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African Americans in Arts & Entertainment
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Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter Dave
by Leonard Todd
Traces the story of a slave known only as Dave, formerly owned by the author's ancestors, who became a singular pottery artist of the nineteenth century, in an account that describes Dave's bold decision to reveal his literacy by signing and inscribing poetry on many of his works.
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Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas
by Sam Durant
A reformatted, accessibly priced edition of a collection of Black Panther posters and graphics as created by the party's art director and minister of culture includes some of the era's most iconic images and offers insight into the party's visual identity and enduring influence.
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Miles Davis: The Collected Artwork
by Scott Gutterman
One of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century, Miles Davis was a man of many talents. Throughout the 1980s, Davis studied regularly with New York painter Jo Gelbard, developing a distinct graphic style. Incorporating bright colors and geometric shapes, his art is reminiscent of work by Pablo Picasso as well as African tribal art, the historical influences he cited during occasional interviews on the subject. Author Scott Gutterman sat down with Miles Davis himself before he died in 1991 and the artist’s own commentary accompanies this remarkable showcase of his work.
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The Education of Mr. Mayfield: An Unusual Story of Social Change at Ole Miss
by David Magee
More than a decade before the media reported on the disturbing events surrounding James Meredith's enrollment at the University of Mississippi in 1962, a different story of interaction between the races quietly took place on that same campus. In 1949, the school's first Art Department chairman, Stuart Purser, was driving through the nearby countryside when he spied some interesting sculptures at a small farmhouse near Ecru ay an African American artist named M.B. Mayfield. Purser offered Mayfield a job as custodian for the Art Department, and secretly gave Mayfield one-on-one instruction and arranged for classroom doors to be left open so Mayfield could listen to lectures while sitting in the nearby broom closet.
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Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist
by Nancy Goldstein
In the United States at mid-century, in an era when there were few opportunities for African American women, Jackie Ormes blazed a trail as a popular artist with the major black newspapers of the day. Ormes's cartoon characters (including Torchy Brown, Candy, and Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger) delighted readers of newspapers such as the Pittsburgh Courier and Chicago Defender, and spawned other products, including fashionable paper dolls in the Sunday papers and a black doll with her own extensive and stylish wardrobe. Ormes was a member of Chicago's Black elite in the postwar era. Her politics, which fell decidedly to the left and were apparent to even a casual reader of her cartoons and comic strips, eventually led to her investigation by the FBI. The book includes a generous selection of Ormes's cartoons and comic strips, which provide an invaluable glimpse into U.S. culture and history of the 1937-56 era as interpreted by Ormes.
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One Bad Cat: The Reverend Albert Wagner Story
Outsider artist, Reverend Albert Wagner, in his own words, recounts his humble sharecropping origins as well as his tempestuous ways. On his 50th birthday, Albert felt called to God to create art and used this gift to renounce his life of sin and inspire others. He expresses a unique perspective on life and faith that is sometimes surrounded by controversy.
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Wake Up Our Souls: A Celebration of Black American Artists
by Tonya Bolden
Published in conjunction with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, an accompaniment to a traveling exhibition highlights influential and important African-American twentieth-century artists, from those of the early part of the century to important participants in the Harlem Renaissance and right up to those involved in the vigorous contemporary art scene.
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Romare Bearden: Collage of Memories
by Jan Greenberg
Recounts the life of the twentieth-century African-American collage artist who used his southern childhood, New York City, jazz, and Paris to influence his bold and meaningful art.
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Words to My Life's Song
by Ashley Bryan
Told through drawings and photographs, the author's inspiring autobiography demonstrates his love for art and drawing which always sustained him even though he was turned away from art school because of his color, grew up through the Great Depression, and served his country in World War II.
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A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin
by Jennifer Bryant
The creators of the Caldecott Honor-winning A River of Words present a sumptuously illustrated introduction to the life and work of artist Horace Pippin, describing his childhood love for drawing and the World War I injury that challenged his career.
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It Jes' Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw
by Don Tate
A biography of twentieth-century African American folk artist Bill Traylor, a former slave who at the age of eighty-five began to draw pictures based on his memories and observations of rural and urban life in Alabama.
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The Chitlin' Circuit: And the Road to Rock 'n' Roll
by Preston Lauterbach
From the late 1930s to the early 1940s, something called the "chitlin' circuit" was developing in the back rooms of clubs and juke joints across the southern U.S. Catering to black audiences, these were places where Little Richard and James Brown got their start, along with countless others -- some of whom crossed over into mainstream rock 'n' roll, and plenty who didn't. Combining firsthand reporting with historical research, music journalist Preston Lauterbach provides insight into the history of the circuit and the birth of rock 'n' roll, and into the promoters, club owners, and musicians who made it happen. "A rocking read," says Publishers Weekly.
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Shining Star: Braving the Elements of Earth, Wind & Fire
by Philip Bailey
A personal account by the lead singer of Earth, Wind & Fire traces his professional and spiritual journey against a backdrop of the group's meteoric rise to stardom, describing the diverse influences that shaped the band's style and his own experiences as a solo performer.
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Whitney: Tribute to an Icon
by Randee St. Nicholas
Written by her sister-in-law and trusted manager and featuring contributions by industry mogul Clive Davis, a sumptuously photographed tribute to the late pop star shares the author's memories of Houston, reflections on the singer's artistic achievements and thoughts about the shared grief over her sudden death.
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Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations
by Mark Ribowsky
The 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 of this most popular—and tragic—of all Motown super groups. Based on in-depth research and interviews with founding Temptations member Otis Williams and many others, the book reveals the highly individual, even mutually antagonistic, nature of the group's members. Venturing beyond the money and the fame, it shares the compelling tale of these sometime allies, sometime rivals and reveals the unique dynamic of push and pull and give and take that resulted in musical genius.
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The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams, Success, and Betrayal
by Mark Ribowsky
Explores the rise and fall of this popular trio based on recollections from friends, family, and Motown contemporaries who were there when their songs were made, their hits climbed the charts, and their group faded away into history due to personal issues and professional strife.
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One Day It'll All Make Sense
by Common
Common holds nothing back in this gripping memoir, both provocative and funny. He tells what it was like for a boy with big dreams growing up on the South Side of Chicago. He reveals how he almost quit rapping after his first album sold only two thousand copies. He recounts his rise to stardom and talks about the challenges of balancing fame, love, and family. Through it all, Common emerges as a man in full. Rapper. Actor. Activist. But also father, son, and friend. His story offers a living example of how, no matter what you've gone through, one day it'll all make sense.
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Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption--From South Central to Hollywood
by Ice-T
Tracy Marrow, better known as Ice-T to fans of rap, heavy metal, film, and television (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), was orphaned at the age of 12 and moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles, where he became involved with gangs. Even after four years in the Army, he didn't give up crime entirely until he took up rap and became a nearly instant hit. His memoir includes observations on his widely varied experiences, as well as his opinions on the current music scene, Hollywood, his role as a parent, and what it's like to be rich and famous. Kirkus Reviews calls this a "boldly opinionated, bracingly street-tough memoir."
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Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation
by Questlove
With its smooth, soulful tunes and groovy dance moves, Soul Train launched the careers of countless African American artists and set lasting trends in music, dance, and fashion for more than three decades. Questlove reveals the remarkable story of the captivating program, and his text is paired with more than 350 photographs of the show's most memorable episodes and the larger-than-life characters who defined it: the great host Don Cornelius, the extraordinary musicians, and the people who lived the phenomenon from dance floor. Gladys Knight contributed a foreword to this incredible volume. Nick Cannon contributed the preface.
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Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life
by Laurence Bergreen
A definitive portrait of American musical icon Louis Armstrong describes his poverty-stricken youth, his struggle to become a successful jazz musician, his private life, and his dramatic influence on American music and culture.
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Josephine: The Hungry Heart
by Jean-Claude Baker
Based on twenty years of research and thousands of interviews, this authoritative biography of performer Josephine Baker (1906-1975) provides a candid look at her tempestuous life. Born into poverty in St. Louis, the uninhibited chorus girl became the sensation of Europe and the last century's first black sex symbol. A heroine of the French Resistance in World War II, she entranced figures as diverse as de Gaulle, Tito, Castro, Princess Grace, two popes, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Yet Josephine was also, as one critic put it, "a monster who made Joan Crawford look like the Virgin Mary." Reconciling Josephine's many personas--Jazz-age icon, national hero of France, proponent of Civil Rights, mother of children from across the globe--Josephine: The Hungry Heart gives readers the inside story on a star unlike any other before or since.
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My Song: A Memoir
by Harry Belafonte
Entertainer and activist Harry Belafonte grew up in miserable poverty in Jamaica and Harlem, emotionally wounded by an unhappy family life and American racism. He used his GI Bill benefits to enroll in lessons with the American Negro Theater, where he made friends with Sidney Poitier and other important African-American actors. Though acting jobs were scarce, Belafonte's music career took off after he appeared in a Harlem night club. He became immensely successful, but never forgot the poverty and racism he experienced as a child. In this absorbing memoir, Belafonte describes not only his entertainment career and friendships with other actors, but also his activism in the Civil Rights movement and his social justice efforts.
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Benson: The Autobiography
by George Benson
Featuring an introduction by Bill Cosby, this autobiography of the singer, songwriter, composer and guitarist covers his 50-year career from his childhood in the ghettos of Pittsburgh to winning a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Masters Award.
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The Life of James Brown
by Geoff Brown
A biography of James Brown that shows how he came to represent, in music and personal power, the post-war emancipation of black America. It is illustrated with photographs and includes a discography.
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You Don't Know Me: Reflections of My Father, Ray Charles
by Ray Charles Robinson
A revealing personal account by the late Grammy-winning soul performer's son shares previously undisclosed, compassionate tales from their family life that offer new insights into the addiction and affairs that compromised both father and son.
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So What: The Life of Miles Davis
by John F. Szwed
Based on interviews with family and friends, this account of the jazz great's life reveals the influence of Miles Davis' life on his work as well as the musician's persistent desire to re-invent himself
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Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob
by Matt Birkbeck
Adored by millions, Sammy Davis Jr. was considered an entertainment icon and a national treasure. But despite lifetime earnings that topped $50 million, Sammy died in 1990 near bankruptcy. Years later his once-vivacious wife, Altovise, heir to one of the greatest entertainment legacies of the twentieth century, was living in poverty. With nowhere else to turn, she asked a former federal prosecutor, Albert “Sonny” Murray, to try to resolve Sammy's debts and restore his estate. For seven years Sonny probed Sammy's life and came to understand the tormented artist as a man of tragic complexity. Deconstructing Sammy is the extraordinary story of an international celebrity whose outsize talent couldn't save him from himself.
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Let's Talk about Pep
by Sandra Denton
The rap musician describes her life and career, including her troubled childhood, the success of Salt-N-Pepa, her marriages, and the breakup and eventual reunion with Salt
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Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll
by Rick Coleman
A noted R&B scholar celebrates the contributions of Fats Domino to the evolution of modern-day rock music, drawing on interviews with many early musical legends--including Lloyd Price, the Clovers, Charles Brown, and others--to examine the career of the legendary musician, the influence of New Orleans, and the impact of rock 'n' roll on the civil rights movement
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Music is My Mistress
by Duke Ellington
The celebrated musician and entertainer discusses his life and travels and presents profiles of personalities he has come to know as friends
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Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul
by Mark Bego
Aretha Franklin's soulful voice has earned her fifteen Grammies and the honor of being the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. An uncompromising survivor, Aretha has stirred millions with her classic hits, including, "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" and "Respect." But she has also faced daunting personal challenges: her mother's desertion; teenage pregnancy; several unhappy marriages; and a tragic shooting that led to the death of her father. With unique access to key figures in Aretha's past, and a new chapter revealing the most recent events both personal and professional in the life of the diva, this is the definitive biography of the woman who captivated the music world of the early fifties and became a star.
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How to Get Out of Your Own Way
by Tyrese
An actor, singer and songwriter discusses his inspiring life--from his tough childhood in Watts, California, and his battle with weight to his crushing divorce and rise to fame--and helps readers learn how to turn trials unto successes.
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Herbie Hancock: Possibilities
by Herbie Hancock
The legendary jazz musician and composer reflects on his seven decades in music, tracing his early years as a musical prodigy and work in Miles Davis' second quintet to his multigenre explorations and collaborations with fellow artists.
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Lady Sings the Blues
by Billie Holiday
Lady Sings the Blues is the fiercely honest, no-holds-barred autobiography of Billie Holiday, the legendary jazz, swing, and standards singing sensation. Taking the reader on a fast-moving journey from Holiday’s rough-and-tumble Baltimore childhood (where she ran errands at a whorehouse in exchange for the chance to listen to Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith albums), to her emergence on Harlem’s club scene, to sold-out performances with the Count Basie Orchestra and with Artie Shaw and his band, this revelatory memoir is notable for its trenchant observations on the racism that darkened Billie’s life and the heroin addiction that ended it too soon. We are with her during the mesmerizing debut of “Strange Fruit”; with her as she rubs shoulders with the biggest movie stars and musicians of the day and with her through the scrapes with Jim Crow, spats with Sarah Vaughan, ignominious jailings, and tragic decline.
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Lightnin' Hopkins: His Life and Blues
by Alan B. Govenar
By the time of his death in 1982, Sam “Lightnin” Hopkins was likely the most recorded blues artist in history. Born in 1912 to a poor sharecropping family, Hopkins left home when he was only eight years old with a guitar his brother had given him. He made his living however he could, playing the blues and taking odd jobs when money was short. Hopkins didn’t begin recording until 1946, when he was dubbed “Lightnin” during his first session, and he soon joined Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker on the national R & B charts. But by the time he was “rediscovered” by Mack McCormick and Sam Charters in 1959, his popularity had begun to wane. A second career emerged--now Lightnin’ was pitched to white audiences, not black ones, and he became immensely successful, singing about his country roots and injustices that informed the civil rights era with a searing emotive power.
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Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne
by James Gavin
Singer and actress Lena Horne receives acclaim for her success in breaking through the color barrier in Hollywood, but both her personal life and the story of her musical career are much deeper than her beauty and the color of her skin. In this "masterful exploration of an international cultural icon" (Library Journal), biographer James Gavin explores the early influences of her family, her jazz career during the Harlem Renaissance, her battles to overcome segregation, and the effects of politics and the Civil Rights movement on her career. For more on Horne's background and family history, read The Hornes by her daughter Gail Buckley.
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Unruly: The Highs and Lows of Becoming a Man
by Ja Rule
The actor, singer, songwriter and rap artist, offering practical wisdom, growth and hope, recalls his troubled youth and transformative years in Federal prison, which helped him become the man, father, husband and community role model he is today.
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Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson
by Randall Sullivan
Traces the story of Michael Jackson's life from his famous childhood through his final four years, drawing on interviews with his friends, enemies, and other associates to cover his international travels, business acumen, and parenting decisions.
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Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James
by Rick James
A posthumously published self-portrait by the music artist best known for such songs as "Super Freak" discusses his musical youth as the nephew of Melvin Franklin, his creative associations with fellow artists and his brushes with the law.
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Purpose: An Immigrant's Story
by Wyclef Jean
Touching on the universal themes of poverty, immigration, father/son relationships and the heights of celebrity, the multi-platinum musician, producer and actor details his childhood growing up in Haiti and then in Newark, and gives the inside story of the hip hop group The Fugees.
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The Complete Quincy Jones: My Journey, My Passions: Photos and Mementos from Q's Personal Collection
by Quincy Jones
The renowned composer, producer, humanitarian, and musician draws on his personal archives, interviews, recollections, memorabilia, and photographs to provide an unprecedented journey into the heart of modern music, American pop culture, and his own legendary career. 50,000 first printing.
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Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King
by B. B. King
A portrait of the legendary blues artist chronicles his rise from the rural poverty of the Mississippi Delta to become a world-famous musician, in a memoir set against a backdrop of growing blues and rock-and-roll movements. Reprint.
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Beyoncé
by Andrew Vaughan
A lavishly illustrated tribute to the multi-genre performing artist traces her life from her early successes with Destiny's Child and her marriage to hip-hop mogul Jay-Z through the birth of her child and her Grammy Award-winning triumphs with Dangerously in Love.
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A Woman Like Me
by Bettye LaVette
As a teenager in Detroit, Bettye LaVette had a hit single with “My Man—He’s a Lovin’ Man.” By the time she was twenty, she had faded back into obscurity and was barely surviving in New York City. For the next forty years, despite being associated with legends such as Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, and James Brown, she remained relatively unknown outside a circle of devoted fans. Then, after a lifetime of singing in clubs and lounges, her unforgettable televised performances at the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors and at President Obama’s pre-Inaugural Concert at the Lincoln Memorial in 2009 won her the recognition she had sought for her entire life. In this unflinchingly honest memoir, she boldly recounts her freewheeling childhood, her short-lived conquest of the R&B world in the 1960s, her decline into poverty and despair, and her recent comeback and career revival.
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Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes: In Search of Blind Willie McTell
by Michael Gray
By the time he died in 1959, Blind Willie McTell was almost forgotten. He had never had a hit record, and his days of playing on street corners for spare change were long gone. But this masterful guitarist and exquisite singer has since become one of the most loved musicians of the prewar period, spurring Bob Dylan to write, “Nobody can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell.” This wide-ranging biography illuminates a resourceful musician with a modest career but a mile-wide independent streak. Whether selling high-quality homemade bootleg whisky out of a suitcase, bragging about crowds of women chasing him, or suffering a stroke while eating barbecue under a tree, McTell emerges from this book an outgoing, engaging individualist with seemingly limitless self-confidence.
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Mingus Speaks
by Charles Mingus
Collects in-depth interviews with Charlie Mingus, conducted several years before the jazz great died, capturing the composer's spirit and voice, revealing how he saw himself as composer and performer, how he viewed his peers and predecessors, how he created his extraordinary music and how he looked at race.
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Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker
by Stanley Crouch
The first of two volumes based on the life of one of the most talented and influential musicians of the 20th century reaches back past the legend to reveal Charlie Parker the wunderkind, who was raised in the midst of the Depression in the wide-open town of Boss Tom Pendergast's Kansas City.
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Robeson: An American Ballad
by Arnold H. Lubasch
Paul Robeson was a towering figure in American culture. An extraordinary athlete-scholar-actor-singer, Robeson also became a crusader for human rights. And though he was admired by many, his controversial support of the Soviet Union during the Cold War and the era of McCarthyism led to ostracism and his declining health. In Robeson: An American Ballad, Arnold H. Lubasch chronicles the remarkable life of this 20th century original. In this concise and readable account, Lubasch—a New York Times veteran for almost 40 years—reports on the highs and lows of Robeson’s life and career, offering several personal anecdotes about this American icon. Includes commentary on the 100th-anniversary celebration of Robeson’s birth.
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Nina Simone: The Biography
by David Brun-Lambert
Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in North Carolina at the tail-end of the Great Depression, Nina Simone was a precocious child with dreams of becoming the world’s first black classical soloist. After a rejection from an elite New York conservatoire—a rejection she always believed stemmed from the color of her skin—she began performing jazz, blues, and classical songs in a bar to fund her music studies. In 1958 her rendition of the Gershwin standard “I Loves You Porgy” became a Top 40 hit, and her subsequent debut album Little Girl Blue launched what would become an extensive singing and songwriting career. This extraordinary biography follows her sparkling career as well as her passionate belief in racial equality that eventually led her to undergo self-imposed exile from America in 1970.
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Mo' Meta Blues: The World according to Questlove
by Questlove
The drummer for the Grammy Award-winning group The Roots, which also serves as the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, discusses a historical range of musical artists as well as African American art, hip hop, culture and philosophy. 40,000 first printing.
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My Life as I See It: An Autobiography
by Dionne Warwick
The five-time Grammy Award-winning music performer reflects on half a century of show business, tracing her humble origins and partnerships with Burt Bacharach and Hal David through her friendships with fellow artists and appointment to Global Ambassador for the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.
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Queen: The Life and Music of Dinah Washington
by Nadine Cohodas
Drawing on personal documents and interviews with family and colleagues, a vivid biography of the legendary singer chronicles the remarkable music and turbulent personal life of Dinah Washington, describing her distinctive talent, rise to success, desperate quest for love, and tragic death at the age of thirty-nine from an overdose of prescription weight-loss drugs.
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Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: The Soulful Journey of Stevie Wonder
by Mark Ribowsky
The first definitive biography of music legend Stevie Wonder takes an in-depth look at Stevie Wonder's life and his evolution from kid-soul pop star into a mature artist whose music helped lay the groundwork for the evolution of hip hop and rap. During a career that has spanned almost fifty years, Wonder has earned more than thirty Top 10 hits, twenty-six Grammy Awards, and a place in both the Rock and Roll and Songwriter Halls of Fame. The book traces his personal and musical development through the decades, from the early 1960s R&B of "Fingertips" to the social and political themes of "Living for the City" and other 1970s classics, through periods of musical and personal confusion, uncertainty, and, later, renewal.
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Unbreak my Heart: A Memoir
by Toni Braxton
The singer and star of "Braxton Family Values" reveals the measures she took to make herself and her family whole again after heart ailments and a diagnosis of lupus forced her to let go of her past and take charge of her own healing--physically and spiritually
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American Hip-Hop: Rappers, DJs, and Hard Beats
by Nathan Sacks
Hip-hop music busted out of New York City in the 1970s. Many young African Americans found their voices after stepping up to the mic. In the decades afterward, rappers and DJs took over the airwaves and transformed American music. In the twenty-first century, hip-hop is a global sensation. Learn what inspired hip-hop's earliest rappers to start rhyming over beats, as well as the stories behind hip-hop legends such as Run-D.M.C., 2Pac, Lauryn Hill, and Jay-Z. Follow the creativity and the rivalries that have fueled everything from party raps to songs about social struggles.
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OutKast
by Greg Roza
Highlights the lives and careers of the Southern rap artists. Outkast burst upon the national scene with their joyous, giddy, and insanely infectious single ''Hey Ya!'' in 2003. Yet Outkast's duo of Andre 3000 and Big Boi had been recording their unique and inimitable brand of hip-hop, spiced with tantalizing dashes of funk, soul, rock, pop, jazz, blues, and electronic music since 1992.
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Mary J. Blige
by Diane Bailey
Highlights the life and career of rap musician Mary J. Blige, who has has sold over 40 million records and won 8 Grammy awards.
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Missy Elliott
by Bethany Bezdecheck
Highlights the life and career of rap musician Missy Elliott. Since her first album in 1997, she has had 5 platinum albums, a feat that has never been accomplished by any other female rap artist. She is a record producer, clothing designer, and charity spokeswoman and has her own record label.
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Ella Fitzgerald: A Twentieth-Century Life
by Tanya Lee Stone
As a young runaway who had to live on the streets, Ella Fitzgerald overcame her financial and personal hardships in her adult years; shining on stage as a world-revered jazz singer who won thirteen Grammys, toured for more than 50 years, and became known as the First Lady of Song.
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Jamie Foxx: Entertainer
by Anne M. Todd
A critically acclaimed biography series of history's most notable African Americans includes straightforward and objective writing combined with important memorabilia and photographs.
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Jennifer Hudson
by Jeanne Nagle
Jennifer Hudson's life story is one of hard work, determination, setbacks, and stunning success. A popular favorite on the third season of American Idol who failed to win over the notoriously hard-to-please judge Simon Cowell, Hudson was eventually voted out of the competition. Disappointed but resilient, she went on to co-star in the film Dreamgirls and, against all odds for a first-time actress, won both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. This book tells her inspiring and triumphant tale in colorful detail and with riveting drama.
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Mahalia: A Life in Gospel Music
by Roxane Orgill
A look at the life of this celebrated gospel singer who, with her powerful voice, helped bring gospel music to the world's stage while inspiring civil rights workers.
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Jay-Z
by Bridget Heos
Profiles the rapper who rose from a childhood of poverty to become a Grammy Award winner, company CEO, and multimillionaire
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Scott Joplin
by Katherine K. Preston
Traces the life of the well-known ragtime pianist and composer who wrote over 500 pieces of music, including a ballet and two operas
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Alicia Keys
by Terrell Brown
A biography of the young Grammy award-winning singer.
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Bruno Mars
by Amie Jane Leavitt
Examines the life of the singer/songwriter who is best known for winning the Grammy for the Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, the Billboard Music Award, and the American Music Award for Favorite Male Artist
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Wynton Marsalis
by Stephen Feinstein
A biography of one of America's greatest trumpet players, Wynton Marsalis.
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Tupac Shakur: Multi-Platinum Rapper
by Ashley Rae Harris
This legendary rapper was gunned down in Las Vegas in 1996, but not before having multi-platinum releases and a promising acting career. A prime example of the line rappers walk between street credibility and their art, Tupac pushed the East-West rap feud both as a real fight and as a tool to influence media coverage of his career. Tupac's raps were part traditional social protest and part gritty descriptions of street life in urban neighborhoods. This book includes details of his life and career, and covers the controversies surrounding his life and death.
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Will Smith
by Jim Corrigan
Profiles the hip-hop singer who is also an international movie star
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Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
by PeggySue Wells
Businessman, producer, hitmaker, and entertainer DeAndre Cortez Way, known as Soulja Boy Tell Em, received his first Grammy Award nomination for best rap song when he was in high school. Wearing oversized shirts and brightly colored sneakers, the young rapper hit the stage with original songs and dance moves. Harnessing the Internet and employing guerrilla-style marketing, DeAndre capitalized on digital technology to build a fan base and sell millions of singles and ringtones. .
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Kanye West
by PeggySue Wells
Though his upbringing was untraditional for a rapper, Kanye West rose to fame as a hip-hop star in the mid-2000s. Raised by a single parent who was a Fullbright Scholar and Chair of the English Department at Chicago State University, Kanye grew up in an upper-middle-class area of Chicago. Kanye was already a noted producer, but his middle-class background and preppy dress made him seem out of place for the hip-hop scene, which was dominated by gangsta personalities. A near fatal car accident became the catalyst for Kanye to prove himself. He began collecting awards for his music, and headlines for his arrogance. With an ear for rhyme schemes and hit-making beats, and a knack for expressing topics that audiences can relate to, Kanye was determined to change the face of hip-hop and make history.
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Baby Flo: Florence Mills Lights up the Stage
by Alan Schroeder
"A biography of African American entertainer Florence Mills, an internationally renowned dancer, singer, and comedian of the Harlem Renaissance era, focusing on how she began her career as a child. Includes author's note and historical photographs"--Provided by publisher
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Josephine: The Hungry Heart
by Jean-Claude Baker
Based on twenty years of research and thousands of interviews, this authoritative biography of performer Josephine Baker (1906-1975) provides a candid look at her tempestuous life. Born into poverty in St. Louis, the uninhibited chorus girl became the sensation of Europe and the last century's first black sex symbol. A heroine of the French Resistance in World War II, she entranced figures as diverse as de Gaulle, Tito, Castro, Princess Grace, two popes, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Yet Josephine was also, as one critic put it, "a monster who made Joan Crawford look like the Virgin Mary." Reconciling Josephine's many personas--Jazz-age icon, national hero of France, proponent of Civil Rights, mother of children from across the globe--Josephine: The Hungry Heart gives readers the inside story on a star unlike any other before or since.
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Cosby: His Life and Times
by Mark Whitaker
Draws on interviews with Cosby himself and more than sixty of his closest friends and associates to offer a frank account of the comedian's life and legacy, from his youth in a Philadelphia housing project to his career as a stand-up comedian and actor, to the dramas in his personal life.
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Deconstructing Sammy: Music, Money, Madness, and the Mob
by Matt Birkbeck
Adored by millions, Sammy Davis Jr. was considered an entertainment icon and a national treasure. But despite lifetime earnings that topped $50 million, Sammy died in 1990 near bankruptcy. Years later his once-vivacious wife, Altovise, heir to one of the greatest entertainment legacies of the twentieth century, was living in poverty. With nowhere else to turn, she asked a former federal prosecutor, Albert “Sonny” Murray, to try to resolve Sammy's debts and restore his estate. For seven years Sonny probed Sammy's life and came to understand the tormented artist as a man of tragic complexity. Deconstructing Sammy is the extraordinary story of an international celebrity whose outsize talent couldn't save him from himself.
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Black and Blue: the Redd Foxx Story
by Michael Starr
Tells the story of Foxx, a veteran comedian and "overnight sensation" at the age of forty-nine whose early life was defined by adversity - and his post-Sanford and Son years by a blur of women, cocaine, endless lawsuits, financial chaos, and a losing battle with the IRS. Foxx's frank, trailblazing style as the "King of the Party Records" opened the door for a generation of African-American comedians including Dick Gregory, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Chris Rock. Foxx took the country by storm in January 1972 as crotchety, bow-legged Watts junk dealer Fred Sanford in Sanford and Son, one of the most beloved sitcoms in television history. Interviews with friends, confidantes, and colleagues provide a unique insight into this generous, brash, vulnerable performer - a man who Norman Lear described as "inherently, innately funny in every part of his being."
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Morgan Freeman: A Biography
by Kathleen Tracy
Traces the life and four-decade career of the esteemed African-American film star, discussing such topics as his southern childhood, his near-decision to leave acting, and his rise to Hollywood's A-list.
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How to Get Out of Your Own Way
by Tyrese
An actor, singer and songwriter discusses his inspiring life--from his tough childhood in Watts, California, and his battle with weight to his crushing divorce and rise to fame--and helps readers learn how to turn trials unto successes.
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An Actor and a Gentleman
by Louis Gossett
Louis Gossett Jr. is one of the most respected African American stage and screen actors, who rose to fame with his Emmy-winning role in the television miniseries Roots and Oscar-winning performance in An Officer and a Gentleman. Now he tells the story of his fifty-plus years in the entertainment world, from his early success on the New York stage through his long Hollywood career. He writes frankly of his struggle to get leading roles and fair pay as a black man in Hollywood, his problems with drugs and alcohol that took years to overcome, and his current work to eradicate racism and violence. An Actor and a Gentleman offers an honest, heartfelt portrayal of the African American experience both in Hollywood and the New York theater world, as told by one of the nation's most enduring actors.
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Foxy: My Life in Three Acts
by Pam Grier
In a sultry and shocking memoir, the actress known for such films as Foxy Brown and Jackie Brown tells her personal stories for the first time, from her army-brat upbringing to her relationships with Richard Pryor and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to her battles against racism, sexism and cancer.
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Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne
by James Gavin
Singer and actress Lena Horne receives acclaim for her success in breaking through the color barrier in Hollywood, but both her personal life and the story of her musical career are much deeper than her beauty and the color of her skin. In this "masterful exploration of an international cultural icon" (Library Journal), biographer James Gavin explores the early influences of her family, her jazz career during the Harlem Renaissance, her battles to overcome segregation, and the effects of politics and the Civil Rights movement on her career. For more on Horne's background and family history, read The Hornes by her daughter Gail Buckley.
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Beyoncé
by Andrew Vaughan
A lavishly illustrated tribute to the multi-genre performing artist traces her life from her early successes with Destiny's Child and her marriage to hip-hop mogul Jay-Z through the birth of her child and her Grammy Award-winning triumphs with Dangerously in Love.
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Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee
by Mona Z. Smith
A former investigative reporter for The Miami Herald reconstructs the largely forgotten life of Canada Lee, a famous black actor, civil rights advocate, and political activist, who was "blacklisted" and buried in the anti-Communist backlash of the McCarthy era.
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I am the New Black
by Tracy Morgan
The comedic actor known for his work on Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock chronicles his life from his youth in the Coney Island projects and the death of his Vietnam veteran and AIDS victim father to his discovery by Martin Lawrence and Lorne Michaels and his battles with diabetes and alcoholism.
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The Making of a Stand-Up Guy
by Charlie Murphy
Best known for his appearances on Chapelle's Show, Charlie Murphy shares the ups and downs on his path to success and describes life on the road with his world-famous brother, Eddie, and his decision to try stand-up comedy at the age of forty-two.
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The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography
by Sidney Poitier
The acclaimed actor reveals the depth, passion, and intellectual fervor that have driven his life and career, citing the elements of his childhood that gave him his sense of worth, family, and ethics and how these qualities are essential to spiritual development.
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Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him
by David Henry
Provides a rare glimpse into the life of an outrageously human, fearlessly black, openly angry and profanely outspoken comedic genius whose humble beginnings as the child of a prostitute helped shaped him into one of the most influential and outstanding performers of our time.
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Redefining Diva: Life Lessons from the Original Dreamgirl
by Sheryl Lee Ralph
Sheryl Lee Ralph was the original Deena Jones in Broadway’s production of Dreamgirls and the show was a Broadway sensation from its inception. Now, the star of film, television, and Broadway, known for her talent and fearlessness, shows readers how to find—and own—their inner divas. Sheryl rose to international fame after her performance in Dreamgirls, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress and going on to star in movies with Denzel Washington and Robert DeNiro and capture America’s heart as television’s favorite mom Die in the #1-rated series Moesha . But it wasn’t an easy task. From her legendary catfight with Diana Ross to her controversial exit from Moesha, Sheryl Lee Ralph is a woman who does not fade in the background—and she reveals how and why she has remained in the spotlight for decades.
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Robeson: An American Ballad
by Arnold H. Lubasch
Paul Robeson was a towering figure in American culture. An extraordinary athlete-scholar-actor-singer, Robeson also became a crusader for human rights. And though he was admired by many, his controversial support of the Soviet Union during the Cold War and the era of McCarthyism led to ostracism and his declining health. In Robeson: An American Ballad, Arnold H. Lubasch chronicles the remarkable life of this 20th century original. In this concise and readable account, Lubasch—a New York Times veteran for almost 40 years—reports on the highs and lows of Robeson’s life and career, offering several personal anecdotes about this American icon. Includes commentary on the 100th-anniversary celebration of Robeson’s birth.
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Dyn-o-mite! Good Times, Bad Times, Our Times: A Memoir
by Jimmie Walker
Though best known for his role as J.J. Evans on 1970s sitcom Good Times, Jimmie Walker has also appeared on other television shows and continues to tour the U.S. doing stand-up comedy. In Dyn-o-mite!, he presents a thoughtful memoir that tracks not only his personal life and political convictions but his professional evolution as well. This latter topic should pique the interest of even those unfamiliar with Walker, for beyond his own career, he writes insightfully of the Leno-Letterman friendship-turned-feud (both once wrote jokes for him) and his observations of other comics like Chris Rock, Steve Martin, and Richard Pryor.
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A Man from Another Land: How Finding My Roots Changed My Life
by Isaiah Washington
In this inspirational memoir, Grey's Anatomy actor Isaiah Washington explains how filling in the gaps of his past led him to discover a new passion: helping those less fortunate. DNA testing revealed that Washington was descended from the Mende people, who today live in Sierra Leone. For many people, the story would end with the results of the search; for Isaiah, it had just begun. Discovering his roots has given him a new purpose, to lead an inspirational life defined by faith and charity.
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Oprah: A Biography
by Kitty Kelley
The first comprehensive biography of one of the most influential, powerful and admired public figures of our time is based on three years of research and reporting as well as 850 interviews with sources, many of whom have never before spoken for publication.
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Jamie Foxx: Entertainer
by Anne M. Todd
A critically acclaimed biography series of history's most notable African Americans includes straightforward and objective writing combined with important memorabilia and photographs.
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Jennifer Hudson
by Jeanne Nagle
Jennifer Hudson's life story is one of hard work, determination, setbacks, and stunning success. A popular favorite on the third season of American Idol who failed to win over the notoriously hard-to-please judge Simon Cowell, Hudson was eventually voted out of the competition. Disappointed but resilient, she went on to co-star in the film Dreamgirls and, against all odds for a first-time actress, won both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. This book tells her inspiring and triumphant tale in colorful detail and with riveting drama.
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Eddie Murphy: Actor
by Hal Marcovitz
Traces the life and career of the actor-comedian, from his impoverished Brooklyn childhood to his return to film success with "The Nutty Professor" and the "Shrek" franchise
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Chris Rock
by Jacqueline Laks Gorman
Chris Rock has never been afraid to speak his mind—no matter whom he might offend. For years, his comedy was for adults only. That changed with the success of the TV series Everybody Hates Chris and a string of hit animated films. Rock proved he can make any audience laugh—young or old. It's no wonder he's often called the funniest man in America.
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Jaden Smith
by Kristen Rajczak
Highlights the life and accomplishments of the young actor known for his roles in "The Pursuit of Happyness" and the 2010 remake of "The Karate Kid."
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Will Smith
by Jim Corrigan
Profiles the hip-hop singer who is also an international movie star
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Michigan City Public Library
100 E. 4th Street
Michigan City, Indiana 46360
219-873-3044
http://mclib.org/
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