Photo: Marva Hicks | Marva Denise Hicks (May 5, 1956 – September 16, 2022) was an American R&B singer and actress. She signed with Polydor in the late 1980s, recorded her self-titled debut LP in 1991, and later worked in Broadway theatre and on television.
Hicks was born and grew up in Petersburg, Virginia, and studied at Howard University.
Initially a gospel singer, she recorded commercial secular music in the 1980s, and scored her biggest chart hit with the single “Never Been in Love Before”, written and produced by Jimmy Scott. The record peaked at number seven on the R&B charts in 1991, while two singles followed. On July 16, 1996, she performed as a background singer for Michael Jackson in a free concert at the Jerudong Park Amphitheatre in Bandar Seri Begawan. The concert was in celebration of the fiftieth birthday of Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei and was attended by the Brunei Royal Family. As part of the set list, Hicks sang the female part of the duet “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” with Jackson.
She also performed as Rafiki in The Lion King, as an understudy for the leading actress. Her other Broadway credits included Motown: The Musical, and Lena Horne, The Lady at Her Music. She won the Helen Hayes Award for her stage work on three occasions.
On television, she played T’Pel, the wife of Tuvok, in two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, and appeared in several other recurring roles in other series. She sang the gospel song “There’s No Hiding Place Down Here” in the Babylon 5 episode “And the Rock Cried Out, No Hiding Place”.
In 2013, Hicks appeared on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ album Mosquito, performing as part of Broadway Inspirational Voices on the first single “Sacrilege”.
She died in New York City on September 16, 2022, at the age of 66.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marva_Hicks
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OTHER NOTABLE MUSICIANS’ DEATHS
Our music community continues to lose our beloved talented artists. We are going to miss them so much. If you want to know more about any of the musicians we lost, please check them out at http://www.wikipedia.com
September 2022
20: Jamie Roy, 33, Scottish DJ and producer.
19: Benon Hardy, 92, Polish musician and composer.
18: Diane Guérin, 74, Canadian singer and actress (Sol et Gobelet); Svetozar Saša Kovacevic, 72, Serbian composer, music pedagogue and church organist; Teruyuki Noda, 82, Japanese composer and music educator.
16: Marva Hicks*, 66, American singer and actress (Mad About You, One Life to Live, Star Trek: Voyager).
15: Jörg Faerber, 93, German conductor (Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn).
14: David Andersson, 47, Swedish heavy metal guitarist (Soilwork, The Night Flight Orchestra) (death announced on this date); Irene Papas, 93, Greek actress (Zorba the Greek, The Guns of Navarone, Z) and singer, complications from Alzheimer’s disease; Jim Post, 82, American singer (Friend & Lover) and songwriter (“Reach Out of the Darkness”); Paul Sartin, 51, English folk singer, musician (Bellowhead, Faustus, Belshazzar’s Feast) and composer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2022
Marva Hicks, R&B Singer and Broadway Actress, Dies // Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths
