Who is Gregory Porter? Why does Gregory Porter always have a hat on?
GREGORY Porter is a Grammy Award-winning soul singer who has won two Grammys for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
But one thing you may have noticed about the artist is his unusual hat, which is a Kangol Summer Spitfire with a customized strap.
The Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album was bestowed upon the 50-year-old singer twice, first in 2014 for Liquid Spirit and then again in 2017 for Take Me To The Alley.
His public appearances on shows like Good Morning Britain frequently leave viewers wondering why he is always seen wearing a flat cap with a balaclava-style strap that runs under his chin.
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How old is Gregory Porter?
Gregory Porter (born November 4, 1971) is a singer, composer, and actor from the United States. He’s won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album twice: first in 2014 for Liquid Spirit and again in 2017 for Take Me to the Alley. In 2022, he will become 51 years old.
Where is Gregory Porter from?
Gregory Porter was born in Sacramento, California, and reared in Bakersfield. However, he has had greater chart success in the United Kingdom and often performs there. “I believe the UK audience has a strong connection to soulfully expressive music, possibly from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and they may perceive that throwback feel in my approach,” he told the BBC.
Who were Gregory Porter’s parents and how big is his family?
Gregory Porter is the youngest of seven siblings.
Ruth, his mother, was a preacher who pushed him to sing in church from a young age. Rufus, his father, was generally absent from his life.
Gregory said, “Even when their father was around, everyone had difficulties with him. He might have been emotionally unavailable. My father was just not present. I just spent a few days with him in my life. And it wasn’t for long. He really didn’t appear all that interested in being there. I’m not sure whether he was.”
Gregory’s mother died of cancer when he was 21, but only after pleading with him from her deathbed, “Sing, baby, sing!”
Early life and education
Porter claims, “Even when their father was around, everyone had difficulties with him. He might have been emotionally unavailable. My father was just not present. I just spent a few days with him in my life. And it wasn’t for long. He really didn’t appear all that interested in being there. I’m not sure whether he was.”
After graduating from Highland High School in 1989, he obtained a full athletic scholarship to San Diego State University (SDSU Aztecs) as a football lineman, but a shoulder injury during his junior year ended his football career.
Critical reception
Porter has earned positive reviews in the music press since his debut on the Motéma label in 2010. At the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, his first album, Water, was nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album. He was also a part of It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues’ original Broadway cast. Be Good, his second album, which includes many of Porter’s compositions, received critical acclaim for both his distinctive singing and his compositions, including “Be Good (Lion’s Song),” “Real Good Hands,” and “On My Way to Harlem.”
At the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, “Real Good Hands” was also nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance. Kevin Le Gendre of the BBC commented in his review of Water, “Gregory Porter has a voice and musicianship to be reckoned with.”
In its review of Liquid Spirit, the New York Times called Porter “a jazz singer of thrilling presence, a booming baritone with a gift for earthy refinement and soaring uplift.”
Water received a mixed review from AllMusic’s Michael G. Nastos, who stated: “Shorter’s ‘Black Nile,’ in hard bop trim, has Porter shouting out a lyric line that Chicago’s Luba Raashiek did many years ago, but Porter’s voice is strained and breaks up. While Porter sings with great conviction on every track, he’s more effective on lower-key compositions,” but he’s “right up there with José James as the next big male vocal jazz star.”
Is Gregory Porter married?
Gregory Porter has a wife named Victoria. Demyan and Lev are the couple’s two sons.
How tall is Gregory Porter?
Gregory Porter is around 6ft 2 ¾ (189.9 cm). He was on the verge of becoming an American football player. Gregory graduated from Highland High School in 1989 and won a “full-ride” sports scholarship to San Diego State University as a football lineman (covering tuition, books, medical care, and living costs). However, a shoulder injury in his junior year cut short his football career.
Why does Gregory Porter wear a hat?
Gregory wears his now-famous hat to hide up the scars he had from skin surgery, which he underwent over a decade ago.
The artist describes to the flat cap as his “security blanket” and “jazz hat,” although it is really angol Summer Spitfire with a modified strap.
“People now recognize me by that. That’s all there is to it.”
He did, however, tell the BBC that he wants to be “less concerned with my hat and more concerned with my heart and my sound.”
Potter has never spoken publicly about his facial scars; however, he told the Telegraph in 2016 that he received some facial scars when he was “seven or eight” years old, but declined to elaborate.
He’s also assured fans that the hat never gets hot, itchy, or uncomfortable, and that he has a variety to choose from.
What has Gregory Porter said about his famous hat?
Gregory told The Independent about his headgear: “I get recognized for the hat at airports.”
“They know me very well in the UK, but they don’t give me a free pass; I’m thoroughly vetted and safeguarded.”
“I’ve been requested to sing a couple of times to let them know it’s really me.”
“You are conditioned to do something when a person in uniform asks you to do it.”
Gregory Porter wears what kind of hat?
Gregory is dressed in a Kangol Summer Spitfire flat cap. His ears and chin are protected by the hat’s modified strap.
What kind of hat is Tommy Cooper known for?
That’s a fez. It’s a tasselled felt hat named after the Moroccan city of Fez. It evolved from a type of military head protection used in what is now Turkey and Morocco during the late medieval and Renaissance periods.
It was worn as a military uniform cap and by civil servants in the Ottoman Empire for a long time in the 18th, 19th, and 29th centuries.
Today, it and several similar designs are worn by men in that region, by service personnel and politicians in Asia, and by some Shriners and similar groups in the United States. It is also used as ceremonial military uniform by a few units in Italy and Cyprus.
Related references
Gregory Porter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Porter