David Ritz
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"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...
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A powerful chronicle of the sixteen weeks leading up to King of Pop Michael Jackson's death.
Michael Jackson's final months were like the rest of his short and legendary life: filled with deep lows and soaring highs, a constant hunt for privacy, and the pressure and fame that made him socially fragile and almost — ultimately — unable to live.
With the insight and compassion that he brought to his bestselling story of Martin Luther...
Michael Jackson's final months were like the rest of his short and legendary life: filled with deep lows and soaring highs, a constant hunt for privacy, and the pressure and fame that made him socially fragile and almost — ultimately — unable to live.
With the insight and compassion that he brought to his bestselling story of Martin Luther...
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Over the last forty-five years, David Ritz has collaborated with some of the biggest stars in music. Working to give a voice to these iconic musicians, he found his own, and following the sacred pulse he calls “The God Groove,” he also found belief in Christ. In his moving memoir, he recalls growing up as a secular Jew in New York and Dallas, and finding himself drawn to the smoky jazz clubs and Pentecostal churches where the music touched something...
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"A powerful chronicle of the sixteen weeks leading up to King of Pop Michael Jackson's death. Michael Jackson's final months were like the rest of his short and legendary life: filled with deep lows and soaring highs, a constant hunt for privacy, and the pressure and fame that made him socially fragile and almost--ultimately--unable to live, "--NoveList.
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In this intimate biography of the Prince of Soul, David Ritz provides a candid look at a star and a friend. Ritz had been collaborating with Marvin Gaye on his story for several years before the singer's tragic death and had conducted a series of extraordinary interviews in which Gaye discussed his deepest secrets. What emerges is a full-scale portrait of a charming but tortured artist, a brilliant singer with a divided soul. Here is Marvin's story,...
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A remarkable story of friendship, love, and courage.
When Maya Angelou and Tavis Smiley met in 1986, he was twenty-one and she was fifty-eight. For the next twenty-eight years, they shared an unlikely, special bond. Angelou was a teacher and a maternal figure to Smiley, and they talked often, of art, politics, history, race, religion, music, love, purpose, and — more than anything — courage. Courage to be open, to follow dreams, to...
When Maya Angelou and Tavis Smiley met in 1986, he was twenty-one and she was fifty-eight. For the next twenty-eight years, they shared an unlikely, special bond. Angelou was a teacher and a maternal figure to Smiley, and they talked often, of art, politics, history, race, religion, music, love, purpose, and — more than anything — courage. Courage to be open, to follow dreams, to...
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A revealing and dramatic chronicle of the twelve months leading up to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination.
Martin Luther King, Jr. died in one of the most shocking assassinations the world has known, but little is remembered about the life he led in his final year. New York Times bestselling author and award-winning broadcaster Tavis Smiley recounts the final 365 days of King's life, revealing the minister's trials and tribulations...
Martin Luther King, Jr. died in one of the most shocking assassinations the world has known, but little is remembered about the life he led in his final year. New York Times bestselling author and award-winning broadcaster Tavis Smiley recounts the final 365 days of King's life, revealing the minister's trials and tribulations...
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"Kravitz looks back at his life with candor, self-scrutiny, and humor. 'My life is all about opposites,' he writes. 'Black and white. Jewish and Christian. The Jackson 5 and Led Zeppelin. I accepted my Gemini soul. I owned it. I adored it. Yins and yangs mingled in various parts of my heart and mind, giving me balance and fueling my curiosity and comfort'"--Dust jacket flap.
12) Family blood
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From Miami Beach to Hollywood, from Las Vegas to Rome, from Wall Street to the mean streets of Detroit and Chicago, Family Blood is about the underside of the big-money music scene as three tempestuous generations of an American family struggle to control the nation's hottest performers and their acts.
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"Immortalized in Willie Nelson's road song "Me and Paul," Paul English was the towering figure who for 70 years acted as Willie's drummer, bodyguard, accountant, partner in crime, and right-hand man. Together, the two men roamed the country, putting on shows, getting into a few scrapes, raising money for good causes, and bringing the joy of their music to fans worldwide. Stories of Willie and Paul's misadventures became legendary, but many have gone...
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According to Eric Clapton, John Mayer, and the late Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy is the greatest blues guitarist of all time. An enormous influence on these musicians as well as on Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck, he is the living embodiment of Chicago blues. Guy's epic story stands at the absolute nexus of modern blues. He came to Chicago from rural Louisiana in the fifties—the very moment when urban blues were electrifying our culture....
17) Rickles' book
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An internationally popular comedian describes his youth as a disadvantaged Jewish boy from Queens, the obstacles he overcame in order to achieve success, and his four-decade stage and screen career.
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Joe Perry exposes his unrepentant, unbridled life as the lead guitarist of Aerosmith. He delves deep into his volatile, profound, and enduring relationship with singer Steve Tyler and reveals the real people behind the larger-than-life rock-gods on stage. The nearly five-decade saga of Aerosmith is epic, at once a study in brotherhood and solitude that plays out on the killing fields of rock and roll. With record-making hits and colossal album sales,...
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"Abandoned by their parents as toddlers, Willie and Bobbie Nelson found their love of music almost immediately through their grandparents, who raised them in a dusty small town in east Texas. Their close relationship--which persists today--is the longest-lasting bond in either of their lives. In alternating chapters, this heartfelt dual memoir weaves together their lives as they experienced them both side-by-side and apart with powerful, emotional...
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"Eighth grader Jayson Linden has had a stutter his whole life. Though his fellow classmates can sometimes be mean, Jayson tries not to let it get to him; he enjoys playing basketball and spending time with his friends. Then Jayson's best friend, Gloria, is kicked off the debate team because of her stutter and Jayson starts to notice other injustices happening at their school. In order to make their middle school a more inclusive place and to stand...