Music Books ReviewsMusic Books Reviews | Music Books Reviews http://musicbooksreviews.com Honest reviews of music books and biographies Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:59:52 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Aaliyah Biography – By Tim Footman http://musicbooksreviews.com/aaliyah-by-tim-footman http://musicbooksreviews.com/aaliyah-by-tim-footman#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 10:55:03 +0000 music books reviews http://musicbooksreviews.com/?p=93 Aaliyah BiographyOne of the most promising careers in R&B was cut short in August 2001 when Aaliyah Haughton was just twenty-two years old. During her short life, Aaliyah accomplished more than many other artists in much longer careers, and seemed a good prospect for more, for years to come. In reading this Aaliyah biography book, I was struck with a thought (not a new one for me) that sometimes the most talented are taken from the world early by jealous gods or by fate’s sense of irony. Tim Footman recounts the story of this youthful diva of soul and how her career opened the door for later female vocalists in the same genre, notably Alicia Keyes. With many full-color, full-page photos, this is an Aaliyah biography that is visually as well as verbally something to treasure. As Footman puts things, “We may have lost Aaliyah, but at least we still have the music. Her brief acting career is covered as well as her contributions to music.

>> Buy The Book! <<

A career and life full of potential cut far too short

Aaliyah appeared in concerts (alongside veteran R&B singer Gladys Knight) and on television from the age of eleven. She got her first record deal (with Blackground Records, owned by her uncle Barry Hankerson, as the label’s first artist) at the age of twelve. Hankerson introduced her to R&B recording artist and record producer Robert Kelly (or R. Kelly as he was known professionally) who became her mentor, her producer, and her main songwriter – and her lover. The two were secretly married when she was fifteen, a marriage her parents annulled when they found out about it. One gets the impression that Aaliyah knew she would have to pack everything into a few short years and did her best to do that. Music critics were increasingly appreciative of her voice and style as her career progressed. There is no telling what she might have achieved if not for an allegedly intoxicated, uncertified pilot who crashed a plane and ended her life and those of his other passengers. From the few Aaliyah biography books that I have read to date, this one is the most comprehensive and heart touching of them all.

Aaliyah Biography
by Tim Footman
Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Plexus Publishing (November 18, 2003)
Language: English

]]> http://musicbooksreviews.com/aaliyah-by-tim-footman/feed 1 Frank: The Voice (A Frank Sinatra Biography) http://musicbooksreviews.com/frank-the-voice-a-frank-sinatra-biography http://musicbooksreviews.com/frank-the-voice-a-frank-sinatra-biography#comments Sat, 22 Oct 2011 10:45:21 +0000 music books reviews http://musicbooksreviews.com/?p=297 Frank: The Voice ( A Frank Sinatra Biography )This Frank Sinatra biography does not cover the entire life of Frank Sinatra. It begins ends in 1954 when Sinatra won an Academy Award for his performance in From Here to Eternity. Sinatra lived for another forty-four years after that, releasing successful albums as late as the 1980s and performing as late as the 1990s. The period up to 1954 does cover the peak of his career, but there was plenty more to come, and to me the story seemed incomplete. Is there a second volume coming from James Kaplan? There’s no indication of this but it might be a good idea. What this Frank Sinatra biography does do is describe Sinatra’s early life and the way he built his career. With an early musical start, singing for coins in a bar owned by his father at age twelve, it soon became clear that he had a voice like few others, and he would build on that in years to come. Beginning in the swing era performing with Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra would move all the way into various versions of rock in a career covering six decades.

>> Buy The Book! <<

The heart of a long musical career

Sinatra’s two marriages (to Nancy Barbato and Ava Gardner) are covered, as well as both his musical and movie careers. Nothing about Sinatra is glossed over in this Frank Sinatra biography (his ties to organized crime, his serial adulteries – for one of which he was prosecuted in a day when it was a crime – his suicide attempts, his panic over the apparent failure of his career in the late 1940s) but at the same time this is more serious than a celebrity gossip book. I was a little surprised to learn how much Sinatra was involved in the production of his songs, but that appears to be true. I was also surprised to find out that he was classified 4-F for both a perforated eardrum and psychiatric problems and so did not serve in World War II. There’s a lot of information in this book. Frank Sinatra wasn’t just a pair of pretty blue eyes and a golden voice, he had a lot of smarts and talent, if a rather disturbed personality. This Frank Sinatra biography is a good book and I hope more is coming.

Frank: The Voice (A Frank Sinatra Biography)
by James Kaplan
Hardcover: 800 pages
Publisher: Doubleday; First Edition edition (November 2, 2010)
Language: English

]]> http://musicbooksreviews.com/frank-the-voice-a-frank-sinatra-biography/feed 0 Shakira Biography – By Katherine Krohn http://musicbooksreviews.com/shakira-biography http://musicbooksreviews.com/shakira-biography#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:20:34 +0000 music books reviews http://musicbooksreviews.com/?p=780 Shakira BiographyThe Shakira biography story might look at a first glace like a novel full of ups and downs; Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoli wrote her first poem at the age of four. An early Christmas present from her father was a typewriter, given to her when she was seven, and she continued writing poetry on it. She wrote her first song a year later. It was called “Tus gafas oscuras” (“Your dark glasses”) and referred to the dark glasses her father wore to hide his grief for a son, Shakira’s half-brother, who died in a motorcycle accident. That same year, when she was stunned by her father’s bankruptcy and the loss of most of what the family owned, he took her to a park and showed her the orphans who lived there to give her perspective.

Memories like these stayed with her for her whole life and are expressed beautifully in this Shakira biography book. As she established herself in the world of Latin music and struggled to become a successful crossover artist in the Anglo music world, they informed her attitudes and the charitable activity which is such an important part of her life.

>> Buy The Book! <<

Shakira  Biography – A success not easily achieved

Shakira’s music, as might be expected from someone so creative, is a fusion of many different styles and genres. In a Rolling Stone interview, she stated, “My music is, I think, a fusion of many different elements. And I’m always experimenting . . . I try not to . . . be the architect of my own jail.” Her work has been described as falling into the genres of folk, mainstream pop, and rock, as well as Latin rock.

Her first record was released when she was only thirteen. It was not a commercial success, selling only 1,200 copies. Her second album was also a failure mainly due to Shakira’s own dissatisfaction with it and refusal to promote it. Her third album (and first official album, the first two having been pulled from release) was Pies Descalzos and, released in 1995, was a big success on the international Latin music market. It took another five years before she produced a successful crossover album, Laundry List. So success has not come easily for her. The story of her life in this quality Shakira biography by Katherine Krohn is inspiring for its tale of overcoming barriers to success.

Shakira Biography
by Katherine Krohn
Library Binding: 112 pages
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books (CT) (October 2007)
Language: English

]]> http://musicbooksreviews.com/shakira-biography/feed 0 Kanye West: A Biography http://musicbooksreviews.com/kanye-west-biography http://musicbooksreviews.com/kanye-west-biography#comments Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:50:57 +0000 music books reviews http://musicbooksreviews.com/?p=774 Kanye West BiographyThis Kanye West biography, written for readers at the high school level and older (young adult), covers the rapper and producer’s early life and career, from his birth in Georgia and upbringing mostly in the Chicago area, to his breaking into rap laying tracks for other artists and as a producer, to his later success as a solo performer and recorder. Kanye West was made MTV’s Man of the Year in 2010, and voted as “Hottest MC” by MTV in 2008; he has been extremely successful as a producer and as a rap artist and, as a relative latecomer to the genre (his career as a producer began in 2000 and he didn’t record his first album until 2004), he has taken it in some different directions than it had taken in the past, both musically and philosophically.

>> Buy The Book! <<

A producer turned rapper, taking the music in new directions

Kanye West: A Biography includes a timeline of Kanye West’s accomplishments and milestones, a comprehensive list of his songs, albums, and awards, with annotations, and a bibliography listing books, magazine and newspaper articles, web articles, and interviews. West is an outspoken man, both articulate and opinionated. He has criticized President Bush as racist, hip-hop culture as homophobic (he stated that his own attitudes changed due to having a gay cousin), and blacks as failing to seize all of the opportunities available to them. He is a well-known philanthropist, contributing much of his fortune to causes he believes in and the betterment of society. He is a devout Christian and man of faith, and his faith emerges in his music. All of this makes Kanye West a bit different from the stereotypical rapper, but it’s the glory of art to evolve and my thought about him is that he represents a maturation of the genre – the gangsta image was never the soul of rap anyway. He’s an important man in music and one worth knowing about, and this Kanye West biography is a good place to start.

Kanye West: A Biography
by Bob Schaller
Hardcover: 123 pages
Publisher: Greenwood (July 23, 2009)
Language: English

]]> http://musicbooksreviews.com/kanye-west-biography/feed 2 The Way I Am – An Eminem Biography http://musicbooksreviews.com/eminem-biography http://musicbooksreviews.com/eminem-biography#comments Mon, 17 Oct 2011 13:02:29 +0000 music books reviews http://musicbooksreviews.com/?p=768 Eminem BiographyMarshall Bruce Mathers III, better known as rapper extraordinaire Eminem, has sold almost 40 million albums and more than 30 million track downloads, founded his own record label and his own radio channel, and moved into acting, with one movie appearance in the wraps and three more scheduled for 2013. In The Way I Am he tells his story in a way that will appeal and amuse. I found the book easy to read, not loaded down with too much rap talk, but written in a straightforward conversational style. A white rapper is enough of a novelty all in itself (Eminem is a mixed bag of European ancestry without a single African admixture) but there’s real talent here and he deserves all of his success. Raised in a single-mother household, Mathers became interested in rap as a teenager and started performing on the amateur circuit under the pseudonym “M&M” which he simply respelled later on. His professional career started in 1992 with the release of Infinite, but he still had a number of personal hurdles to get over before he could achieve serious success.

>> Buy The Book! <<

Like a long conversation with a great artist

The experience of reading The Way I Am is sort of like sitting across from Eminem in a living room and taking a long interview. It’s conversational and he tries to convey how it felt to go from his origins to fame and success, with all the good and bad consequences. He goes into his professional relationships, such as with Proof, more than his personal ones, such as with his twice-married wife Kimberly Scott, his difficulties with prescription drugs, and the libel lawsuit by his mother. The need to have an entourage whenever he appears in public comes out here, and the questions about where his career is going to go in the future. I got the impression of a man who is a little confused yet with what to do with his abilities, but I feel confident he’ll figure it out. This Eminem Biography is a good insight into the character and attitudes of a great artist, like having an extended conversation.

The Way I Am – An Eminem Biography
by Eminem
Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: Plume (October 27, 2009)

]]> http://musicbooksreviews.com/eminem-biography/feed 1