Here is the story of perhaps the finest soul singer of the rock era--Etta James. . One of the great women of American music, equally at home singing blues and jazz, Etta regales us with tales of her chaotic childhood, the stars she has known, and her troubled trip to stardom in this mesmerizing autobiography.
KEEP THE FAITH is Faith's first person account of life at ground zero of hip-hop's greatest generation. She'll share the truth about the love affair that changed her life, and the innuendo that rocked the hip-hop world to its core. From her passionate and tragically short-lived life with Biggie, Faith will finally lay the true story on the line. ...
A close-up look at the life and music of Robert Johnson and his contributions to the evolution of blues music describes his obscurity during his own life, his innovative influence on American popular music, and how the history of blues music was shaped and transformed by white fans with different tastes and standards, in a biography complemented by
Howlin' Wolf (1910-76), one of the giants of Delta blues, was a charismatic, difficult, warmhearted, and hugely talented man whose greatness encompassed both his breathtaking guitar work and his famously dramatic raspy voice. This biography--the first complete life of Wolf--provides an outsized portrait of the man who was born in poverty as ...
For over three decades R. Crumb has shocked, entertained, titillated and challenged the imaginations (and the inhibitions) of comics fans the world over. The acknowledged father of "underground comix," Crumb is the single greatest influence on the alternative comics of today. The three companion sets of trading cards - Heroes of the Blues, Early ...
BB King's name is nowadays synonymous with the blues, in much the same way that Bob Marley's is synonymous with reggae. But it wasn't always that way. In this candid memoir, King recounts his upbringing on a Mississippi cotton farm, his first forays to the blues Mecca of Memphis and his beginnings there as a bluesman aided by his cousin Bukka ...
University professor and 1960s activist Angela Davis's erudite and sweeping examination of the careers of two of the blues' best known interpreters, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, plus the jazz singer Billie Holiday, looks at the roots of the blues' lyrical obsessions with sexuality (this sexuality frequently being the only factor in their ...
Introduced by blues immortal B.B. King, this history is illustrated with rare photographs of the musicians, promoters, and venues, as well as a selection of record labels, posters, ads and other ephemera.
Soupspoon Wise, an unsuccessful blues guitarist, is dying of cancer on the streets of New York when he is rescued by an angel in the form of Kiki Waters. Kiki's a hustler with a heart of gold, who rustles up a home for Soupspoon to pour the incredible story of his life into a final, bluesy, wail, before he joins the big jam session in the sky.
University professor and 1960s activist Angela Davis's erudite and sweeping examination of the careers of two of the blues' best known interpreters, Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, plus the jazz singer Billie Holiday, looks at the roots of the blues' lyrical obsessions with sexuality (this sexuality frequently being the only factor in their ...
This is a book about the blues: more specifically it's a book about the artists who have helped make the blues one of the richest and most enduring music forms in the music in the world, whose influence has had far reaching implications. It is intended to be a helpful and much used reference book, a companion for a discovery of the blues or, if ...
This intimate portrait of living legend B.B. King celebrates the blues singer and guitarist with 75 color and black-and-white photos, facsimile reproductions of items from his personal archive, and an audio CD featuring unreleased music and interviews.
"It is exhilarating to be invited into a world so large and muscular, so rooted in history, a world where so much is at stake."-Brigit Pegeen Kelly, National Poetry Series judge A biography in poems, "leadbelly" examines the life and times of the legendary blues musician from a variety of intimate perspectives and using a range of innovative ...
Where in the world can you find a real blues hero? You can find him in New Orleans, living in his battered 1920s warehouse and playing harmonica at JoJo's Blues Bar in the French Quarter. His name is Nick Travers, an expro footballer for the New Orleans Saints turned blues historian at Tulane University. Nick heads deep into the heartland of the ...
From the author of Devil in a Blue Dress comes "the most powerful and poetic novel about black life in America since Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (Digby Diehl, Playboy). RL's Dream, the first work of his to break from his mystery series, focuses on an aging bluesman named Soupspoon Wise.
Long before "women in rock" became a media catchphrase, Rosetta Tharpe proved in spectacular fashion that women could rock. Born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, in 1915, she was gospel's first superstar and the preeminent crossover figure of its "golden age" (1945-1965). Everyone who saw her perform said she could "make that guitar talk." Shout, ...
The murder of an alcoholic jazz musician in a rundown California city begins a long and complicated investigation in which three different cops, working largely independently, turn up all kinds of leads going in all different directions, none of which seem to end in a solution. A New York Times Notable Book for 2003.
Originally written as a master's thesis and first published in 1966, Charles Keil's study of the blues' move from country to city, and of the consequences for its performers and its audience, should be required reading for anyone with a remote interest in the history of the genre. URBAN BLUES documents the careers, techniques, and output of ...
Get your mojo working as you take a musical trip from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago's gritty South Side and points beyond with Blues For Dummies, an insightful, toe-tappin', music lovers' guide to the blues. Popular blues guitarist Lonnie Brooks serves as your tour guide through the life and times of the blues, from the acoustic mystique of ...
The first ever indepth biography of the world's most legendary and reclusive superstar, who suffered a near fatal stroke in April 2003 and whose new CD debuted in number 1 on the Billboard Charts in June 2003.
The story of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, an organisation established in 1994 to help artists working in the blues, R&B, hillbilly, and other 'roots' forms of music, comes to life in this beautiful collection of essays, photographs, and lyrics. The artists, all of whom are 55 and over, were either abused or ignored by mainstream record ...
Lacy teaches eighth grade and is engaged to Ellis, but her affair with Black Jesus, a famous blues musician, touches off a crisis in her life which leads her to confront her abusive mother.
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