Q

His real name is Q Steven Marsden, but you can call him Q. Raised in Florida, Q has been around music since he was a kid. His father, a reggae producer, would play him records by Earth, Wind & Fire, Michael Jackson, and, of course, Jamaican classics. His mother played keyboards for various dancehall artists. On top of that, little Q sang in his church choir. He couldn’t not become a musician, and should surprise no one that his output—the LP Forest Green and its outstanding follow-up, The Shave Experiment, to name but two examples—features eclectic r’n’b with roots in the 1970s and 80s, but is open to more contemporary sounds, including ones with a hip-hop pedigree.