Patrice Rushen

Patrice Rushen (born September 30, 1954 in Los Angeles, CA) is an award-winning R&B singer, songwriter, producer, jazz pianist, composer, and music director. She earned a degree in music from the University of Southern California and she released her debut album Prelusion, a primarily instrumental jazz album, in 1974 on Prestige Records. After two more jazz albums with Prestige, she signed with Elektra Records and moved towards an R&B sound, causing a bit of backlash towards her from the jazz community.

Pizzazz, her fifth album (and second with Elektra), was released in 1979 and featured her first R&B hit, “Haven’t You Heard,” along with the popular album cuts “Settle for My Love” and “Givin' It Up is Givin' Up.” Her most popular album, Straight from the Heart, was released in 1982 and featured her biggest single “Forget Me Nots.” Her follow-up album, 1984’s Now, featured the #2 R&B hit “Feels So Real (Won’t Let Go).” Her last album, 1997’s Signature, featured the jazz sound that she was known for at the start of her career.

She has composed music for a number of movies and television shows and was the musical director for the Grammy Awards from 2004 to 2006. In 1988, she received the ASCAP Songwriter’s Award and she received the Legacy of Excellence Award from her alma mater USC’s Black Student Assembly in 1992.

Rushen has still been a source of inspiration to numerous artists of the following generations, including Solange Knowles, who paid homage to the trademark look of the multi-faceted artist in the music video for her 2016 song “Don’t Touch My Hair”.