Marla Glen

Marla grew up on the South Side of Chicago, the daughter of Dell Glen (American-Jamaican) and Cortez Glen (Mexican-American). Glen's father was a blues guitarist, her grandmother a gospel singer, and her mother was friends with the legendary blues guitarist BB King. Her mother Dell graduated from the University of Chicago and went on to become a successful banker who worked for Merrill Lynch. Glen's father--an American patriot who joined the military at a young age--became an engineer based in Frankfurt, Germany.

Like many other children in Chicago's historic Bronzeville neighborhood (also known as the Black Metropolis) who received gifts and inspiration from folks like Muddy Waters and BB King, Marla was given a toy harmonica as a child, and her musical talent became immediately apparent. Glen was only 11 years old when she wrote her first song "Repertoire", a title that has won 3 gold records and one platinum, and appears on Glen's 1996 release, "Love and Respect". Since 1998 she lives in Heilbronn in Germany. On July 2, 2004 she entered a civil union with Sabrina Conley at the local Rathaus.
As a teenager, Marla Glen set out to pursue her musical career. The story of Glen's early days "taking a gamble" on her musical abilities is recorded in the lyrics of "Travel," a song that appears on her first breakthrough album, "This is Marla Glen".

The gamble paid off: Glen won first prize performing at a local Jam-session in New Orleans and was rewarded with a trip to France, where she first performed before a European audience. When invited to stay in Europe, she did, and formed the Marla Glen Band in Niort France. In 1993, catapulted to stardom overnight sensation her debut album "This is Marla Glen" (two-time gold, two-time platinum).

Marla Glen was ruthlessly exploited by the music industry, and spent a period in deep reflection, which she talks about in a 2002 interview[2] with Jakob Buhre (in German). The interview is accompanied by a spectacular series of photos[3] which may say as much to the English-language reader as the German words can barely convey.

In 1998, Glen went on tour with her 1997 release "Our World", and made a strong comeback in 2003, with "Friends".

Glen is known for her haunting lyrics, for her fierce commitment to social change and the cause of human unity. Most recently, she has dedicated her time and efforts to the education of children, and was declared the "patron saint" of the Knowledge Festival, organized by Bildung ohne Grenzen (Education without Barriers) in Hamburg, Germany (2007).


When I Was 11 Years Old I Have Received A Guitar For My Brithday!
And At The Same Time, I Was Learning More (Real Music) Discovering The Clarinet And Also The Harmonica.
I Sat On The School Bus Every Day Playing For The Other Kid's.
They Like It!! Hey Mikey!
With My Clarinet, I Would Find The Wood's To Play That!
For The Animal And Birds And Shit Like That!
This Was Sprituly PeaceFull To Me, This Was Only To Help My Soul Grow.

A With My Gutar, I Would Go To My Friends On The North Side Of CHICAGO! We All Learned Together In A Great Fun Way!

This Went On For Some Years Untill The Age Of 15.
It Was Then When I Found Out The There Was Blues Club's.
In CHICAGO? A Place Where I Could Try My Skills With My Harmonica! With Real Blues Bands! And Shit Like That.

Buddy Mulligans
Wisefools
And So On Down The Line Baby!
On That Train Almost Every Night!
Puttin My Name On That Open MikeNight List!
In Those Days Of Mine,I Was Really Shy About Playing In Front Of People
And I Did Not Let The Blues Clubs Know That I Played The Guitar
And The Guitar Groupes That I Set In With, To Know That I Had Played The Harmonica
I Guess I Was To Shy To Tell All:)