Marlena Shaw, 'California Soul' singer, dies at 81

Marlena Shaw, the prolific soul singer best known for her 1969 hit “California Soul,” has died at age 81.

Shaw's daughter Marla Bradshaw confirmed the death of her mother Friday on social media. no cause of death was reported.

“It is with a very heavy heart for myself and my family that I announce that our beloved mother, your beloved icon and artist Marlena Shaw passed away today,” Bradshaw said. “She was peaceful. We were quiet… She went listening to some of her favorite songs.”

Shaw's old label Verve Records was added to a statement“We are saddened by the passing of Marlena Shaw, a wonderful singer whose 'California Soul' is as popular today as ever and her album It Is Love: Recorded live at Vine St. helped relaunch the Verve label in 1987;

The New Rochelle-born New York singer first made her mark in jazz clubs in the mid-'60s before signing with Chess Records offshoot Cadet Records, which released her first two albums, in 1967 From different bags and 1969 The Spice of Life. The latter LP featured Shaw's cover of the Ashford-Simpson composition “California Soul.”

Although Shaw wasn't the only artist to record the track – The Fifth Dimension released their version first, and Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's renditions arrived after Shaw – her cover remains the most popular, appearing in TV commercials, films and works by other artists in the decades that followed.

Although never a chart-topping artist, Shaw remained active throughout the 1970s and 1980s, recording albums for Blue Note, Polydor, Columbia and Verve. Shaw also recorded “Don't Ask to Stay Until Tomorrow”, which served as the theme for the 1978 film I'm looking for Mr. Goodbar.

Shaw's catalog would later become a treasure for TV fans and hip-hop producers, with her music sampled on songs by the likes of Gang Starr, the Avalanches, Drake, Schoolboy Q, Ultramagnetic MCs, DJ Shadow, The Game, Jay Electronica and Ghostface . Killah, with the latter's “Ghetto” prominently using Shaw's “Woman of the Ghetto.”