Born in Syracuse, New York, in 1932, Murphy was raised in a musical family, his parents having met as members of the local Methodist Church choir. He grew up in the nearby small town of Fulton, New York, where his grandmother and then his aunt were the church organists. Opera was also a presence in the Murphy home. He started piano lessons at the age of seven.
Murphy joined his brother's jazz dance band as the singer when a teenager, citing influences from Nat "King" Cole, June Christy, Anita O'Day, and Ella Fitzgerald. The Jazz pianist Art Tatum was also an influence.
Murphy graduated from Syracuse University in 1953, majoring in Music and Drama. University life included performing on campus and also in a club – playing piano and singing.
In 1954, Murphy moved to New York City, working part-time as an actor and singer. He appeared in productions for the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company and a musical version for television of Casey at the Bat. Also, he twice took second place at the Apollo Theatre amateur contests.
Murphy was eventually introduced to record producer Milt Gabler, who was an artist and repertoire director (A & R) for Decca. His resulting debut recording was Meet Mark Murphy (1956), followed closely by Let Yourself Go (1957).
In 1958 Murphy moved to Los Angeles and recorded for Capitol, but returned to New York in the early '60s and recorded the album Rah! (1961) on Riverside Records, performing "Angel Eyes", a version of Horace Silver's "Doodlin'", and "Green Dolphin Street", featuring Bill Evans, Clark Terry, Urbie Green, Blue Mitchell and Wynton Kelly as accompanists. His favorite recording to date, That's How I Love the Blues, soon followed. In 1963, Murphy hit the charts across the country with his single of "Fly Me to the Moon" and was voted New Star of the Year in Down Beat Magazine's Reader's Poll.[citation needed]
In the late 1960s Murphy moved to London, England, where he worked primarily as an actor. He continued however, to cultivate his jazz audiences in Europe. He returned to the States in 1972 and began recording an average of an album a year for more than fourteen years on the Muse label. These projects - including the albums Nat King Cole Songbook Vol. I and II, Bop for Kerouac, Kerouac Then And Now, Living Room, Satisfaction Guaranteed, Beauty And the Beast and, Stolen Moments - gained numerous Grammy nominations.[citation needed] This last album contains Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments" with lyrics by Murphy.
In 1984 together with Viva Brasil he recorded the album Brazil Song (Cancões do Brasil), which featured original material written by Brazilian songwriters including work by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Milton Nascimento.
In 1987, Murphy recorded Night Mood, an album of songs by Brazilian composer Ivan Lins, followed by the Grammy-nominated September Ballads on Milestone Records. Murphy has also appeared on U.F.O.'s last two releases (for Polydor Records), in which he wrote and rapped lyrics on songs composed with the group. This collaboration opened up further new audiences in the acid-jazz and hip-hop genres, demonstrating jazz's timelessness while transcending generations and styles.
In August 1997, BMG/RCA Victor released Song For The Geese, for which he has received his sixth Grammy nomination. Also in August 1997, the 32 Records label Joel Dorn and Michael Bourne released a double CD anthology Stolen and Other Moments, which features some of his recordings for the now defunct Muse label. The CD features material from the two "Kerouac" albums and a selection of "the best of Mark Murphy".
Murphy’s release Once to Every Heart (2005), on the Verve label, features sensuous ballads, where the listener can capture him singing in top form, with superb musicians and sounding better than ever. In 2007 Love is What Stays was released on Verve. Both albums were produced by German trumpeter Till Brönner.
Murphy has also collaborated with Five Corners Quintet, a modern Finnish jazz band. He appears on their albums Chasin' the Jazz Gone By (2005) and Hot Corner (2008).
In 2010 he released the independently produced CD, Never Let Me Go, on which he is supported by pianist Misha Piatigorsky, bassist Danton Boller and drummer Chris Wabich. A limited edition EP/MP3, "Beautiful Friendship: Remembering Shirley Horn" on Gearbox Records was released in 2013.
Murphy continued to tour internationally into his 80s, appearing at festivals, concerts, in jazz clubs and on television programs, throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan, as well as other places. John Bush at AllMusic.com described Murphy as "a major name in vocal jazz." A longtime resident of the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey, he died there on October 22, 2015.
You
Mark Murphy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
At Sunrise,
Ev'ry sunset too,
Seems to be
Bringing me
Memories of you.
Here and there,
Scenes that we once knew,
And they all
Just recall
Memories of you.
How I wish I could forget
Those happy yesteryears
That have left a rosary of tears.
Your face beams
In my dreams,
Spite of all I do!
Ev'rything
Seems to bring
Memories of you.
How I wish I could forget
Those happy yesteryears
That have left a rosary of tears.
Your face beams
In my dreams,
Spite of all I do!
Ev'rything
Seems to bring
Memories,
All those memories of you.
Mark Murphy's song "Memories of You" is a poignant expression of the persistent presence of lost love in one's memory. The opening lines of the song - "Waking skies, at Sunrise, Every sunset too" - is a metaphor that suggests that every day that begins and ends brings with it memories of the past. The repetition of the phrase "Memories of you" in the chorus drives the point home, as the singer recounts how each location and experience triggers memories of their lost love.
The third verse reveals the pain that the memories bring the singer as they sing, "How I wish I could forget, Those happy yesteryears, That have left a rosary of tears". The irony of the line is that the past that they wish they could forget was a happy one. The memories that bring the singer so much pain are of moments when they were happy, and those moments have now become a "rosary of tears". The final verse is a poignant expression of the persistence of the singer's memories, as they sing "Everything seems to bring, memories of you". The singer concludes that they cannot escape the memories, they cannot stop the memories from haunting them, and they must live with it.
Line by Line Meaning
Waking skies
The sky at sunrise reminds me of you.
At Sunrise,
Mark Murphy sees the sunrise every day.
Ev'ry sunset too,
The sunset reminds me of you every day.
Seems to be
It appears that way to Mark Murphy.
Bringing me
These memories are coming back to Mark Murphy.
Memories of you.
Mark Murphy is thinking of memories he shared with you.
Here and there,
In various places.
Ev'rywhere,
In every place Mark Murphy goes to.
Scenes that we once knew,
Scenes from their past together.
And they all
Every reminiscence.
Just recall
Remind Mark Murphy.
Memories of you.
Mark Murphy is thinking of memories he shared with you.
How I wish I could forget
Mark Murphy wishes he could forget.
Those happy yesteryears
The happy times they had together.
That have left a rosary of tears.
The pain those memories brings him.
Your face beams
Mark Murphy can see images of your face.
In my dreams,
Mark Murphy sees your face in his dreams.
Spite of all I do!
Regardless of what Mark Murphy does, he can't forget you.
Ev'rything
Every little thing in Mark Murphy's surroundings.
Seems to bring
Everything eventually reminds Mark Murphy of you.
Memories,
The memories he shared with you.
All those memories of you.
Mark Murphy is thinking of memories he shared with you.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Jim Yester
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@saraaraujodafonsecagarciaf4653
What a great version of this theme, my favourite one!!!!!! Mark Murphy was really an amazing jazz singer....So sorry that he is no more among us!... ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️👍👍👍👍👍
@jeanlouischleider
It's also my favorite jazz singer !!!!!
@maximjamir9008
I guess Im pretty off topic but do anybody know of a good website to watch newly released movies online ?
@alfredephraim6773
@Maxim Jamir I would suggest Flixzone. Just google for it =)
@suzannegriffin-otis9661
Mark Murphy..What an amazing jazz vocalist. Anybody know who the piano player is?
@saraaraujodafonsecagarciaf4653
@@suzannegriffin-otis9661 i guess who plays the piano is Marc Seales.This theme belongs to the album Song for the Geese.
@jennifermanges-mcintosh7802
My favorite male singer EVER. And this whole album has the best string arrangements, so lush! It doesn't get better than this
@yggdrasil9039
This man was a complete and utter genius
@peterhaslund
Love how freely he expressed himself. Like singing in front of the bathroom mirror, in love with the sound of my own voice
@harrietandrade9284
Mark Murphy creates the music. He finds the essence. He puts the music inside of our soul. He left us with exquisite beauty in every sound and syllable.