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English
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A frank examination of Aretha Franklin, Mark Bego's definitive biography traces her career accomplishments from her beginnings as a twelve-year-old member of a church choir in the early 1950s, to recording her first album at the age of fourteen and signing a major recording contract at eighteen, right up through her headline-grabbing 2010 health scare. Originally positioned to become a gospel star in her father's Detroit church, Aretha had a privileged...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
When he died suddenly at the age of twenty-six, Otis Redding (1941-1967) had already become the conscience of a new kind of music. Sure, Berry Gordy might have built the first black-owned music empire at Motown, but Redding was doing something as historic: mainstreaming black music within the whitest bastions of the post-Confederate south. As a result, the Redding story – still largely untold – is one of great conquest but, sadly, grand tragedy....
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
The bestselling author of Shakey: Neil Young's Biography presents the first in-depth biography of the legendary soul singer Al Green.
Al Green has blessed listeners with some of the biggest hits of the past fifty years. "Love and Happiness," "I'm Still in Love with You," "Let's Get Married," and "I'm Tired of Being Alone" are but a sampling of the iconic songs that led a generation to embrace love in perhaps the most tumultuous period in this country's...
Author
Series
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 4.8 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Formats
Description
"This biography highlights the life and accomplishments of Aretha Franklin. Readers learn about Franklin's early life, her award-winning career during which she became known as the Queen of Soul, was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom" --
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
"Being the child of a global superstar is never easy, but being the daughter of the "Hardest Working Man in Show Business"--that's a category unto itself. Like every little girl, Yamma Brown wanted her father's attention, but fame, drugs, jail, and the complicated women in James Brown's life set the stage for an uncommon childhood. She got caught in the same trap as her mother, doing things in her adult life and troubled marriage that, as a child,...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
Curtis Mayfield was one of the seminal vocalists and most talented guitarists of his era, and his music played a vital role in the civil rights movement: "People Get Ready" was the black anthem of the time. In Traveling Soul, Todd Mayfield tells his famously private father's story in riveting detail. Born into dire poverty, raised in the slums of Chicago, Curtis became a musical prodigy, not only singing like a dream but growing into a brilliant songwriter....
Author
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Pub. Date
2017.
Language
English
Description
Looks at the life and music career of prominent soul singer Wilson Pickett, chronicling the performer's rise to stardom and his self-destructive fall into alcohol and drug addiction before ending his career on a high note with a Grammy-nominated album.
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"A product of the complicated history of the American South, James Brown was a cultural shape-shifter who arguably had the greatest influence of any artist on American popular music. Brown was long a figure of fascination for James McBride, a noted professional musician as well as a writer. When he received a tip that promised to uncover the man behind the myth, McBride set off to follow a trail to better understand the personal, musical, and societal...
Author
Series
Publisher
Grosset & Dunlap, an imprint of Penguin Random House
Pub. Date
[2016]
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 6.1 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Description
"Discover more about Stevie Wonder, the music prodigy whose awards include 25 Grammy Awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom,"--Amazon.com.
Author
Publisher
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Pub. Date
[2020]
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 4 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Description
"Aretha Franklin was born to sing. The daughter of a pastor and a gospel singer, her musical talent was clear from her earliest days in her father's Detroit church. Aretha sang with a soaring voice that spanned more than three octaves. Her incredible talent and string of hit songs earned her the title "the Queen of Soul." This Queen was a multi-Grammy winner and the first female inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And there was even more to...
Author
Publisher
Crown Archetype
Pub. Date
[2017]
Language
English
Appears on list
Description
"Otis Redding remains an immortal presence in the canon of American music on the strength of such classic hits as "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay," "I've Been Loving You Too Long," "Try a Little Tenderness," and "Respect," a song he wrote and recorded before Aretha Franklin made it her own. As the architect of the distinctly southern, gospel-inflected style of rhythm & blues associated with Stax Records in Memphis, Redding made music that has long...
Author
Language
English
Appears on list
Formats
Description
Aretha Franklin began life as the golden daughter of a progressive and promiscuous Baptist preacher. Raised without her mother, she was a gospel prodigy who gave birth to two sons in her teens and left them and her native Detroit for New York, where she struggled to find her true voice. She found fame, fortune, and that remarkable voice in 1967 with "Respect" and a rapid-fire string of hits. Aretha turned the industry on its head by refueling pop...
Author
Series
Publisher
Penguin Workshop
Accelerated Reader
IL: MG - BL: 5.9 - AR Pts: 1
Language
English
Description
Presents the life of one of the bestselling artists of all time, from her start singing in front of her father's Baptist congregation to being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.