Jill Scott (born April 4, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter, model, poet and actress. Her 2000 debut, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1, went platinum, and the follow-ups Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2 (2004) and The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 (2007) both achieved gold status. She made her cinematic debut in the films Hounddog and Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? in 2007.
After a four-year hiatus from music, Scott released her fourth album, The Light of the Sun, in 2011. In 2014, she starred in the film Get On Up as the second wife of James Brown. She also appeared as the lead role in the BBC/HBO series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency based on the novels of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith. In 2015, she released her fifth album, Woman.
Scott was born on April 4, 1972 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She grew up an only child in a North Philadelphia neighborhood, raised by her mother, Joyce Scott and grandmother. She recalls a happy childhood and was "very much a loved child". Scott was raised as a Jehovah's Witness.