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Truly
As a storyteller second to none, Lionel Richie is ready to tell it all. In this intimate, deeply candid memoir, Lionel revisits hilarious and harrowing events to inspire all who doubt themselves or feel their dreams don't matter. Lionel chronicles lessons learned during his unlikely story of remarkable success--his dramatic transformation from painfully shy, \"tragically\" late bloomer to world-class entertainer and composer of love songs that have played as the soundtrack of our lives. Funny, warm, and riveting, Lionel recalls his childhood in Tuskegee, Alabama, where he grew up on its university campus during the heyday of the Civil Rights movement, raucous adventures as a member of The Commodores, coming-of-age in late 1960s Harlem, culture shock playing gigs on the French Riviera, the big break of being signed to Motown, his meteoric solo career that included an Olympics performance witnessed by two billion around the globe, all the way through to writing and recording \"We Are the World\" and his current multi-generational fame as a judge on American Idol. Even with its turbulence, loss, and near-calamity, Lionel's journey takes us on a thrill ride and delivers a memoir for the ages--reminding us of the power of love to elevate our own lives and our world.
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Sissieretta Jones
Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones, whose nickname the \"Black Patti\" likened her to the well-known Spanish-born opera star Adelina Patti, was a distinguished African American soprano during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Performing in such venues as Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden, Jones also sang before four U.S. presidents. In this compelling book-length biography of Jones, Maureen Donnelly Lee chronicles the successes and challenges of this musical pioneer. Lee details how Jones was able to overcome substantial obstacles of racial bias to build a twenty-eight-year career performing in hundreds of opera houses and theaters throughout North America and Europe. Serving as a role model for other African American women who came after her, Jones became a successful performer despite the many challenges she faced. She confronted head on the social difficulties African American performers endured during the rise of Jim Crow segregation. Throughout her career Jones was a concert singer performing ballads and operatic pieces, and she eventually went on to star in her own musical comedy company, the Black Patti Troubadours. Critics praised Jones as America's leading African American prima donna, with some even dubbing her voice one in a million. Lee's research, utilizing many black newspapers, such as the New York Age and the Indianapolis Freeman, concert reviews, and court documents brings overdue recognition to an important historical songstress. Sissieretta Jones: \"The Greatest Singer of Her Race,\" 1868–1933 provides a comprehensive, moving portrait of Jones and a vivid overview of the exciting world in which she performed.
eBook
Billie Holiday : the musician and the myth
\"Drawing on a vast amount of new material that has surfaced in the last decade, ... jazz writer John Szwed considers how [Holiday's] life inflected her art, her influences, her uncanny voice and rhythmic genius, a number of her signature songs, and her legacy\"--Amazon.com.
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Paul Robeson
A world-famous singer and actor, a trained lawyer, an early star of American professional football and a polyglot who spoke over a dozen languages. These could be the crowning achievements of a life well-lived, yet for Paul Robeson the higher calling of social justice led him to abandon both the NFL and Hollywood and become one of the most important political activists of his generation - battling both Jim Crow and Joseph McCarthy.
Gerald Horne's biography uses Robeson's remarkable and revolutionary life to tell the story of the 20th century's great political struggles: against racism, against colonialism, and for international socialism. This critical and searching account provides an opportunity for readers to comprehend the triumphs and tragedies of the revolutionary progressive movement of which Robeson was not just a part, but, perhaps, its most resonant symbol.
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Stormy weather : the life of Lena Horne
The first serious biography of entertainment legend Lena Horne, the star who became one of the first African-American icons. Gavin has gotten closer than any other writer to the celebrity, who has lived in reclusion since 1998. Incorporating insights from the likes of Ruby Dee, Tony Bennett, Diahann Carroll, Arthur Laurents, and several of Horne's fellow chorines from Harlem's Cotton Club, Stormy Weather offers a fascinating portrait of a complex, even tragic Horne--a stunning talent whose frustrations with racism, and with a tumultuous, rootless childhood, left wounds too deep to heal. The woman who emerged was as angry as she was luminous. From the Cotton Club's glory days and the backlots of Hollywood's biggest studios to the glitzy but bigoted hotels of Las Vegas's heyday, this behind-the-scenes look at an American icon is as much a story of the limits of the American dream as it is a groundbreaking biography.--From publisher description.
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Beyoncé in Formation
Making headlines when it was launched in 2015, Omise’eke Tinsley’s undergraduate course “Beyoncé Feminism, Rihanna Womanism\" has inspired students from all walks of life. In Beyoncé in Formation, Tinsley now takes her rich observations beyond the classroom, using the blockbuster album and video Lemonade as a soundtrack for vital new-millennium narratives. Woven with candid observations about her life as a feminist scholar of African studies and a cisgender femme married to a trans spouse, Tinsley’s “Femme-onade\" mixtape explores myriad facets of black women’s sexuality and gender. Turning to Beyoncé’s “Don’t Hurt Yourself,\" Tinsley assesses black feminist critiques of marriage and then considers the models of motherhood offered in “Daddy Lessons,\" interspersing these passages with memories from Tinsley’s multiracial family history. Her chapters on nontraditional bonds culminate in a discussion of contemporary LGBT politics through the lens of the internet-breaking video “Formation,\" underscoring why Beyoncé’s black femme-inism isn’t only for ciswomen. From pleasure politics and the struggle for black women’s reproductive justice to the subtext of blues and country music traditions, the landscape in this tour is populated by activists and artists (including Loretta Lynn) and infused with vibrant interpretations of Queen Bey’s provocative, peerless imagery and lyrics. In the tradition of Roxanne Gay’s Bad Feminist and Jill Lepore’s best-selling cultural histories, Beyoncé in Formation is the work of a daring intellectual who is poised to spark a new conversation about freedom and identity in America.
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Nina : jazz legend and civil-rights activist Nina Simone
\"[Through] a picture-book biography, readers are introduced to Nina Simone, jazz-music legend and civil-rights activist\"--Amazon.com.
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Harry T. Burleigh
Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949) played a leading role in American music and culture in the twentieth century. Celebrated for his arrangements of spirituals, Burleigh was also the first African American composer to create a significant body of art song. An international roster of opera and recital singers performed his works and praised them as among the best of their time. Jean E. Snyder traces Burleigh's life from his Pennsylvania childhood through his fifty-year tenure as soloist at St. George's Episcopal Church in Manhattan. As a composer, Burleigh's pioneering work preserved and transformed the African American spiritual; as a music editor, he facilitated the work of other black composers; as a role model, vocal coach, and mentor, he profoundly influenced American song; and in private life he was friends with Antonín Dvořák, Marian Anderson, and Will Marion Cook. Snyder provides rich historical, social, and political contexts that explore Burleigh's professional and personal life within an era complicated by changes in race relations, class expectations, and musical tastes. Drawing on exhaustive research into archives and family histories, Harry T. Burleigh reclaims the life and art of an essential American composer.
eBook
Everybody Dance
With their era-defining music and instantly recognisable look, Chic's reputation as pioneers of disco has endured long after the movement itself.After their initial success in the 1970s with classics such as Good Times, Le Freak and I Want Your Love, Chic disbanded in 1983, with founding members Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards becoming in-demand producers. After Edwards tragic early passing in 1996, Nile Rodgers involvement in Daft Punk's 2013 smash hit Get Lucky catapulted Chic back to international acclaim. And now, from curating Meltdown in 2019 to headlining festivals all over the world, Nile Rodgers and Chic have arguably never been more popular.Covering the sweet successes and fallings out of favour, the creative process and encounters with Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Madonna and others, the acclaimed Everybody Dance explores the highs and the lows of Chic's journey in fascinating detail. With a new foreword by Duran Duran founding member John Taylor and a host of new interviews with Nile Rodgers, Johnny Mathis and many others, to add to those with Ahmet Ertegun, Bryan Ferry and David Bowie, this edition bring their enthralling journey up to date.
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