Rhoda Scott (born July 3, 1938) is an American soul jazz organist and singer. She is nicknamed "The Barefoot Lady".

Biography and musical career

Scott was born and raised in the Dorothy neighborhood of Weymouth Township, New Jersey, the first child to a Black travelling minister father and a white mother. She has six siblings. Her parents were themselves musicians, playing piano and organ, and singing as well. As a minister, her father moved frequently to different small churches and he would take her along with him to where he worked, where she heard her first gospels and spirituals. Scott was first attracted to the organ in her father's church at age seven. "It's really the most beautiful instrument in the world", she stated in a 2002 interview. "The first thing I did was take my shoes off and work the pedals." From then on she always played her church organ in her bare feet, a practice she continued for decades. As a nine-year-old, she took over as the church organist when her predecessor called in sick. Around 12 or 13, Scott served as a piano tutor at her boarding school, work she continued into high school at the New Jersey Manual Training School in Bordentown, New Jersey. She enrolled at Westminster Choir College at age 16, and there discovered Bach. She remained at Westminster for two years, before financial concerns led to her leaving for a job as a bookkeeper at a fashion designer. She later studied music theory at the Manhattan School of Music. At 20 years old, Scott begain to play the organ in an R&B group. She soon founded her own groups, gigging around metro New York, eventually opening for Count Basie in Newark, where he invited her to play his Harlem club. In 1963, she recorded her first album, ''Live! at the Key Club'' (Tru-Sound/Prestige TSLP-15014). She also met Eddie Barclay, who paid $75 to acquire one of her songs, Hey Hey Hey that became a big hit. Little by little, Scott toured in every state in America, but tired of her group: "In general, my 2 bandmates were very attracted to sequins . . . and the longer we went on, the more they wanted me to dress sexier, with slit dresses, high heels, makeup, and I felt less and less comfortable in the situation, as if I didn't belong to myself." In 1967, Scott moved to France, where she has since spent most of her career. As well as making a career in jazz, Scott has also continued playing the organ in church: For forty years, she was the organist at her parish church in Perche, France.

Personal life

Scott married a Frenchman, actor-singer Raoul Saint-Yves, in 1968, after which he became her manager. They had two children, both adopted, who were born in Haiti.

Discography

Compilations