Platinum recording artist, songwriter and producer Gregory Abbott’s roots stem from Venezuela (his mother) and the Island of Antigua (his father). Raised in Harlem in New York City, he is a dual citizen of the USA and Antigua.
In college he majored in psychology and minored in music and dramatic arts. He holds a Master’s degree and is currently working towards his Ph.D. and was awarded a full academic scholarship (Wallace Stegner Fellowship) to Stanford University’s Creative Writing Master’s program. While pursuing graduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco, he helped pay his tuition by starting a band. It was here he developed his own personal musical style. While teaching at UC Berkeley, he decided to become a professional musician, built a studio, and applied his academic discipline to developing skills as a singer, composer and producer.
Abbott released the single and album “Shake You Down” shaking up the music industry with countless honors and awards. His music has gone to number one on charts all over the world. He’s won first prize at the Tokyo Music Festival where his performance was broadcast to over two billion people. Upon release “Shake You Down” achieved the distinction of reaching one million radio air-plays faster than any song in the history of BMI (now well over four million), and won BMI’s Pop Song of the Year award as the most performed song. Gregory has also won two ‘Soul Train” music awards for Best Male Singer and Best New Artist, He has been the star of the New York Music Awards, receiving four honors: Best R&B Album, Best Debut Album, Best R&B Vocalist, and the Rising Star Award. He has walked away with two awards at Dick Clark’s “Black Gold” ceremonies, another honor from the R&B Awards in Las Vegas, a N.Y. Image award, and two awards from the annual CEBA Awards dinner (Communications Excellence Aimed at Black Audiences).
On Billboard’s “50 Sexiest Songs of All Time”, “Shake You Down” ranks #22 and his Official YouTube video has been enjoyed by over one hundred million fans. Gregory has had numerous top five hits performed by both himself (“Got The Feelin It’s Over”, “I’ll Prove It To You”) etc… as well as having produced and written for other artists. Some include: Jennifer Warnes, Phoebe Snow, Whitney Houston (duet), Fifty Cent (Tony Yayo), Dorothy Moore (Misty Blue), Gerald Albright, Ronnie Spector, Mexican icon Emmanuel, and Brazilian start Rosana Fiengo. His production and publishing company Grabbitt Music places songs in film and television: “Are We Done Yet (Ice Cube Movies), the Super Bowl/ ESPN… and he releases much of his music on his own Mojo Man Entertainment Label.
Abbott’s music has crossed every barrier imaginable. You hear the Caribbean/ Spanish influence in his music, topped off with this incredibly smooth, soulful voice. The term “groove ballad” has been used to describe Gregory’s rhythmic and romantic style. And music writers have affectionately used the term “Wall Street Soul” to describe his sophisticated demeanor and intelligent green eyes.
Gregory Abbott has never believed in looking at music through the prism of “genre”. “I am an explorer”, he explains. And indeed, his music reflects many styles: RnB, Smooth Jazz, Caribbean and Soul. This variety of expression seems to resonate with his numerous fans throughout the world.
Abbott has served on the Board of Directors of both NARAS (the Grammy’s), and NAPM (Songwriters Hall of Fame) He is an advocate for bringing awareness about sustainability to people around the globe.
He releases music via singles a few times a year. Visit SoundCloud, Spotify or your favorite app to check out new music..
“Abbott’s Eyes, Whispers…. is infectious, sultry, seductive” ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE
“Abbott has the soul of Al Green; the movie star good-looks of Denzel and the man can sing!” BLACK RADIO EXCLUSIVE
“When Gregory Abbott sings, people listen.” PEOPLE MAGAZINE