Download or read book Dream a Little Dream of Me written by Eddi Fiegel and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-10-08 with total page 543 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A heartbreaking, myth shattering biography . . . Fiegel's fine, all-encompassing tome restores much of the great woman's dignity' Mojo The greatest white female singer ever' is how Boy George described pop icon Cass Elliot, the sixties diva who was at the epicentre of US popular culture and music during the Californian hippy movement. Hailed as America's answer to the Beatles, the Mamas and the Papas' hits such as 'California Dreamin' and 'Monday Monday' became the soundtrack of a generation. Cass's uniquely emotive voice, charismatic wit and outsized multicoloured kaftans singled her out as a popstar who refused to conform to traditional female stereotypes. When she left the Mamas and the Papas, she immediately had a top ten hit with her debut single, 'Dream a Little Dream of Me' and became the queen on Los Angeles society. Her Beverly Hills villa was the scene of legenday parties, becoming the second home of stars such as Jack Nicholson and Grace Slick, but there was a darker side to her fame - after years of continuous dieting and drug addiction, she died mysteriously in London at the age of 33. Including interviews with Cass's friends and family, co-band members Michelle Phillips and Denny Doherty, and many of the famous names who knew her, this is both an insightful biography of an extraordinary singer, and a fascinating glimpse into free-living, free-loving ideals of the sixties as the optimism of the flower-child generation was crushed by the Vietnam War.
Download or read book My Mama Cass written by Owen Elliot-Kugell and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2024-05-07 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A long-awaited, myth-busting, and deeply affecting memoir by the daughter of legendary rock star “Mama” Cass Elliot To the rest of the world, Cass Elliot was a rock star; A charismatic, wisecracking singer from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted band, The Mamas & The Papas; A legend of Laurel Canyon, decked out in her custom-made Muumuus, glittering designer jewelry, blessed with a powerful, instantly identifiable singing voice which helped define the sound of the 1960s counterculture movement. But to Owen Elliot-Kugell, she was just Mom. In the nearly 50 years since Cass Elliot’s untimely death at the age of 32, rumors and myths have swirled about, shading nearly every aspect of her life. In her long-awaited memoir, Owen Elliot-Kugell shares the groundbreaking story of her mom as only a daughter can tell it. In My Mama, Cass, Owen pulls back the curtains of her mother’s life from the sold-out theaters to behind the closed doors of her infamous California abode. Born Ellen Naomi Cohen, the woman who was known to the world as Cass Elliot was decades ahead of her time: an independently minded, outspoken woman who broke through a male-dominated business, a forward-thinking feminist, and a single parent who embraced motherhood from the moment Owen entered the world. From the closely guarded secret of Owen’s paternity to Cass’s lifelong struggles with self-esteem and weight, to rumors surrounding her mother’s death, Owen illuminates the complex truths of her mother’s life, sharing interviews with the high-profile figures who orbited Cass, as well as never-before-heard tales of her mother and this legendary period of American history. Featuring intimate family and archival photos as well as interviews and memories from famous friends, fans, and colleagues who loved and respected Cass, this book is both a love story and a mystery, a tale of self-discovery and a daughter’s devotion. At its core, My Mama, Cass is a beautifully crafted testament befitting of Cass Elliot’s enduring cultural impact and legacy, written by the person who knew and loved her best.
Download or read book California Dreamin written by Pénélope Bagieu and published by First Second. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: California Dreamin' from Pénélope Bagieu depicts Mama Cass as you've never known her, in this poignant graphic novel about the remarkable vocalist who rocketed The Mamas & the Papas to stardom. Before she was the legendary Mama Cass of the folk group The Mamas and the Papas, Ellen Cohen was a teen girl from Baltimore with an incredible voice, incredible confidence, and incredible dreams. She dreamed of being not just a singer but a star. Not just a star—a superstar. So, at the age of nineteen, at the dawn of the sixties, Ellen left her hometown and became Cass Elliot. At her size, Cass was never going to be the kind of girl that record producers wanted on album covers. But she found an unlikely group of co-conspirators, and in their short time together this bizarre and dysfunctional band recorded some of the most memorable songs of their era. Through the whirlwind of drugs, war, love, and music, Cass struggled to keep sight of her dreams, of who she loved, and—most importantly—who she was.
Download or read book Go Where You Wanna Go written by Matthew Greenwald and published by Cooper Square Press. This book was released on 2002-04-30 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lavishly illustrated and cinematic in scope, Go Where You Wanna Go is told from the points of view of not only the group members, but also from those of their friends, musical collegues, business associates, critics, and fans.
Download or read book Confessions of a Serial Songwriter written by Shelly Peiken and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CONFESSIONS OF A SERIAL SONGWRITER
Download or read book California Dreamin written by Michelle Phillips and published by Grand Central Pub. This book was released on 1987-05-01 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michelle Phillips evokes the heady atmosphere of creativity and meteoric success, and the destructive, drug-filled lifestyle that characterized the West Coast music scene in the sixties
Download or read book Girls Like Us written by Sheila Weller and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-04-08 with total page 706 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America’s most important musical artists—Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon—charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time. Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct. Carole King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Joni Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Carly Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now mythic sixties generation—female version—but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché. The history of the women of that generation has never been written—until now, through their resonant lives and emblematic songs. Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women's intimates, who are speaking in these pages for the first time, this alternating biography reads like a novel—except it’s all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information. Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them—confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.
Download or read book I Call My Grandpa Papa written by Ashley Wolff and published by Random House Digital, Inc.. This book was released on 2009 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book celebrates the special names that children call their grandparents (some culturally based, some wonderfully made up) and features the unique activities they do together. Full color.
Download or read book Dust Grooves written by Eilon Paz and published by Ten Speed Press. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A photographic look into the world of vinyl record collectors—including Questlove—in the most intimate of environments—their record rooms. Compelling photographic essays from photographer Eilon Paz are paired with in-depth and insightful interviews to illustrate what motivates these collectors to keep digging for more records. The reader gets an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions, including Gilles Peterson and King Britt, as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts. Driven by his love for vinyl records, Paz takes us on a five-year journey unearthing the very soul of the vinyl community.
Download or read book I m Glad My Mom Died written by Jennette McCurdy and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-08-09 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A memoir by American former actress and singer Jennette McCurdy about her career as a child actress and her difficult relationship with her abusive mother who died in 2013
Download or read book A Life in Focus written by Graham Nash and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Music legend, photographer, and artist Graham Nash reflects on more than fifty years of an extraordinary life in this extensive collection of personal photographs, paintings, and mixed-media artwork. In this curated collection of art and photography from his personal archive, Graham Nash’s life as a musician and artist unfolds in vivid detail. Best known as a founding member of the Hollies and supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash, Graham developed a love of photography from the time he was a child. Inspired by his father, Nash began taking pictures at 10 years old and would go on to take his camera with him ever since—on tour with the Hollies and later CSN and CSNY, among friends at Laurel Canyon and abroad. Many of his photographs depict intimate moments with family and friends, among them Joni Mitchell, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young. This volume presents these images alongside Nash’s own reflections, telling the story behind the pictures and giving insight into the life of one of the greatest musicians of all time.
Download or read book Rock n Roll Myths written by Gary Graff and published by Voyageur Press (MN). This book was released on 2012-06-12 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's perhaps the relative modernity of rock 'n' roll that makes the genre a minefield of myths and legends accepted as truth. History hasn't had time to dissect the bunk. Until now. Discover the real stories behind rock's biggest crocks, how they came to be but why they have persisted. Did Cass Elliott really asphyxiate herself with a ham sandwich? Did the Beatles spark a spliff in Buckingham? Did Willie Nelson do the same in the White House? Did Keith Richards get a complete "oil change" at a Swiss clinic in 1973 to pass a drug test necessary to embark on an American tour with the Stones? Then there's the freaky (did Michael Jackson own the remains of the Elephant Man?), the quasi-medical (Rod Stewart and that stomach pump?), the culinary (did Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne really do all those things to bats, chickens, etc. onstage?), and the apocryphal (did Robert Johnson sell his soul to the Prince of Darkness in exchange for mastery of the blues?). In all, more than 50 enduring lies are examined, explained, and debunked.
Download or read book High on Arrival written by Mackenzie Phillips and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-08-04 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not long before her fiftieth birthday,Mackenzie Phillips walked into Los Angeles International Airport. She was on her way to a reunion for One Day at a Time, the hugely popular 70s sitcom on which she once starred as the lovable rebel Julie Cooper. Within minutes of entering the security checkpoint, Mackenzie was in handcuffs, arrested for possession of cocaine and heroin. Born into rock and roll royalty, flying in Learjets to the Virgin Islands at five, making pot brownies with her father's friends at eleven, Mackenzie grew up in an all-access kingdom of hippie freedom and heroin cool. It was a kingdom over which her father, the legendary John Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas, presided, often in absentia, as a spellbinding, visionary phantom. When Mackenzie was a teenager, Hollywood and the world took notice of the charming, talented, precocious child actor after her star-making turn in American Graffiti. As a young woman she joinedthe nonstop party in the hedonistic pleasure dome her father created for himself and his fellow revelers, and a rapt TV audience watched as Julie Cooper wasted away before their eyes. By the time Mackenzie discovered how deep and dark her father's trip was going, it was too late. And as an adult, she has paid dearly for a lifetime of excess, working tirelessly to reconcile a wonderful, terrible past in which she succumbed to the power of addiction and the pull of her magnetic father. As her astounding, outrageous, and often tender life story unfolds, the actor-musician-mother shares her lifelong battle with personal demons and near-fatal addictions. She overcomes seemingly impossible obstacles again and again and journeys toward redemption and peace. By exposing the shadows and secrets of the past to the light of day, the star who turned up High on Arrivalhas finally come back down to earth -- to stay.
Download or read book The World According to Fannie Davis written by Bridgett M. Davis and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2019-01-29 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As seen on the Today Show: This true story of an unforgettable mother, her devoted daughter, and their life in the Detroit numbers of the 1960s and 1970s highlights "the outstanding humanity of black America" (James McBride). In 1958, the very same year that an unknown songwriter named Berry Gordy borrowed $800 to found Motown Records, a pretty young mother from Nashville, Tennessee, borrowed $100 from her brother to run a numbers racket out of her home. That woman was Fannie Davis, Bridgett M. Davis's mother. Part bookie, part banker, mother, wife, and granddaughter of slaves, Fannie ran her numbers business for thirty-four years, doing what it took to survive in a legitimate business that just happened to be illegal. She created a loving, joyful home, sent her children to the best schools, bought them the best clothes, mothered them to the highest standard, and when the tragedy of urban life struck, soldiered on with her stated belief: "Dying is easy. Living takes guts." A daughter's moving homage to an extraordinary parent, The World According to Fannie Davis is also the suspenseful, unforgettable story about the lengths to which a mother will go to "make a way out of no way" and provide a prosperous life for her family -- and how those sacrifices resonate over time.
Download or read book It s a Long Story written by Willie Nelson and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2015-05-05 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most beloved popular musicians of our time tells the story of his extraordinary life. This is Willie Nelson's complete, unvarnished story, told in his voice and leaving no significant moment or experience untold, from Texas, Nashville, Hawaii, and beyond. Having recently turned 80, Nelson is ready to shine a light on all aspects of his life, including his drive to write music, the women in his life, his collaborations, and his biggest lows and highs--from his bankruptcy to the founding of Farm Aid. An American icon who still tours constantly and headlines music festivals, Willie Nelson and his music have found their way into the hearts and minds of fans the world over, winning ten Grammys and receiving Kennedy Center Honors. Now it's time to hear the last word about his life -- from the man himself. "Every page radiates authenticity." --Washington Post
Download or read book Lies My Mother Told Me written by Melissa Rivers and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-04-12 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you think Joan Rivers said funny, outrageous, and ridiculous things ONSTAGE, wait ’til you read the funny, outrageous, and ridiculous things she said OFFSTAGE…things that will make you laugh out loud…and keep Melissa in therapy for the foreseeable future. The only thing my mother loved more than making people laugh was lying…or as she’d say, “embellishing.” Her motto was: “Why let the truth ruin a good story?” This book contains some of those stories. ***************** “When Joan told a story, the truth disappeared faster than I did.” — Jimmy Hoffa “If you thought Dante’s Inferno was hot, read Lies My Mother Told Me; it’s a five-alarmer.” — Dante’s second wife, Allie “Twelve of my twenty-six personalities loved this book.” — Sybil “The words on the page absolutely crackle and spark; I burned my fingers reading it!” — Annie Sullivan “The Bible may be the good book, but Lies My Mother Told Me is way funnier.” — Matthew 2:14 The Jets. 7 “Lies My Mother Told Me is the feel-good book of 2022.” — Torquemada “All’s not well that ends well. I’ve had massages with happier endings.” — Wm. Shakespeare “Melissa, I don’t care what your mother said in this book, I LOVE your bangs.” — Mamie Eisenhower “Lies My Mother Told Me is so funny even those ‘woke’ m***********s will laugh.” — Lenny Bruce
Download or read book American Legends written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes Elliot's own quotes about her life and career *Includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "If you truly dig what you are doing, if you lay it out that way, nobody can not respond. That's what rock and roll is; it's relentless." - Mama Cass A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. In the 1950s, popular music in the United States, Britain, and Europe jumped cultural tracks and went off in all directions, each form enjoying its own fan base, and its own way of overlapping with fellow genres. From the straight-laced life of the American 1950s, the social revolution that led to the unfettered 1960s spurred the accelerating development of rock music, an enormous industry of folk artists and hybrid masterpieces that could previously only have survived in a cell of "specialty" interest, along with an explosion of varying jazz styles. The African-American musical community massaged the traditional blues genre into countless personalities after discovering that it fit with almost every type of musical expression available, and even classical music splintered into a myriad of new interests, leaving the traditional viewpoint of the 19th and early 20th centuries behind. In short, musical exploration went off into a frenzy of change, and there were as many avenues of musical performance to join as there were distinct cultural groups to sustain them. On top of this fragmenting of styles, in which newly emerging social groups could adopt a distinctly tailored version for themselves, the era of the flower child dawned in California. This phenomenon increased both the options for original musical creations, and exponentially, the possibilities for melding the legion of styles, recently-formed social beliefs and behaviors, a new visual presentation and celebration of the self, and the celebration of traditionally revered melody and harmony. Such an age could not have served as a better societal laboratory in which to produce an enigmatic, talent-laden, highly intelligent, vocally-gifted, and contrasting artist to previous norms, such as Cass Elliot, endearingly known to millions as Mama Cass. Primarily hailed as a member of the legendary group, The Mamas & the Papas, Cass would lead other bands as the only female singer. Her fame there does not go unrecognized because these bands were of inferior quality. To the contrary, her work with the Triumvirate, the Big Three, and the Mugwumps, was exceptional. However, the blossoming hippie movement required an iconic hippie band, and The Mamas & the Papas were perfectly designed to serve as the prototype. Part of this lay in visual perception, as America was not yet prepared to adore a lead female singer who did not come from either a sanitized version of the Madison Avenue model, or the from the nature-fresh, abstract hippie image. Mixing the hippie beauty and cinematic, boardwalk look of Michelle Phillips, The Mamas and Papas soprano and former model, with the "earth mother" appearance and dark timbre of contralto Cass Elliot, not only made Elliot's participation possible through a successful contrast, but enabled the group to assemble its distinct, accurate, and rich vocal personality. Once the band's breakup occurred only a few short years later, Cass Elliot was free to move at will in the soloist's world, and appeared on every important talk show, worked with dozens of famous artists from different generations, and compiled a discography considerably larger than is generally known.
