Jon Batiste, or the “Crowned Prince of Jazz” is a black singer/songwriter/instrumentalist with a very impressive discography working with many famous artists, such as Prince, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Lenny Kravitz, and more.
In the history of the Grammys, only 11 Black artists have won album of the year including Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Ray Charles. Jon Baptiste became the 11th in 2022, also being the first Black album of the year winner since 2008. During his acceptance speech, he says “There is no best album… The creative arts are subjective, and they reach people at a point in their lives when they need it most.” This speech displays his personality and how down-to-earth he is, since he is saying that although he won, at the end of the day there is no real winner, just a bunch of artists making music.
He’s also won an impressive amount of awards and gotten nominated countless times, most recently being nominated for “Song of the Year” and “Album of the Year” in the 2024 Grammys. So how did his life start and how did he gain his success?
Jon Batiste was born into a musical family in Louisiana with 7 other siblings, an accomplished jazz musician for a dad, and a professional singer for a mom, so it was no surprise when he fell in love with music early on in life and started playing piano at the age of 6. During his childhood he was exposed to various types of music, which led him to develop a very unique and diverse taste. Him and his siblings even had a little band called the “Batiste Brothers Band” when he was 8 years old.
At the age of 18, Jon Batiste moved to New York City to pursue a career in music at Julliard. Near this time is when he founded the “Stay Human Band” who went on to become the band that plays at “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert, which Batiste still leads today. He graduated from Julliard in 2008 with a bachelor of music, and went on to get a masters of music which he completed in 2011.
Jon Batiste received his first 2 Grammy nominations in 2015 with his debut album “Social Music,” and won his first grammy in 2020 for “best original score” for the Pixar film “Soul,” which he made the music for.
In total, Jon Batiste won 7 awards for the movie Soul, including an Academy award, a Grammy, a Golden Globe, a BAFTA award, an Annie Award, and an NAACP award. That is very impressive to accumulate in one year!
So what does Jon Batiste do now? Of course Jon Batiste still makes music, but he does many other things too. For example, he is the artistic director for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, and Musical Director for The Atlantic. Jon Batiste has a wife named Suleika Jaouad who is an American writer and emmy-award winning journalist who also advocates for cancer and speaks out about her battle and experiences. They tied the knot in February of 2022, and are each other’s inspiration.
“Jon Batiste has familiarized the world of jazz to people, not only collaborating with recognizable artists like Ed Sheeran, and Lana Del Rey, but also putting a twist on his music by fusing jazz with pop and other genres,” said Victor Simancas, a student at Naugatuck High School, in an interview with The Greyhound.
Overall, Jon Batiste is a very accomplished musician with over 14 awards and no doubt more to come. He has become a jazz icon and will go down in the history books as one of the best of our generations.
