Marlon Saunders

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Marlon Derrick Saunders is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music. He is best known for his voice work on the Sega-published video games Sonic Adventure (1998) and Sonic Adventure 2 (2001), as well as Burning Rangers (1998), Phantasy Star Online (2000) and Nights Into Dreams (1996).

Saunders provided backing vocals on the song "That's How You Know" by singer Amy Adams, from the 2007 film soundtrack Enchanted. As a vocal coach and choir director, Saunders has served as a faculty member for both the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University and School of Jazz and Contemporary Music program at the New School.^[2][3]

In 1994, Saunders formed the acid-jazz group Jazzhole, which signed with Rhino Entertainment and released seven albums. Originally formed as a duo, it later grew into a band ensemble. In the late 1990s, Saunders was purportedly approached by video game company Sega to provide vocal work for their video games. He remains best known for his performances on both versions of the theme song for Knuckles, "Unknown From M.E." in Sonic Adventure (1998) and Sonic Adventure 2 (2001). Saunders also performs on the soundtrack to the Burning Rangers (1998) game on one of the ending songs, "We are Burning Rangers", as well as the Christmas a cappella version of "Dreams Dreams", the theme from Nights into Dreams.

From 2015–2017, Saunders claims to have toured with Stevie Wonder on the Songs in the Key of Life Tour, as choir director. He has since served as vocal contractor for Sam Smith, Bastille, Logic, Mondo Cozmo and Andrea Bocelli. He also extended his work to include music education and vocal coaching, receiving the title "Professor of Voice" at Berklee College of Music.

In 2019, he formed the Afrobeats-soul band, Iqram & The Immigrant Groove.^[4]

• Enter My Mind (2003)
• A Groove So Deep (2005)

• The Jazzhole (February 22, 1994, Mesa/Blue Moon Recordings)
• …And the Feeling Goes Round (August 29, 1995, Mesa/Blue Moon Recordings)
• The Beat Is the Bomb! (Remixes) (June 18, 1996, Mesa/Blue Moon Recordings)
• Blackburst (February 29, 2000, Beave Music)
• Circle of the Sun (November 1, 2002, Beave Music)
• Poet's Walk (July 13, 2006, Beave Music)

• Marlon Saunders Official Site
• Marlon Saunders at AllMusic
• Jazzhole Official Site