i dug ricks-nasty warts and all!

miles was cool but strangely dull

motley crue(whom i have NO records) was great

stings was also pretty intresting-especially how he was the epitome of geordie working class and then transformed into a pretentius twat-tho that 1st chapter was brilliant-realy drew me in

jonylawson said:

quincy jones

Quincy Jones (provided a good music history lesson)
Aretha Franklin (gave a very good history of gospel music stars, but not too much dirt on Aretha)
Patti Labelle (pretty detailed and straightforward)
Teddy Pendergrass (not all truthful, but intestering read and musical history of how Philly International was being run in the 70s and 80s. Not to mention the story about the Jacksons).
Berry Gordy (pretty honest)

Donjuandeblacko said:

you know i dont have a single quincy jones cd....

any recomendations?

jonylawson said:

all the stuff from the 70's

i can smell a thread!

jonylawson said:

If you want some good compilations to start off with, I suggest these:


If u r looking for complete albums. The Dude is required for any record/music collection. It is perfect from start to finish.


Here are some of my other favorite Q albums

That Phyllis Hyman book was cool.
Just finished reading Faith Evans book. Pretty good.

daPrettyman said:

The MOST accurate memories are the ones about the burger stands all over USA(seriously).

Otherwise, the bitch is senile as they come she mixes up infos, throws alot of shades in other female artists and generally the book was a big FLUFF, its a heartbreaker for any Aretha fan because it exposes how much of a shallow person she is,,,,that book is really one of the reasons why I BLOCK other artists' personalities and focus on their music instead.

Anyway, here're afew autobios that I enjoy(some are not very accurate but the reading process is def entertaining).






This WAS intended to be an autobio untill they fell out because of the lawsuit...


Def one of the most honest and rawest books I ever read about music artists.

I wanna check out those ones you posted Harle. Sometimes I find used copies.

Harlepolis said:

I didn't count the Biographies. The topic was "Autobiographies". Since you mentioned some, I have to say the one on Marvin Gaye by David Ritz is excellent. David spent a lot of time with Marvin chronicling his life. Very good insight.

I also would like to mention the Luther Vandross autobiography. That book is really good. I liked how the author presented it. He didn't get into the "gay" issue, but he lets the reader come to their own conclusion.

The Sam Cooke autobiography that came out in 96 is excellent also.

I read Chaka's and didn't really get into it. She did give a good history on her background and children, but overall, it was kinda boring to me.

Donna Summer's autobiography was also dull and boring. The best part about her books is how she describes writing some of her hits.

daPrettyman said:

Check the highlighted sentence, money

Forget all of the above, the best one is...

Harlepolis said:

noepie said:

Who is this guy? The cover and title make me want to pick it up.

daPrettyman said:

He was one of the head honchos at CBS records during the 70's and 80's.

noepie said:

I'll bet this is good. I will definitely be ordering this one. I love stories that focus on record execs.

daPrettyman said:

You won't be disapointed, I promise.

Harlepolis said:

HEY THANKS MAN-THIS IS WHY I STILL VISIIT THE ORG-oops why am i shouting?

so marvins book is cool?

i never knew CHAKA had a book out-any good peeps?

its a shame prince will never write a bok or if he did it be some watered down jehovah nonsense

man-imagine the tales p could relay!

daPrettyman said:

my friend-i shall buy THE DUDE on your rec! much appreciated

noepie said:

Walter Yetnikoff (Born 11 August 1933, Brooklyn, New York) is a former CBS Records/Sony Music executive.

Yetnikoff left his job in 1990 and has since gone on to write his memoirs, "Howling at the Moon" (published in 2004). During his career at CBS, he influenced the careers of Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Barbra Streisand and Clive Davis.[citation needed]

[edit]
Career

Yetnikoff was born in Brooklyn and graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After earning his law degree at Columbia University, he joined the Rosenman & Colin law firm, which represented CBS Records. He then joined the CBS Records law department and rose to become head of the department. When Clive Davis was sacked by CBS for financial impropriety, Walter was promoted to head CBS Records.

Renowned for his "colorful" personality and his abrasive/abusive management style[citation needed], Yetnikoff was a key protagonist of the 1990 book Hit Men: Powerbrokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business, Frederic Dannen's landmark exposé of the shady dealings by major American record labels in the 1970s and 1980s. The book focused on the record companies' controversial connections with "The Network", a loose grouping of so-called "Indies" (independent record promoters) who were, by the 1980s, being paid tens of millions of dollars annually by major record labels to promote new releases to American radio stations and who could reputedly make or break a new record.

In the book, Dannen recounted Yetnikoff's rise to power at CBS, his "war" with hated corporate rivalWarner Music Group, then owned by Warner Communications, it's head Steven J. Ross and his escalating conflict with CBS Records Deputy President Dick Asher -- who came to oppose the use of "Indie" promoters -- which culminated in Yetnikoff's controversial sacking of Asher in April 1983. According to Dannen, Yetnikoff strongly favoured the use of "Indies" and in the early 1980s he opposed a plan by the RIAA to investigate the use of "Indie" promoters after a series of NBC News reports revealed apparent links between prominent 'Indie' promoter Fred DiSipio, his then right hand man Joe Isgro, and members of the Gambino crime family, including notorious New York Mob boss John Gotti.

The book also examined Yetnikoff's intimate links with other major industry figures including music industry "Godfather" Morris Levy, prominent music industry lawyer Allen Grubman, Michael Jackson's one-time manager Frank Dileo and former artist manager Tommy Mottola, whom Yetnikoff appointed to a senior post at CBS Records after its sale to the Sony Corporation in 1988.

Yetnikoff renewed it's public feud with Ross in 1989 when Yetnikoff interferred in Sony's negotiation with Ross and Time Warner in signing Jon Peters and Peter Gruber to co-head Sony's newly acquired subsidiary Columbia Pictures (Now known as Sony Pictures Entertainment). At the time, Guber and Peters both had contracts with Time Warner's Warner Bros. unit. As a result, Sony's U.S. head Michael P. Schuloff, embarrassed by Yetinkoff's abusive behavior, quitely settled with Ross and Time Warner over Guber and Peters which both became co-head it's movie unit.


After leaving SONY Music in 1990, Yetnikoff put together an independent label Velvel Records which debuted in 1995. The label released many records including The Kinks catalog. It was sold to Koch Records in 1999 and Yetnikoff was no longer involved with the label. Subsequently he co-founded Commotion Records an independent label focusing on soundtrack CDs. His autobiography Howling at the Moon, cowritten with David Ritz, was published in 2004.

Yetnikoff is featured in the book Hit And Run about SONY's purchase of Columbia Pictures in 1990 and hiring, on Yetnikoff's recommendation, Peter Guber and Jon Peters to run the studio. Yetnikoff is also featured in the book The Operator, the biography about David Geffen. He is rumoured to be the inspiration for Walter Fox, the record label boss played by Rip Torn in the film One Trick Pony written and directed by Paul Simon.

daPrettyman said:

what story about the jacksons?

I really like the tina turner bio. made me want to get into buddhism(thought not her branch of buddhism)

jonylawson said:

he cant write...he barely finished high school

only read sting's broken music

Quincy Jones and Prince.

bboy87 said:

He tells the story of when the Jacksons were recording in Philly (I think they were working on their debut at the time). They all came over to his house to chill and shoot hoops. He described how weird Mike was. He said that all of the other guys were going playing balls and Mike was more interested in his crystal figurines that he had.

I haven't read the book in a while. HE went into more detail about the meeting, though.

LoDog said:

I think when Prince gets around to writing his autobiography, it will be the most fantastic, marvelous piece of fiction in the history of literature.

errant said: