Mostrando resultados por autor "Kevin S.W. Baxter" en Todas las categorías

Ry Cooder’s story is the sound of America meeting the world. From the streets of Santa Monica to studios in Havana, Bamako, and Hollywood, Cooder’s six-decade journey redefined what it means to be a musician. Known for his haunting slide guitar and unerring ear, he unearthed forgotten songs, revitalized lost traditions, and proved that music could be both historical document and living conversation. This definitive biography traces Cooder’s life from his 1947 Los Angeles childhood through the folk revival, session work with The Rolling Stones, and his groundbreaking solo albums that ...

From the heartland of Missouri to the tangled streets of Los Angeles, Gene Clark’s life traced the uneasy frontier between genius and isolation. As the principal songwriter for The Byrds and the author of “I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better,” he helped invent folk-rock, shaping the sound that defined an era. Yet Clark’s journey through fame, failure, and redemption tells a deeper story—one of artistic conviction and the cost of vision in an industry built on compromise. Drawing on archival research, studio records, and first-hand accounts, Gene Clark: The Byrd's Melancholy Poet ...

John Lee Hooker’s music didn’t just define the blues—it redrew the map of American rhythm. John Lee Hooker: Boogie’s Relentless Prophet traces the full arc of his life, from his 1917 birth near Clarksdale, Mississippi, to his rise as one of the most influential musicians in modern history. Grounded in archival research and eyewitness accounts, this biography reveals how a preacher’s son transformed hardship and motion into sound that never stopped moving. Through vivid scenes and precise chronology, the book follows Hooker’s migration from Delta fields to Detroit factories, ...

Born in the Mississippi Delta and raised in Detroit’s Brewster-Douglass projects, Mary Wilson rose from humble beginnings to become one of the defining voices of American popular music. As a founding member of The Supremes, Wilson helped shape the sound that carried Motown Records from local label to global phenomenon. Yet her story reaches far beyond the glitter of number-one hits—it is the chronicle of a woman who embodied grace under pressure, unity amid fame, and professionalism as an art form. Drawing on meticulous archival research, this definitive biography traces Wilson’s life...

From the Mississippi Delta to the Motown stage, David Ruffin: The Temptations’ Tormented Tenor traces the breathtaking rise and heart-wrenching fall of one of soul music’s most electrifying figures. Born into gospel poverty, Ruffin climbed from revival tents to the world’s biggest stages, his voice reshaping the emotional vocabulary of popular music. This definitive biography follows his life chronologically—from a childhood steeped in faith to his transformation as the gritty, magnetic centerpiece of The Temptations. It reveals the discipline behind his intensity, the artistic ...

Born in Kansas City in 1911, Big Joe Turner transformed the pulse of American music. From the smoky bars of Twelfth Street to Carnegie Hall and Atlantic Records, his thunderous voice carried the rhythm of the blues into the age of rock and roll. This definitive biography follows his life in full—his early gospel roots, his partnership with pianist Pete Johnson, and his explosive performances that bridged swing, jump blues, and the emerging language of modern popular sound. Drawing from archival interviews, recording notes, and eyewitness accounts, Big Joe Turner: Shouter of Early Rock ...

Levi Stubbs’s voice was more than music—it was the moral heartbeat of a generation. Born in Detroit and rising to fame as the commanding baritone of The Four Tops, Stubbs transformed simple love songs into moral testimonies. His story unfolds from postwar church choirs to global stages, tracing a life defined by loyalty, humility, and craftsmanship rather than celebrity. Through decades of cultural change, he remained the steady pulse of Motown’s conscience. This definitive biography brings readers inside the journey of a man who refused to separate fame from fellowship. From basement...

From the smoky clubs of Boston to the world’s largest festival stages, Susan Tedeschi: Blueswoman of Modern Rock charts the remarkable life of one of America’s most enduring and honest musicians. Drawing from decades of performance, collaboration, and reinvention, this definitive biography follows Tedeschi’s evolution from a Berklee-trained singer and guitarist to a Grammy-winning leader whose artistry reshaped modern roots music. Born in 1970 and raised in a culture of both academia and art, Tedeschi discovered early that her voice carried both history and hope. Her years on the New ...

Born McKinley Morganfield in the mud of Mississippi, Muddy Waters rose from sharecropper fields to electrify the world. His journey from the Delta to Chicago traced the great migration of a people and the birth of a genre. This book offers the first fully realized documentary biography of the man whose guitar and voice turned human struggle into modern art. Drawing from archival interviews, recording logs, festival transcripts, and field reports, it follows Muddy’s path from Alan Lomax’s 1941 field recordings through the Chess Records years, international tours, and late-life resurgence...

Florence Ballard’s story begins where gospel met grit—on Detroit’s west side, in a neighborhood alive with hymns and hardship. From her earliest church solos to her role as co-founder of The Supremes, Ballard’s voice carried the weight of a generation searching for light through sound. She was the cornerstone of Motown’s harmony, her contralto grounding a new American music that would circle the globe. This definitive biography follows her from the factory shadows of postwar Detroit to the neon brilliance of the Motown stage. Through archival research, press interviews, and studio...

Across five decades of rock history, few guitarists have pursued tone as relentlessly—or as fearlessly—as George Lynch. Tooth and Nail Strings tells his story from the ground up: a kid in Auburn, California chasing Hendrix on a battered Telecaster, a craftsman obsessed with wood grain and sustain, and a lifelong experimenter who turned precision into poetry. Drawing on exhaustive research, studio archives, and first-hand documentation, this biography follows Lynch from the smoky clubs of Los Angeles through his meteoric rise with Dokken, his reinvention with Lynch Mob, and his evolution...

Born Mary Christine Brockert in 1956 and rising from Venice, California, Teena Marie transformed from a self-taught prodigy into one of the most distinctive voices in American music. Teena Marie: Ivory Queen of Soul traces her extraordinary journey from local talent shows to the heart of Motown, capturing how a young girl with perfect pitch became the Ivory Queen of Soul. Drawing from archival research, press interviews, studio records, and eyewitness accounts, this definitive biography follows Teena through her decades-long evolution—her discovery by Motown producers, her creative ...

Born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr. in 1934 near West Memphis, Junior Wells rose from the fields of the Delta to become the electrifying voice and harmonica of Chicago’s postwar blues. His music carried the grit of sharecropper hardship and the vitality of city streets, blending gospel fervor with the metallic bite of electric amplification. By transforming the harmonica into an instrument of conversation and defiance, Wells redefined what it meant to make the blues speak. From his apprenticeship under Little Walter to his fiery partnership with Buddy Guy, Wells stood at the center of a ...

Martha Reeves’s journey from a church choir in Eufaula, Alabama, to the international stage of Motown Records is one of rhythm, faith, and endurance. This definitive biography traces her life in full measure—from her early gospel roots and rise with The Vandellas to her later years as mentor, public servant, and guardian of Detroit’s musical memory. Drawing from archival interviews, studio records, and eyewitness accounts, Martha Reeves: Motown’s Dancing Queen reveals the disciplined craft behind the joy. Readers follow Reeves as she transforms factory rhythms into soul anthems, ...

Born in the Deep South and forged in Detroit’s musical crucible, Eddie Kendricks embodied the sound of refinement at the heart of American soul. His falsetto—weightless yet unwavering—helped define The Temptations and transform Motown from a hit factory into an art form. Eddie Kendricks: The Temptations’ Silken Tenor traces his journey from Alabama church choirs to global stages, illuminating how discipline, elegance, and quiet conviction shaped both his voice and his era. Through exhaustive research drawn from archives, interviews, and session documentation, this biography ...

George Clinton’s story is the story of funk itself—an odyssey that begins in a Plainfield, New Jersey barbershop and explodes across five decades of American music. From his early days harmonizing doo-wop tunes to commanding the cosmic chaos of Parliament-Funkadelic, Clinton reinvented the boundaries of rhythm, race, and imagination. This definitive biography traces his life with unprecedented depth, grounded in archival detail and first-hand documentation. Across thirty richly detailed chapters, the narrative follows Clinton’s evolution from the teenage leader of The Parliaments ...

From the gospel pews of Prattville, Alabama, to the roaring studios of Stax and Muscle Shoals, Wilson Pickett: Wicked Soul Shouter traces the full, unflinching life of one of American music’s most commanding voices. Drawing on archival detail, interviews, and session notes, it presents the definitive portrait of a man whose shout changed the language of rhythm and soul. Across thirty chapters, the book moves through the decades of Pickett’s evolution—from his early church singing and Detroit street harmonies to the explosive breakthrough with “In the Midnight Hour.” Readers follow...

From Harlem’s vibrant gospel choirs to the shimmering stages of global fame, Luther Vandross: Velvet Voice of R&B traces the full, unflinching arc of one of music’s most disciplined and emotionally resonant artists. Drawing from decades of performances, studio sessions, and cultural milestones, this definitive biography unfolds the story of a man who transformed soul music into an architecture of feeling. Luther Vandross was not just a singer—he was an artisan of sound. Every note he recorded, every harmony he built, reflected an almost spiritual devotion to craft. This book charts ...

Harry Nilsson defied every rule of pop stardom. He never toured, rarely appeared on stage, and yet his voice became one of the most recognizable sounds of the 20th century. Everybody’s Talkin’: The Life and Music of Harry Nilsson traces the improbable journey of a self-taught songwriter from Brooklyn who transformed the recording studio into his personal stage—and reshaped the emotional vocabulary of modern pop. From early days working in Los Angeles banks while recording homemade demos at night, Nilsson’s path was built on persistence, curiosity, and audacity. His friendship with ...

Born in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1951, Tommy Bolin rose from Midwestern obscurity to become one of the most versatile and misunderstood guitarists of his generation. This definitive biography follows his journey from restless childhood curiosity to global acclaim with Zephyr, James Gang, Billy Cobham, and Deep Purple—capturing the creative fire that made him impossible to categorize and too original to contain. Drawing from archival interviews, press accounts, and firsthand recollections, the book reconstructs a life lived in pursuit of pure sound. Bolin’s story unfolds across smoky clubs, ...