Mervyn Edwin Warren (born February 29, 1964) is an American film composer, record producer, conductor, arranger, lyricist, songwriter, pianist, and vocalist. Warren is a five-time Grammy Award winner and a 10-time Grammy Award nominee. Warren has written the underscore and songs for many feature and television films. He has also written arrangements in a variety of musical styles for producers Quincy Jones, David Foster, Arif Mardin, and dozens of popular recording artists, including extensive work on Jones' Back on the Block, Q's Jook Joint, and Q: Soul Bossa Nostra.
Warren has also produced for numerous jazz, pop, R&B, contemporary Christian, and gospel artists, typically arranging those recordings and often performing on them (on piano, keyboards, or vocals), and often writing or co-writing the melodies and lyrics. Warren is best known as an original member of the a cappella vocal group Take 6, for having composed the underscore to the number-1 film The Wedding Planner (2001), for producing and arranging songs for the hit film Sister Act 2 (1993), and for producing and arranging most of the soundtrack to the 1996 Whitney Houston film The Preacher's Wife—the best-selling gospel album of all time.
Early life and education Warren was born on leap day (February 29) in Huntsville, Alabama. He is the son of Mervyn A. Warren, a university administrator, professor, and author, and Barbara J. Warren, a university professor who specialized in early childhood education. His mother taught him reading and math when he was three years old, which enabled him to complete the first and second grades in one year. Upon beginning the third grade, his classmates, thinking he had "skipped" a grade, taunted and ostracized him for the next several years. During that time, he immersed himself in playing the piano, which he had begun under his mother's tutelage at the age of five. He took piano lessons briefly between the ages of 6 and 10, but lost interest, preferring improvising to memorization. Because his parents are Seventh-day Adventists, he was forbidden from listening to pop music or rhythm and blues. He was punished at the age of twelve when he got caught with a copy of the album Gratitude by Earth, Wind & Fire. Instead he listened to easy-listening, contemporary Christian, classical, choral music, the Mantovani Orchestra, Edwin Hawkins, and the Swingle Singers. He grew up near Oakwood University, where he saw ensembles perform. At fifteen, he enrolled in a summer program at Alabama A&M University for high school students who excelled at math and science. In 1981 he was valedictorian at Oakwood Adventist Academy, then a few months later entered Oakwood University. He graduated in 1985 with a degree in music. Two years later he received a master's degree in arranging from the University of Alabama, having studied with Steve Sample Sr.
Early musical career At the age of five, Warren began playing the piano by ear, after being taught a few songs by his mother. Thereafter, for many years he immersed himself in the piano, learning to play various styles by ear and creating new arrangements of existing pieces. As early as the age of seven, he was accompanying vocalists at the piano for their performances at school or church. He soon became sought after as an accompanist in the community and throughout college and graduate school.
At the age of 10, Warren became the regular accompanist for a vocal group composed of five of his female classmates where they performed regularly at school and community events. Within weeks of becoming their accompanist, Warren began creating original arrangements for the group.
When he was 12, he was asked by a classmate if he had ever considered composing an original song. Though Warren had not previously considered doing so, the suggestion prompted him to begin composing original songs and lyrics which he taught to the vocal group and which they performed publicly.
Warren had an innate inclination toward jazz and complex harmony, which was evident in both his original songs and arrangements of existing songs. This propensity was met with disdain by some of the more conservative members of the Oakwood community, resulting in an ongoing struggle between figures of authority and Warren. At the age of 13, Warren expanded the five-voice, female vocal group to a nine-voice, mixed vocal group. This group, The Symbolic Sounds, sang his arrangements and compositions exclusively, and remained popular in the school and community through 1981.
Warren's first professional recording session was for a new version of "The Lord's Prayer", set to an original melody, which Warren co-wrote with his friend Eric Todd. It was recorded by Blessed Peace, a popular gospel choir at Oakwood University, at the Sound Cell Recording Studio in Huntsville, Alabama. Warren created the vocal arrangement, played keyboards, and assisted Todd with the overall production. During that session, studio-owner Doug Jansen Smith, took note of Warren's abilities. Soon, Warren became a regular session-performer at Sound Cell, contributing to arrangements, playing keyboards, and singing on the radio and TV while performing pop, rock, country, and contemporary Christian recordings.
Many of those sessions included Warren's friend Mark Kibble, also an accomplished arranger, pianist, and vocalist (and future member of Take 6). As early as the age of 13, Warren and Kibble had performed concerts together, singing solos and duets, while taking turns providing accompaniment at the piano. One of the duets began with Warren singing and Kibble at the piano; then, halfway through the song, Warren would leave the stage and take over at the piano, at which point Kibble would take the stage to sing.
In 1980, while both juniors in high school, Warren and Kibble joined a preexisting, male a cappella vocal quartet, at Oakwood University. The resulting sextet became known as Alliance. Alliance became known for its highly unique and complex vocal arrangements, primarily of well-known negro spirituals. Most of Alliance's dazzling arrangements were created by Mark Kibble, but later on, Warren contributed as well. Alliance was very popular and performed not only on the campus of Oakwood University, but in various cities across the United States. In 1983, Alliance recorded an album at Sound Cell Recording Studio, entitled Something Within for Legacy Records, a custom label founded by Henry Mosley, then-professor at Oakwood University. Mosley also served as the group's manager. Later, an unmarked, cassette copy of Something Within was given by recording artist Michael Martin Murphey to Jim Ed Norman at Warner Bros. Records in Nashville, Tennessee. Norman loved the recording, but neither he nor Murphey knew the identity of the performers. In 1987, Norman finally discovered the group's identity, and promptly signed Alliance to a recording contract with Reprise Records, a division of Warner Bros. Records. Upon discovering that a rock music band had already recorded under the name "Alliance", the vocal group Alliance was renamed Take 6. They then released the album Take 6 and went on to earn worldwide acclaim.
In 1981, Warren enrolled at Oakwood University and joined the highly regarded touring choir The Aeolians, under the direction of Professor Alma Blackmon. Warren remained a member of The Aeolians throughout his four-year matriculation, later becoming the ensemble's stage director, assistant conductor, and alternate accompanist. With The Aeolians, Warren toured extensively throughout the United States, Bermuda, The Bahamas, The Virgin Islands, England, Scotland, and Wales.
In 1985, Warren composed an upbeat choral piece entitled "I Ain't Got Long To Be Here" in the style of a negro spiritual. Blackmon allowed Warren to teach the piece to The Aeolians, and it became part of their standard repertoire. Whenever they performed it, Blackmon introduced Warren, who would then conduct the piece. "I Ain't Got Long To Be Here" is believed to be the first student composition ever to have been performed by The Aeolians.
Blackmon was a pivotal figure in Warren's musical development. With Blackmon's tutelage, Warren studied music theory, piano performance, and techniques of choral conducting. By coincidence, as a teenager, Warren lived in his parents' home which was located directly across the street from the Blackmon home and her daughter Brenda, now Brenda Wood. As of 2010, Wood is an NBC news anchor at WXIA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia.
A Special Blend
Many members of The Aeolians also sang in other vocal groups and choirs at Oakwood University. However, because of The Aeolians' rigorous rehearsal and touring schedule, conductor Alma Blackmon had instituted a rule that no members of the ensemble could participate in extracurricular groups larger than a quartet. This was intended to limit the number of students who might collectively miss any given Aeolian performance. As such, Warren's nine-voice vocal group, The Symbolic Sounds, was disallowed.
In 1981, Warren disbanded The Symbolic Sounds and formed the vocal group A Special Blend, consisting of two women and two men, accompanied by Warren on piano or sometimes along with a full rhythm section. He created innovative vocal arrangements for A Special Blend, whose repertoire consisted of new arrangements of familiar songs, as well as original compositions by Warren. The group's core members consisted of Joya Foster, Lori Bryan, Mark Kibble, and Claude V. McKnight, III. Like Alliance, A Special Blend became well-known and popular for its unique style which combined vocal jazz with contemporary Christian lyrics. A Special Blend performed concerts throughout the United States, primarily on weekends during the school year. Warren, Kibble, and McKnight were members of both A Special Blend and Alliance. The groups' take on vocal jazz complimented each other and they frequently concertized in tandem.
At certain points during A Special Blend's six-year span, vocalists Andraetta Huff, Sheryl Bihm, and Michelle Mayne each briefly served as members or alternate members.
In reality, neither A Special Blend nor Alliance complied with Blackmon's "Rule of Four." However, she granted an exception for A Special Blend, since they were technically a quartet that Warren accompanied at the piano. Alliance, on the other hand, was in clear violation of the rule, but Warren, along with Mark Kibble and Claude V. McKnight, III, continued to perform with Alliance surreptitiously. Although Kibble and McKnight also sang with The Aeolians, they ended the arrangement after one year. Warren remained a member of The Aeolians throughout his four-year matriculation.
In 1982, A Special Blend won the first-place trophy at the Alabama State Fair's talent competition.
In 1983, A Special Blend recorded a collection of several songs at Sound Cell Studio to serve as a demo to help the group acquire a recording contract. Like Alliance, A Special Blend caught the attention of Henry Mosley, who ultimately became the group's manager.