MotownSubdivision said:

NorthC said:

For a succesful music biography you need two things: 1. A famous artist. 2. People who like to read books. That's why there are so many books about Bob Dylan.

That's not necessarily so for any kind of biography, no matter who it is about. I've read a book about Donald Goines and I don't think he's mainstream known. Joh'Vonnie Jackson has an autobiography, and she's not even an entertainer. A book can be written about anybody. Go to an afrocentric bookstore and there's books about and written by all kinds of obscure folks.

NorthC said:

MotownSubdivision said:

A book on the year 1984 would make my day. Too much happened in music that year for there not to be a documented compilation for it. Books on other record labels (i.e. RCA, MCA, Arista, Geffen, etc.) would be kinda neat too. Those would be a great for people who want to read and learn more of the business side in the music industry but also those who want to go behind the scenes of a record label and hear the juicy tales of artists and their albums. [Edited 11/2/17 8:00am]

Good idea. There is a book about 1965, so why not about 1984? Both years had some pretty good music and it would show the difference in "zeitgeist" between the 60s and the 80s. (The "we" and the "me" decade...)

There's also a book on 1971 IIRC.

The "Greatest Year in Pop Music" should have its own book. Honestly, there's enough material for an encyclopedia. 1984 was a MASSIVE year.

Ronald Isley....or a book about the Isley Brothers

MickyDolenz said:

NorthC said:

Okay, you're right and I guess I didn't make myself clear: I meant that a book needs either one of those things, not both. George Clinton wrote his autobiography and he's not a mainstream artist, but there's enough P-Funk fans to make a book worthwile. That's why I made my Milli Vanilli comment. The story may be interesting, but who would want to read a book about two losers who couldn't sing?

Milli Vanilli still gets radio airplay and millions of people watch their videos on Youtube. I heard them on the radio a couple of days ago on the radio station that plays hits from the 1970s to the 1990s. The fact there's going to be a movie about them means that there is an audience who is interested. There's books about the Kardashians and they're mentioned in the media quite often. So there's an audience for just about anything. I don't know about other countries, but in the US there's a big audience for dirt, drama, & gossip and the story of Milli Vanilli has that. The popularity of TMZ, Perez Hilton, Wendy Williams, Lipstick Alley, etc. is proof of that.

thetimefan said:

NorthC said:

Milli Vanilli? You've GOT to be kidding! Why not Boney M? Or better yet, a biography of Frank Farian, subtitled "How to Make Stars Out of People Who Can't Sing". Seriously, the story of how TTD became Sananda Maitreya is of course interesting, but because he is out of the mainstream now, there is no market for a book about him. The same goes for the unsung soul singers: the "unsung" is exactly the problem.

I was watching the interview with Fab of Milli and found the story rather intriguing. Of course Bonney M and Frank Farian could be incorporated. The point I'm making are books about singers and groups that there's not a lot of material about and one about Milli Vanilli for example would be interesting because outside of the Behind the Music and Fabs interview not much is known about them. Same with Sananda who most in the mainstream aren't aware of his new name etc. As for the unsung singers it would be something northern soul/soul music connoisseurs would be interested in. Think niche books for niche audiences and that's what I was thinking. Maybe mini bios ala the Unsung series for groups too. A few more books I was thinking would be interesting DeBarge family TLC Mariah (last book was like in the late 90s) The OJays and the Leverts New Edition would be good but I think the BET bio covered it all or at least most of their story.

I know for a fact that Greg Williams of SWITCH wrote "his story" and memoir recently... not sure if it's for sale quite yet. Gotta hit him up about it.

If it ever came from any of the DEBARGE family, it'd be very inconsistent. They tend to change stories on their mood/whimsy. A talented bunch...but their story;s appeal is largely its sadness

Astrud Gilberto

Brand X (Phil Collins mentions the group in his autobiography, but said little about it)

Chicago (there's an autobiography by former drummer Danny Seraphine, that I've read. I haven't seen a book about the group itself though.)

MickyDolenz said:

Isley Brothers

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Amen to that!! The Isleys had chart hits from the late 50's right through to the new Millenium--I can't think of anyone else that did that!...It's about time somebody told their story.....

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Would like to see a memoir on the Brothers Johnson too.

MotownSubdivision said:

Would like to see a memoir on the Brothers Johnson too.

Me, too---in a 2016 interview, George Johnson mentioned that he was in the process of wrting one, but I haven't heard anything since then....

...

Definitely TTD/Sananda Maitreya and even better, I know he could do this himself, he comes across as a knowledge able and quite cyncial guy and it would be a good read (Like Grace Jones's which was everything we expected, vulgar, all over the place and absolutely hilarious)

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Boney M would be interesting, preferrably by one of the original members with talent like Liz Mitchell or Marcia Barrett (Who actually both did all the female vocals in the group), otherwise given they are most popular in Germany and Russia, expect a badly written fan bio with some atrocious English for good measure.

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One I would love to see is Lionel Richie/ Commodores, yes I know he is a bit cheesy, but this man is important and no one will deny he can sang yo! I am listening to this silky smooth brotha now and we all know he can talk, so his biography would be interesting - not salacious but I would love to know where "Hello" came from.

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And how about Lenny Kravitz, don't recall any books about him, we can hear about his mixed race upbringing (Jewish father, Black mother related to Al Roker), Lisa Bonet and howhe came up with songs like Heaven Help and Stand by your woman.

NorthC said:

thetimefan said:

There's a multitude of books about Elvis, The Beatles, Bob,MJ,The Stones,Tupac etc so what music biography/books would you like to see. For me Sananda/TTD The Escorts (R&B/Soul group) Milli Vanilli A book about the unsung soul singers and bands Donny Hathaway Minnie Riperton Linda Jones

Milli Vanilli? You've GOT to be kidding! Why not Boney M? Or better yet, a biography of Frank Farian, subtitled "How to Make Stars Out of People Who Can't Sing". Seriously, the story of how TTD became Sananda Maitreya is of course interesting, but because he is out of the mainstream now, there is no market for a book about him. The same goes for the unsung soul singers: the "unsung" is exactly the problem.

Milli Vanilli yeah, but don't ever say Boney M could not sing. Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett sang the shit out of those songs, those vocals were all over them, yes Frank sounded ridiculous and like Ron Jeremy on speed, but those fulsome, warm, Caribbean woman vocals - oh hell naw.

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Frank Farian and the Boney M thing was German, but Marcia and Liz were both British Jamaicans who spoke English as a first language and they showed it. the other big star they had in Germany was Precious Wilson (The voice behind Eruption).

New Birth

Fifth Dimension

Salt N Pepa

Styx

something about Wendy O Williams of the Plasmatics is long overdue...

MotownSubdivision said: