Dive into the heart of the music industry with My Life in Music: A Journey Through Motown. This captivating memoir chronicles the incredible career of an individual deeply embedded in the rhythms and melodies that defined an era. From backstage passes to the frontlines of groundbreaking musical innovation, this book offers an insider's perspective on working with Motown, the legendary label that brought soul and R&B to the mainstream.Experience firsthand accounts of collaborating w...

Acclaimed music writer Robert Hilburn’s “epic” and “definitive” (Rolling Stone) biography of music icon Paul Simon, written with Simon’s full participation—but without his editorial control—that “reminds us how titanic this musician is” (The Washington Post).For more than fifty years, Paul Simon has spoken to us in songs about alienation, doubt, resilience, and empathy in ways that have established him as one of the most beloved artists in America...

This "comprehensive and illuminating" biography of the Queen of Soul (USA Today) was hailed by Rolling Stone as "a remarkably complex portrait of Aretha Franklin's music and her tumultuous life."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 st...

The Life of Marvin Gaye: Divided Soul is the definitive biography of an enormously gifted and sensitive musician.David Ritz presents his uniquely candid and intimate account of the tumultuous life of the Prince of Soul music, Marvin Gaye.Assembling years of conversations and interviews from his life as a close friend and lyricist to the gifted Soul sensation, Ritz tells the Marvin Gaye story with fly-on-the-wall accuracy and detail. From his early years as an abuse...

A "compulsively readable" history of how Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson redefined country music ( Publishers Weekly, starred review).Outlaw delves into the country music scene of the late '60s and early '70s, when three rebels—Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson found themselves in Music City writing songs and vying for record deals. Channeling the unrest of the times, all three Country Music Hall of Famer...

**The Times Book of the Year'There’s no tougher a mind, no more tender a voice than Paul Simon, and there’s no better man than Robert Hilburn to decipher the hardwiring of this hyperintellect...great songs can never be fully explained, but the great man on his way to find those songs surely can.'** —BonoThrough such hits as “The Sound of Silence,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Still Crazy After All These Years,” and “Graceland,” Paul Simon has spoken to us in song...

In 1959, twenty-nine-year-old Berry Gordy, who had already given up on his dream to be a champion boxer, borrowed eight hundred dollars from his family and started a record company. A run-down bungalow sandwiched between a funeral home and a beauty shop in a poor Detroit neighborhood served as his headquarters. The building’s entrance was adorned with a large sign that improbably boasted “Hitsville U.S.A.” The kitchen served as the control room, the garage became the two-track studio, the ...

From the author of the critically acclaimed Elvis Presley biography: Last Train to Memphis brings us the life of Sam Phillips, the visionary genius who singlehandedly steered the revolutionary path of Sun Records.The music that he shaped in his tiny Memphis studio with artists as diverse as Elvis Presley, Ike Turner, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash, introduced a sound that had never been heard before. He brought forth a singular mix of black...

The story of Motown Records and how it changed the course of American music, as told by its founder—"an African American culture hero of historic stature" ( The New York Times).Berry Gordy Jr., who once considered becoming a boxer, started a record company with a family loan of $800 in 1959. Gordy's company, Motown Records, went on to create some of the most popular music of all time. By the time he sold the company nearly thirty years later, it was worth ...

With an introduction by Steve Harvey and a foreword by David FosterThe Grammy-winning founder of the legendary pop/R&B/soul/funk/disco group tells his story and charts the rise of his legendary band in this sincere memoir that captures the heart and soul of an artist whose groundbreaking sound continues to influence music today.With its dynamic horns, contrasting vocals, and vivid stage shows, Earth, Wind & Fire was one of the most popular acts of the late twentieth century...

The first and only definitive biography of legendary Motown group, the TemptationsThe Temptations are an incomparable soul group, with dozens of chart-topping hits such as My Girl and Papa Was a Rollin Stone. From the sharp suits, stylish choreography, and distinctive vocals that epitomized their onstage triumphs to the personal failings and psycho-dramas that played out behind the scenes, Ain't Too Proud to Beg tells the complete story o...

In this series of books, based on the hit podcast A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, Andrew Hickey analyses the history of rock and roll music, from its origins in swing, Western swing, boogie woogie, and gospel, through to the 1990s, grunge, and Britpop.Looking at five hundred representative songs, he tells the story of the musicians who made those records, the society that produced them, and the music they were making,Volume one looks at fifty songs that made ...