Marla Glen (born January 3, 1960 in Chicago, Illinois, USA) is an American singer and songwriter who has lived in Germany since 1998 (now in Duisburg). He plays blues, soul, jazz and R&B, characterized by a smoky bass voice that underlines his stage presence. He discovered his passion for music on the South Side of Chicago at the age of five, when blues legend Muddy Waters gave him a harmonica. At the age of eleven, he wrote his first song "Repertoire", which later appeared on the album Love and Respect. He spent his teenage years traveling through the USA, working for Nina Simone, among others, and performing in blues clubs in Chicago and New Orleans. His breakthrough followed in 1993 with the debut album This Is Marla Glen, which went platinum in Germany and Switzerland (No. 10 DE, No. 9 CH). 1995 sees the release of Love and Respect (No. 8 DE, gold in Germany and Switzerland). Other studio albums include Our World (1997, No. 21 DE, No. 33 CH), Friends (2003, No. 36 DE, No. 99 CH) and Unexpected (2020, No. 83 DE, No. 41 CH) - each with a strong stylistic diversity ranging from soul to funk. Well-known songs include "The Cost of Freedom" (1993, No. 76 DE) and "Ain't That a Shame" (1995, No. 27 CH). His composition "Believer" was used in a C&A commercial in 1995; his interpretation of "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" appeared in a Tabac commercial in 2000/2001. Recent releases show his continuous artistic development: the spoken word project Impressions of Unexpected (Poetry) was released in 2022, followed by singles such as "Prove All Your Lovin' (Club Mix)" (2023), "I Said Hey" feat. Spacetrain (2023), "You Can Say (A Tribute to Miss Simone)" (01.08.2024) and "Look What You See" (06.12.2024). Marla Glen comes out as trans in 2023.
