Biography
Who is Jill Scott?
Early life and education
Jill Scott was born on April 4, 1972, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She grew up in a North Philadelphia neighborhood as an only child. Her mother, Joyce Scott, and her grandmother raised her. She recalls a happy childhood where she felt very loved by her family. Her maternal ancestry traces back to the Jola people of Guinea-Bissau. She grew up as a Jehovah's Witness.
After graduating from the Philadelphia High School for Girls, she enrolled at Temple University. She studied secondary education with the goal of becoming a high school English teacher. She worked two jobs while attending classes. After three years of study and working as a teacher's aide, she became disillusioned with the teaching profession. She decided to drop out of college to pursue other interests.
Musical beginnings and breakthrough
Jill began her career as a spoken word artist, performing at live poetry readings. Ahmir Questlove Thompson of the Roots discovered her and invited her to join the band in the studio. This collaboration led to a co-writing credit on the song You Got Me. In 2000, Erykah Badu and the Roots won a Grammy Award for that song. She debuted as an artist during a Roots live performance. She later collaborated with artists such as Will Smith, Common, and Eric Benet. She also toured Canada in a production of the Broadway musical Rent.
She was the first artist signed to the Hidden Beach Recordings label. Her debut album, Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds Vol. 1, arrived in 2000. The single A Long Walk earned her a Grammy nomination in 2003. She won a Grammy in 2005 for the song Cross My Mind.
Acting career and television roles
In 2007, she appeared in the films Hounddog and Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?. The following year, she starred in the BBC and HBO series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. This show was based on novels by Alexander McCall Smith. In 2014, she played Deidre Dee Dee Jenkins in the film Get on Up. Beginning in 2018, she portrayed Lady Eve in the CW superhero series Black Lightning. She released several studio albums throughout her career, including Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2 in 2004 and The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 in 2007. Her 2011 album, The Light of the Sun, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart.
Legal matters and personal life
In 2010, Hidden Beach Records sued her for leaving her six-album contract early. The label claimed she owed them millions of dollars in damages. She filed a countersuit against the record label in response. During this period, she negotiated a distribution deal with Warner Brothers to release her music under her own imprint, Blues Babe Records. She also signed a multi-tour deal with Live Nation.
She released her fifth album, Woman, on Atlantic Records in 2015. She has one child named Jett Roberts with her partner, Lil John Roberts. She continues to write poetry and released a compilation volume titled The Moments, The Minutes, The Hours in 2005.
Birthday and age
Jill Scott was born on April 4, 1972, which makes Jill 54 years old today. That birthday falls under the Aries sign. Jill shares the date with 68 other famous people.
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