Born: September 3 Primary Instrument: Vocal
Born in Philadelphia, Gail Marten (Divac/Hurlbrink/Cooke) began her singing career in 1980 shortly after moving to Maryland. Performing throughout the mid-Atlantic region, Marten has captivated audiences at music festivals, concert venues, jazz clubs and private social events.
During the 80's and 90's, Gail held long term engagements at many premier area hotels and bistros and has sung with many jazz notables including Cyrus Chestnut, Benny Waters, Reuben Brown, Dick Durham, Arnold Sterling, Mickey Fields, Greg Hatza, Billy Colucci, Bob Diener and Charles Covington at venues that include Baltimore's Pier Six Concert Pavilion and Ethel's Place, New York's West End Club and Rita Dimitri's, Charlie's-Georgetown and The Hilton in Gatwick, England.
In 1983, Marten met world famous saxophonist Benny Waters at an engagement at the Hilton Hotel, and they established an on-going musical association and friendship and occasionally performed concerts together in the mid-Atlantic area until his death in 1997 at the age of 96.
Marten met pianist Clem Ehoff at the Renaissance Hotel in Baltimore where they worked together for the first time in the early ’90s. They established a musical connection, and three CDs were recorded, BEYOND THE RAINBOW 2001, PURE JOY 2003 and IS IT LOVE 2007 receiving numerous awards.
Awards:
ASCAPlus Award Winner 2007, 2008, 2009Marten and Ehoff have won several international songwriting competitions for their original compositions and lyrics: "Is It Love," "Big Girl Blues," "We Can Learn To Fly" from their CD IS IT LOVE and "Heaven On A Tropic Shore," "Always There," "One of Those Tomorrows" and "A Lovely Dream" from their CD, PURE JOY. Their CDs have been nominated "Best Jazz CD" by JPF in 2004 for PURE JOY and again in 2006 for IS IT LOVE. The title track, "Is It Love," was also nominated as "Best Vocal Jazz Song."
OTHER AWARDS: "Best of The 2000's" by Women's Radio, John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Billboard Songwriting Contest, Broadjam's Summer Music Challenge, Lyric Awards Global Contest, Song & Film, Finland’s Vantaa Jazz Heritage Assn., Film Music Network...
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