The Grammy Award winning jazz singer has spoken about the sad reason he started wearing the black deerstalker cap with fabric that covers his ears and chin

Gregory Porter’s stunning voice isn’t the only thing that makes him immediately stand out. The singer songwriter has twice won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

But it is his black deerstalker cap with fabric that covers his ears and chin that often elicits questions from fans and interviewers alike.

The 53-year-old acclaimed musician has previously shared the real reason he always wears the accessory when performing.

‘I’ve had some surgery on my skin, so this has been my look for a little while and will continue to be for a while longer,’ he admitted in 2012 to Jazz Weekly.

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He told the Telegraph in 2016 that he received some facial scars at around ‘seven or eight’ years old but did not elaborate further.

In 2020, he told the Metro: “It started off covering some scars from surgery, but it’s become my style.

“I was in Denver, and it was cold. I was wearing five layers of clothing, and I wore a hat.

“It warmed up, and I thought, ‘Actually, this is comfortable; this is a look.’ I started to sing in a jazz club in Denver, and people were like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s the guy with the hat.’ So it became a thing.’

Gregory Porter’s heartbreaking loss

Gregory Porter’s brother, Lloyd Cornelius Porter, tragically died in May 2020 from complications from COVID-19.

He had been rushed to hospital but after weeks of treatment, his condition deteriorated sharply.

Before they switched off the ventilator, Gregory Porter sang to his brother.

Speaking about the heartbreaking moment, Gregory previously told The Irish Times: “I sang to him. But at the opportunity that I sang to him, I said, ‘He’s gone.’

“I don’t know if he’s clinically dead. In the middle of my song I was, like, ‘He’s not there.’

“He was intubated. He was in that early [wave] that came through New York. They were super careful.

“They were burning the bodies or freezing them. He disappeared. He went in, intubated that day – and he just disappeared.”

It wasn’t the first loss he had faced as his mother died when he was just 21.

“She said to me… two days before she passed, she said, ‘Gregory, music is the best thing you do. Don’t forget about your music. We talked about kids, buying a house…”

He added: “I remember her oxygen machine being all the way up on 10 and she still wasn’t getting enough air.

“She said, ‘Turn it up.’ And I twisted the knob, even though the knob didn’t move. She said, ‘Ah, that’s better.’ It was already up on maximum. She knew her time wasn’t long.”

Gregory Porters’ family

Gregory is married to wife Victoria and they have two sons. Their home is in Bakersfield, California.

Speaking about his wife previously he said: “My wife is a painter, and so she does a little bit of painting with him [their son].

“My wife is Russian as well, so both he and I take Russian lessons. It’s fun, working on my wife’s native language — and I guess it’s half of my son’s language as well, because he goes to Russia every summer.”