Jon Lucien, whose deep, buttery croon made him a mainstay of smooth jazz since the early 1970s, died on Saturday in Orlando, Fla. He was 65 and lived in Poinciana, Fla.
Jon Lucien in 1998.
The cause was respiratory failure, said his wife, Delesa. He had been plagued by kidney problems in recent years and had a kidney transplant two years ago.
Singing over quiet arrangements and swaying rhythms that borrowed from Caribbean and Brazilian music, Mr. Lucien had a suave, romantic delivery, and even in his most passionate crescendos never seemed to break a sweat.
Songs like “Would You Believe in Me,” “Lady Love” and his version of Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Dindi” have entered eternal rotation on easy-listening radio, but Mr. Lucien never had a Top 40 hit. He complained that early in his career, his hybrid of light jazz and soul fell through the cracks of the music business.
“The record company was attempting to package me as a sort of ‘black Sinatra,’ ” he said in a recent interview. “Once the white women started to swoon at my performances, their attitudes quickly changed.”
Born Lucien Harrigan on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, he grew up on nearby St. Thomas, an American territory. A fan of Nat King Cole, he played bass in his father’s Latin band and moved to New York at 19, playing in wedding and bar mitzvah bands and recording jingles. His break came when an RCA executive heard him at a wedding. His debut album, “I Am Now,” was released in 1970.
He recorded a string of albums for RCA and Columbia in the ’70s, including “Rashida” and “Song for My Lady.” He quit music for a time in the ’80s but returned in 1991 with “Listen Love” (Mercury), which shot to the top of Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart.
Two daughters died before him: Zeudi Jacira and Dalila, who died in the crash of TWA 800 off the coast of Long Island in 1996.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two sisters, Esperanza and Leaita Harrigan; three brothers, Maxwell and Richard Harrigan, and Pedrito Robles; two sons, Hanif Lucien and Jamil Jerome; a stepson, Mark Lee; a daughter, Celesa Lucien; and two grandchildren.
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