Gregory Porter has a voice like silk - and he hasn't got bad music taste either.
The US jazz star, who won a Grammy in 2014 for his third album Liquid Spirit, has won an army of fans, enjoying the sort of commercial success which is relatively rare in the genre - that album went top 10 in the UK, Denmark, Holland and Norway.
Ahead of the release of an expanded version of Liquid Spirit, released Friday and available to preorder how, we caught up with Gregory to discover his Ultimate Playlist and the stories behind the selections. Read on for some superb picks, including classic pop and soul and a bit of Dre-produced hip hop excellence...
FAVOURITE SAD SONG
"Tears of a Clown by Smokey Robinson. Because the melody is, in a way, an oxymoron to the entirety of the song, because the melody is quite positive, and the clown - he has tears and a smile."
FAVOURITE MOVIE SOUNDTRACK SONG
"You Can’t Win (from The Wiz). It's just real good, just one of those great songs."
FAVOURITE CLUB ANTHEM
"50 Cent, In Da Club. It always gets everybody up, I knew it was going to be such a huge hit when I first heard that bassline, I thought that bassline is going to be a dance floor filler!"
FAVOURITE SONG FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD
"P.Y.T. – Michael Jackson. We had this thing in our family whenever that song came on everybody would just stop what they were doing or drop what they were holding in their hand, whatever they were doing and just start dancing like crazy! That bassline man, I told Quincy Jones this story, when I was at his house and he had a real nice laugh at that! And of course he gave me the background on why it went down the way it did musically."
Favourite One-Hit Wonder
"She’s a Bad Mama Jama (She’s Built, She’s Stacked). Carl Carton is such a great singer and right when I heard the voice that first time it seemed so familiar - like somebody who would be singing at your church. I always wanted to hear more but there were just those couple of records that were hits."
FAVOURITE LYRIC FROM A SONG
"Nat King Cole - Nature Boy. "The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return”. I love it because it's a modern day proverb in song, beautiful words of wisdom."
FAVOURITE SONG THAT NO ONE ELSE KNOWS
"Leon Thomas China Doll. From the album The Blues And The Soulful Truth… I bought it on vinyl from a record shop in LA."
FAVOURITE WEDDING SONG
"Kenny Latimore - For You. I've performed it several times at weddings, I like dancing to it a lot; it’s a real popular first dance track for couples."
FAVOURITE CURRENT SONG
"Disclosure feat. Sam Smith - Omen. Sam’s vocal is great and of course I have recently worked with the Disclosure cats; you know, sometimes music can have a greater impact on you once you have a personal relationship with the artist."
FAVOURITE SONG FROM YOUR OWN MUSIC
"Musical Genocide - it connects with people. They also like the line "I do not agree”. which they tend to sing along to when I perform it live."
