Jimmy Scott

James Victor Scott (July 17, 1925 – June 12, 2014), also known as Little Jimmy Scott, was an American jazz vocalist known for his high natural contralto voice and his sensitivity on ballads and love songs.

After success in the 1940s and 1950s, Scott's career faltered in the early 1960s. He slid into obscurity before a comeback in the 1990s. His unusual singing voice was due to Kallmann syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that limited his height to 4 feet 11 inches (150 cm) until the age of 37, when he grew by 8 inches (20 cm). The syndrome prevented him from reaching classic puberty and left him with a high voice and unusual timbre.

James Victor Scott was born on July 17, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The son of Arthur Claude Scott (born Chester Stewart) and Justine Hazel Stanard Scott, he was the third child in a family of ten. As a child, he got his first singing experience by his mother's side at the family piano and later in church choir. He was orphaned at the age of 13, when his mother was killed by a drunk driver.

Lionel Hampton gave him the nickname "Little Jimmy Scott" because he looked young and was short and of slight build. His phrasing made him a favorite of artists including Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Frankie Valli, Dinah Washington and Nancy Wilson.

He rose to prominence as Little Jimmy Scott in the Lionel Hampton band as lead singer on "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", recorded in December 1949. It became a top-10 R&B hit in 1950. Credit on the label went to "Lionel Hampton and vocalists"; Scott received no credit on any of the songs. A similar event occurred several years later when his vocal on "Embraceable You" with Charlie Parker, on the album One Night in Birdland, was credited to the female vocalist Chubby Newsom.

In 1963, his girlfriend Mary Ann Fisher, who sang with Ray Charles, helped him sign with Tangerine, Charles's label, and record the album Falling in Love is Wonderful. The album was withdrawn while Scott was on his honeymoon because he had signed a contract with Herman Lubinsky; it would be 40 years before the album was reissued. Scott disputed the contract he had with Lubinsky, who had loaned him to Syd Nathan at King for 45 recordings in 1957–58. Another album, The Source, was recorded in 1969, released in 1970, but due to another Lubinsky threat of breach of contract, it was not promoted by Atlantic and quickly went out of print. (It was reissued in 2001).

Scott's career faded by the late 1960s, and he went back to his native Cleveland to work as a hospital orderly, shipping clerk, and elevator operator. He returned to music in 1989 when manager Alan Eichler arranged for him to share a late-night bill with Johnnie Ray at New York's Ballroom. When Scott sang at the funeral of his friend, songwriter Doc Pomus, the event further renewed his career. Scott performed the song "Sycamore Trees" in the climactic final episode of the original Twin Peaks in 1991, and Lou Reed invited him to sing backup on the song "Power and Glory" on Reed's 1992 album Magic and Loss.

Also in attendance at Pomus's funeral was Seymour Stein, founder and operator of Sire Records, which released Scott's 1992 album All the Way, produced by Tommy LiPuma and featuring Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, and David "Fathead" Newman. Scott was nominated for a Grammy Award for the album.