Martha High

Martha Harvin (born January 8, 1945), known professionally as Martha High, is an American singer-songwriter. High began her career in the early 1960s as a member of the female vocal group The Jewels. After a string of unsuccessful singles, the group released their only charting single "Opportunity" to minor success. The Jewels eventually became the background vocalist of James Brown in 1964 and continued to tour with him until they disbanded in 1968. High continued on performing as a background singer for Brown. In the 1970s, she embarked on a solo career, releasing two singles "Georgy Girl" (1972) and "Try Me" (1972) on James Brown's recording label People Records. In 1979, she released her self-titled debut album on Salsoul Records to minor success. In 1980, she returned to performing as James Brown's principle backing vocalist until 1998, respectively. Afterwards, she joined several of her James Brown revue colleagues including Lyn Collins and Maceo Parker on various concert tours. In 2008, High revamped her solo career and released her second live album titled W.O.M.A.N. With several independent record labels and music bands, she released several studio albums including: It's High Time (2009), Soul Overdue (2012), Singing for the Good Times (2016), Tribute to My Soul Sisters (2018), Nothing's Going Wrong (2020), Got My Senses Back (2021), Soul Brother Where Art Thou? Vol. 2: A Tribute to James Brown (2022), The Magic of Christmas (2022), and Jazz and Blues (2024).

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