Arts / Music / Soul & R 'n B

The James Brown Reader: Fifty Years of Writing About the Godfather of Soul

by Nelson George & Alan Leeds

Nelson George and Alan Leeds have assembled the first comprehensive collection of writings about the late, great Godfather of Soul, creating a fascinating mosaic of the man and the musician. Known as the hardest-working...

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: The Troubled Lives and Enduring Soul of the Temptations

by Mark Ribowsky

The first and only definitive biography of legendary Motown group, the Temptations

The Temptations are an incomparable soul group, with dozens of chart-topping hits such as My Girl and Papa Was a Rollin Stone...

98% Funky Stuff: My Life in Music

by Maceo Parker

Maceo Parker’s signature style became the lynchpin of James Brown's band when he and his brother Melvin joined the Hardest Working Man in Show Business in 1964. That style helped define Brown’s brand of...

Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom

by Peter Guralnick

This masterful exploration of American roots music--country, rockabilly, and the blues--spotlights the artists who created a distinctly American sound, including Ernest Tubb, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Elvis Presley,...

Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown's First Superstar

by Peter Benjaminson

Complete with never-before-revealed details about the sex, violence, and drugs in her life, this biography reveals the incredibly turbulent life of Motown artist Mary Wells. Based in part on four hours of previously...

One Week Gig

by Rufus Jr. Curry & Barbara Schugt

Fiction / Romance / Adult

Caught in the crossfire between justification and knowing, Chapman Sweet, Jr. works to untangle the present mess he finds his life in. Surrounded by a smorgasbord of feminine opportunities...

The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard

by Peter Benjaminson

In the months before she died, Florence Ballard, the spunky teenager who founded the most successful female vocal group in history—the Supremes—told her own side of the story. Recorded on tape, Flo shed light...

The Last Sultan: The Life and Times of Ahmet Ertegun

by Robert Greenfield

The Last Sultan is the definitive biography of a man who changed popular culture throughout the world. As the founder and head of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun signed and/or recorded many of the greatest musical...

Fever: Little Willie John's Fast Life, Mysterious Death, and the Birth of Soul

by Susan Whitall

Little Willie John lived for a fleeting 30 years, but his dynamic and daring sound left an indelible mark on the history of music. His deep blues, rollicking rock ‘n’ roll and swinging ballads inspired a...