Esther Marrow

Esther Marrow, born Queen Esther Marrow on February 12, 1941, in Newport News, Virginia, is an American soul and gospel singer whose career has spanned musical theater, film, and television alongside her work as a concert and recording artist.

Marrow's professional career began at age 22, when Duke Ellington recognized her vocal abilities and invited her to perform as a featured artist on his Sacred Concert world tour. She and Ellington maintained a close friendship over the four years they toured together. In 2015, she was the only performer from the original 1965 Sacred Concert to participate in the event's 50th anniversary performance at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. Her concert work has brought her to the stage alongside musicians including Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea, and Bob Dylan.

In 1965, Marrow performed in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s World Crusade, marking her entry into the civil rights movement. During that crusade she met Mahalia Jackson, who would become a lifelong idol, and shared the stage with figures including Jesse Jackson, Sidney Poitier, and Dr. Ralph Abernathy.

Her Broadway career extended from 1975 to 1990 and included four productions. She played Auntie Em in The Wiz, and also appeared in Comin' Uptown and It's So Nice to Be Civilized. In 1990, she starred in Truly Blessed, a musical about Mahalia Jackson that she wrote herself. The production played in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. before opening on Broadway in New York City and received three Helen Hayes Award nominations, including Best New Play. Prior to the Broadway run, Marrow had portrayed Jackson in the national tour of Sing Mahalia Sing, directed by George Faison.

Beyond the stage, Marrow appeared in Motown's film The Last Dragon, produced by Berry Gordy. Her television credits include Duke Ellington: The Music Lives On, a guest appearance as Oscar the Grouch's mother on the PBS series Sesame Street, and the PBS special New York to Paris with The Harlem Gospel Singers. She has performed for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, completed a command performance for the British Royal Family, and sang at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II on multiple occasions.

Marrow founded The Harlem Gospel Singers, an international touring gospel ensemble. On July 7, 1998, the group performed the Grand Evenement du Maurier at the Montreal Jazz Festival, drawing an audience of over 100,000 and becoming the only gospel group to headline that event. Her discography includes albums released between 1971 and 2011, among them Newport News, Virginia (1971), Sister Woman (1972), Live in Paris (1999), and Legend (2011). In 2025, her song Walk Tall was featured in an interlude on Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Tour.