Born on September 1, 1953 in Jamaica, Queens, New York, Don Blackman was a jazz/funk singer/songwriter and pianist who has performed with Parliament-Funkadelic, Earth, Wind and Fire, and others. Primarily a sideman, he began his career in the early 1970s, playing with some of funk and soul greats including Earth, Wind and Fire, Roy Ayers, and Parliament/Funkadelic. He joined jazz fusion drummer Lenny White’s band Twennynine, penning two songs on their 1979 album Best of Friends: “Peanut Butter” and “Morning Sunshine”. Blackman released his self-titled solo debut album in 1982. Three of the album’s tracks – “Holding You, Loving You”, “Heart’s Desire”, and “Since You’ve Been Away So Long” – were minor European hits. While his solo catalog is very small – he released only one more album, Listen, in 2002 – he was active as a studio session musician, appearing on albums by Janet Jackson, Wayman Tisdale, Kurtis Blow, David Sanborn, Najee, Sting, World Saxophone Quartet, Bernard White, and others. Don Blackman also wrote scores for commercials, television, and movies. Don Blackman’s musical legacy lived on in the hip-hop world when several of his compositions were sampled by Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, and Memphis Bleek. Don Blackman died of cancer on April 11, 2013.
