37 Facts About Mervyn Warren

Mervyn Edwin Warren was born on February 29,1964 and is an American film composer, record producer, conductor, arranger, lyricist, songwriter, pianist, and vocalist.

Mervyn Warren has written the underscore and songs for many feature and television films.

Mervyn Warren has written arrangements in a variety of musical styles for producers Quincy Jones, David Foster, Arif Mardin, and dozens of popular recording artists, including extensive work on Jones' Back on the Block, Q's Jook Joint, and Q: Soul Bossa Nostra.

Mervyn Warren was born on leap day in Huntsville, Alabama.

Mervyn Warren is the son of Mervyn A Warren, a university administrator, professor, and author, and Barbara J Warren, a university professor who specialized in early childhood education.

Mervyn Warren's mother taught him reading and math when he was three years old, which enabled him to complete the first and second grades in one year.

Mervyn Warren took piano lessons briefly between the ages of 6 and 10, but lost interest, preferring improvising to memorization.

Mervyn Warren grew up near Oakwood University, where he saw ensembles perform.

Mervyn Warren graduated in 1985 with a degree in music.

At the age of five, Mervyn Warren began playing the piano by ear, after being taught a few songs by his mother.

Mervyn Warren soon became sought after as an accompanist in the community and throughout college and graduate school.

At the age of 10, Mervyn Warren became the regular accompanist for a vocal group composed of five of his female classmates where they performed regularly at school and community events.

Mervyn Warren had an innate inclination toward jazz and complex harmony, which was evident in both his original songs and arrangements of existing songs.

At the age of 13, Mervyn Warren expanded the five-voice, female vocal group to a nine-voice, mixed vocal group.

Mervyn Warren created the vocal arrangement, played keyboards, and assisted Todd with the overall production.

Soon, Mervyn Warren became a regular session-performer at Sound Cell, contributing to arrangements, playing keyboards, and singing on the radio and TV while performing pop, rock, country, and contemporary Christian recordings.

One of the duets began with Mervyn Warren singing and Kibble at the piano; then, halfway through the song, Mervyn Warren would leave the stage and take over at the piano, at which point Kibble would take the stage to sing.

In 1981, Mervyn Warren enrolled at Oakwood University and joined the highly regarded touring choir The Aeolians, under the direction of Professor Alma Blackmon.

Mervyn Warren remained a member of The Aeolians throughout his four-year matriculation, later becoming the ensemble's stage director, assistant conductor, and alternate accompanist.

In 1985, Mervyn Warren composed an upbeat choral piece entitled "I Ain't Got Long To Be Here" in the style of a negro spiritual.

Blackmon allowed Mervyn Warren to teach the piece to The Aeolians, and it became part of their standard repertoire.

In 1981, Mervyn Warren disbanded The Symbolic Sounds and formed the vocal group A Special Blend, consisting of two women and two men, accompanied by Mervyn Warren on piano or sometimes along with a full rhythm section.

Mervyn Warren created innovative vocal arrangements for A Special Blend, whose repertoire consisted of new arrangements of familiar songs, as well as original compositions by Warren.

Mervyn Warren remained a member of The Aeolians throughout his four-year matriculation.

In 1986, Mervyn Warren traveled to Toronto, Canada to see the Manhattan Transfer in concert.

Some months later, while completing his master's degree at the University of Alabama, Mervyn Warren received a surprise phone call from Janis Siegel of the Manhattan Transfer asking if he had heard from the Recording Academy.

Years later, perhaps in an effort to pay them back, Mervyn Warren would write several arrangements for the Manhattan Transfer.

Mervyn Warren produced or co-produced most of their first two albums: Take 6 and So Much 2 Say.

Mervyn Warren arranged and co-wrote many of the included songs.

In 1991, Mervyn Warren left Take 6 to become a full-time record producer, songwriter, arranger and film composer.

Between recording sessions and tours with Take 6, Mervyn Warren produced, wrote songs, and made arrangements for other musicians.

Mervyn Warren and Dent received a Grammy Award nomination for the arrangement.

In 1991, Mervyn Warren was hired to arrange and produce an interpretation of the 1741 oratorio Messiah by George Frideric Handel that incorporated African-American music.

Mervyn Warren arranged and produced seven of the sixteen tracks of Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration, which included spirituals, blues, ragtime, swing, jazz fusion, rhythm and blues, gospel, and hip-hop.

In 1993 Mervyn Warren was hired to compose music for the film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.

Mervyn Warren has composed and conducted orchestral scores for film and television; he has written, produced, and arranged songs for Ron Fair, David Foster, and Quincy Jones; and he has performed and recorded as a musician.

Mervyn Warren collaborated with Jeff Marx on "You Have More Friends Than You Know" for the It Gets Better organization.