David Ritz

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 struggled to find her true voice. It was not until 1967, when a white Jewish producer insisted she return to her gospel-soul roots, that fame and fortune finally came via "Respect" and a rapidfire string of hits. She continued to evolve for decades, amidst personal tragedy, surprise Grammy performances, and career reinventions.Again and again, Aretha stubbornly found a way to triumph over troubles, even as they continued to build. Her hold on the crown was tenacious, and in Respect , David Ritz gives us the definitive life of one of the greatest talents in all American culture.

Drawing from interviews conducted before Marvin Gaye's death, acclaimed music writer David Ritz has created a full-scale portrait of the brilliant but tormented artist. With a cast of characters that includes Diana Ross, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder, this intimate biography is a definitive and enduring look at the man who embodied the very essence of the word soul.

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 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 King, Jr.'s final year, Tavis Smiley provides a glimpse into the superstar's life in this emotional, honest, yet celebratory book. Readers will witness Jackson's campaign to recharge his career -- hiring and firing managers and advisors, turning to and away from family members, fighting depression and drug dependency -- while his one goal to mount the most spectacular series of shows the world had ever seen. Before You Judge Me is a humanizing look at Jackson's last days.

A hilarious guide to life from a man who has "lived large and fallen hard--lost every job I ever had, messed up everybody I've ever dated, been kicked out of every institution I've ever been in"--and still survived; offering observations on courage ("Lots of guys brag they'd fight off anything to save their woman. Yeah, right--there is no sense in both us dying"), discipline ("If you've got to get whupped, your father is the man. Mothers don't stop until you're bleeding to death"), money ("Before computers, checks were great...local ones took fourteen days to clear"), men and women ("If there were no women in the world, men would be naked, driving trucks, living in dirt"), underwear ("Women, do not buy your men bikini underpants"), love ("If you can get a car with no money down, you can get a boyfriend or girlfriend"), marriage ("There is no compromise, you either go to the basketball game or you go to a movie you hate"), divorce ("there are no Betty Ford clinics for strung-out lovers. You have to go cold turkey"), dieting ("I would be hanging out at McDonald's, tapping on the window: 'Don't throw out those fries!'"), parenting ("When they caught Jeffrey Dahmer, his mom was protective: 'He always had a healthy appetite...'"), technology, and much more.

The voice of Jimmy Scott is one of the world's most mesmerizing instruments, transcending gender and age. But its beauty is inextricably entwined with pain, hardship, and tragedy-yet Scott's resilience made his life a story of triumph. Born in Cleveland in 1925, Scott was orphaned as a teenager, and suffered from Kallman's syndrome, which kept his voice unnaturally high. He toured with Lionel Hampton in the '40s and recorded for Savoy Records. In 1962 Ray Charles produced and played on what many agree was Scott's best album, Falling in Love Is Wonderful , and a career breakthrough seemed imminent. But it was not to be, and Scott returned to Cleveland to work as an orderly and a shipping clerk-until he was rediscovered performing at his friend Doc Pomus's funeral in March of 1991. Acclaimed biographer David Ritz, with Scott's cooperation, has created a poignant portrait of a man whose voice cuts to the sadness and hope within us all. Faith in Time resonates like a haunting melody.

As a ghostwriter, biographer, and lyricist, David Ritz has worked with some of the biggest names in music, such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Marvin Gaye. Now, in his inspiring memoir, he shares how writing for these legendary artists led him to faith.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 deep in his soul, unlike anything he’d ever felt before. It was this love of music, coupled with an equal passion for words—both language that flowed across the page and language sung out loud—that led him, against all odds, to convince Ray Charles to hire him as a ghostwriter. Through this first project, David learned the art of capturing another’s voice.As Marvin Gaye’s biographer and cowriter of “Sexual Healing,” David learned about Marvin’s father, a charismatic storefront preacher in an ultra-strict Christian sect, but he also saw the visceral love Marvin had for Jesus. David’s conversations with Aretha Franklin, conducted during the two-year process of writing her memoir, yielded further insights into Christianity. Threaded throughout David’s story are in-depth conversations with Willie Nelson, BB King, Janet Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Etta James, Buddy Guy, and Jessi Colter, all of whom shaped his thinking about faith.The God Groove is a moving, deeply personal, and inspiring memoir about the unlikely ways God works—if we listen to Him.

Traces the life and career of the popular singer, describes his difficult childhood, and assesses his impact on popular music

An exhilarating novel about baseball and the friendship of a poor boy and a rich boy who stick together to make an impossible dream come true.

The untold story of Willie Nelson and his sister, Bobbie, who, over the course of their lives together, supported each other through personal tragedies and triumphs and forged an unbreakable bond through their shared love of music 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 small Texas town. Their close relationship—which persists today—is the longest-lasting bond in both their lives. In alternating chapters, this heartfelt dual memoir weaves together both their stories as they experienced them side by side and apart. The Nelsons share powerful, emotional moments from growing up, playing music in public for the first time, and facing trials in adulthood, as Willie pursued songwriting and Bobbie faced a series of challenging relationships and a musical career that took off only when attitudes about women began to change in Texas. The memoir is Bobbie’s first book, and in it she candidly shares her life story in full for the first time. Her deeply affecting chapters delve into her personal relationships and life as a mother and as a musician with technical skills that even Willie admits surpass his own. In his poignant stories, Willie shares the depth of his bond with his sister, and how that bond carried him through his most troubled moments. Willie and Bobbie have supported each other through unthinkable personal heartbreak, and they’ve always shared in each other’s victories. Through dizzying highs and traumatic lows, spanning almost nine decades of life, Willie and Bobbie have always had each other’s back.Their story is an inspiring, lyrical statement of how family always finds the way.

Beautifully designed and featuring stunning black-and-white photographs, this moving book will appeal to fans of Crowns and to Christians of all denominations and colors who seek a deeper understanding of the meaning and the glories of their faith.David Ritz recently embraced Christianity, and Messengers is a tribute to the people who awakened his personal faith and to others, both famous and unknown, whose words—sometimes set to music—have inspired millions of believers. The gifted photographer Nicola Goode contributes glowing portraits of each of them.The messengers are an extraordinarily diverse group: women and men; ministers and musicians; singers and teachers; preachers known throughout the world and preachers known only in their neighborhoods. There are stories and reflections from Bishop Noel Jones (brother of Grace); Harlem’s own Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts; Rev. Peter J. Gomes of Harvard; gospel mega-stars Donnie McClurkin, Kirk Franklin, Marvin Winans, Smokey Norful, and Candi Staton; Christian life coach Dr. Arlene Churn; Dr. Mable John, a Los Angeles evangelist and former backup vocalist for Ray Charles; Chris Burge, a former Wall Street executive salesman who is saving souls in New York City and is also now a well known author; and a Washington, D.C., pastor who also runs a window-washing business. In voices joyful, clear, and strong, these mighty men and women of God convey messages of faith, love, and hope addressed directly to the heart.CONTRIBUTORS: Dr. Mable John—SATURATE THE HOUSE WITH PRAISE Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes—ENNOBLING, ENABLING, POWERFUL Smokie Norful—A TEACHABLE HEARTBishop Carolyn Tyler Guidry—I HAVE HEARD THE VOICE OF GOD AND I WILL ANSWER HIMPastor Jesse Andrus—JESUS IS ABOUT CHANGEDr. Arlene Churn—WALKING EPISTLESReverend Calvin Butts—CRY OUT TO HIM IN PAINReverend Elliott Greene—THE MYSTERY OF HISTORYCandi Staton—HE’S NO FARTHER THAN A THOUGHT AWAYPastor Reginald T. Johnson, Jr.—TURN, TURN, TURN Chris Burge—THE BEAUTIFUL BUSINESS OF DOING GOD’S WILLThe Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, Jr.—MY JOB IS TO PROCLAIM HIMPastor Willette A. Burgie—JESUS MEETS US WHEREVER WE AREPastor Marvin L. Winans—HE IS THE SONG Bishop Alice Pope—I AM A SERVANT Reverend Altagracia Perez—ENCOMPASSED IN TRANQUILITYBishop Noel Jones—GOD IS SETTING YOU UP: SITUATIONS FOR REVELATIONSReverend Georgia Hill Thompson—THE IRRESISTIBLE PULLKirk Whalum—SACRED FOUNTAIN OF CREATIVE BEAUTYReverend Anthony Trufant—TURN OUR EYES INTO EARSPastor Jackie McCullough—THE LOVER OF OUR SOUL, THE HONEY IN THE ROCKPastor Donnie McClurkin—DELIVERANCE AND RECONCILIATION Kirk Franklin—HEALED AND SEALED IN GRACE Bishop Kenneth Ulmer—BUILDING CHAMPIONS FOR DIVINE DEPLOYMENTPatrick Henderson—PRAISING GOD FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE, WORSHIPPING HIM FOR WHO HE IS“ . . . he who receives and welcomes and takes into his heart any messenger of mine receives me.” —John 13:20 (Amplified Bible)

Essay on the nature, meaning and pursuit of happiness. What is means to be happy and how to obtain happiness.

Vince Viola, a professional saxophonist and amateur bodybuilder, faces bewildering choices in his career and personal life

Law, music, and the mob collide as David Cross, a rebellious, music-loving attorney, struggles with his lawyer father and becomes involved with his ex-mobster grandfather and a cousin whose music company is threatened by their grandfather's old mob rival

Da infância em uma cidade industrial chinesa à consagração como um dos maiores pianistas do mundo. Lang Lang simboliza o grande fenômeno de popularização da música clássica no seu país natal, principalmente entre crianças e adolescentes. Sua autobiografia narra não só sua comovente e extraordinária jornada, como também propicia ao leitor uma visão sobre a nova China.

Three generations of passionate and driven women--Georgia, Chanel, and Marisa Faith--struggle to achieve show business fame, personal fortune, and romantic satisfaction

In 1945 soon after D-Day, Rhonda Silverstar, stripper and amateur sleuth, searches for the murderer of one of her backup girls, the Starlettes. By the author of Passion Flowers.

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. He was a regular session player at Chess Records. Willie Dixon was his mentor. He was a sideman in the bands of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. He and Junior Wells formed a band of their own. In the sixties, he became a recording star in his own right.When I Left Home tells Guy’s picaresque story in his own words, those of a storyteller who remembers everything, including blues masters in their prime and the exploding, evolving culture of music that happened all around him.Buddy Guy was born in 1936 in Lettsworth, Louisiana. He is considered among the best blues guitarists alive today. He lives in Chicago.

Marvin Gaye, born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. was an American soul and R&B singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, record producer and performer who gained international fame as an artist on the Motown label in the 1960s and 1970s. During the 1970s, Gaye would release several other notable albums, including Let's Get It On and I Want You, and had hits with singles such as "Let's Get It On", "Got to Give It Up", and, in the early 1980s, "Sexual Healing". By the time of his death in 1984 at the hands of his clergyman father, Gaye had become one of the most influential artists of the soul music era. This book talks about the artist his music, his hits the duets and has many rare pictures of the star early in his life and throughout his career.

From fourteen-year-old author Brayden Harrington, the young boy who electrified the nation when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2020, comes a fictional middle grade contemporary story about a boy named Jayson who stutters and the challenges he faces and the obstacles he must overcome as he campaigns for student-body president. 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 up for his friends, Jayson decides to run against Mack, the most popular boy at school and captain of the basketball team, for student-body president. But as the campaign heats up, will Jayson be able to face his fears of public speaking and win the election? This poignant middle grade debut reminds us all that nothing can hold us back when we’re standing up for what’s right.