Book

Deconstructing Sammy : music, money, and madness

Birkbeck, Matt

Overview

Sammy Davis Jr. lived a storied life. Adored by millions over a six-decade-long career, he was considered an entertainment icon and a national treasure. But depite lifetime earnings that topped $50 million, Sammy died in 1990 near bankruptcy, his estate was declared insolvent, and there was no possibility of ever using Sammy's name or likeness again. It was as if Sammy had never existed. Years later his wife Altovise was living in poverty when she turned to a former federal prosecutor, Albert \"Sonny\" Murray, to make one last attempt to resolve Sammy's debts, restore his estate, and revive his legacy. For seven years Sonny probed Sammy's life to understand how someone of great notoriety and wealth could have lost everything, and in the process he came to understand Davis, a man whose complexity makes for a riveting work of celebrity biography as cultural history.--Publisher description.

• Publisher: Amistad
• Subject: Davis, Sammy, 1925-1990. / Entertainers United States Biography. / African American entertainers Biography.
• ISBN: 9780061450679, 0061450677

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
PN2287.D322 B57 2009	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE