFerrin's vocal style instead of playing their parts on their instruments.
McFerrin also participates in various music education programs, and makes volunteer appearances as a guest music teacher and lecturer at public schools throughout the U.S. McFerrin has a son, Taylor, and father and son have collaborated on various musical ventures. Taylor has recently been singing, rapping, and playing minimal keyboard accompaniment with Vernon Reid (leader-guitarist of Living Colour) in the eclectic metal-fusion-funk-etc. group Yohimbe Brothers.
In 2009, McFerrin and musician-scientist Daniel Levitin served as co-hosts of "The Music Instinct", a 2 hour award-winning documentary produced by PBS and based on Levitin's best-selling book This Is Your Brain On Music. Later that year, the two appeared together on a panel at the World Science Festival where McFerrin demonstrated audience participation with the ubiquitous nature of human understanding of the pentatonic scale by singing and dancing, and having the audience sing while following his movements.
Sources: www.bobbymcferrin.com , www.wikipedia.org