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On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
Showing 1 - 20 of 1280 items
By Thomas David Brothers. 2006
Music professor explores the city of jazz musician Louis Armstrong's youth, early-twentieth-century New Orleans, which he describes as divided by…
caste and color even among African Americans. Analyzes the way church music blended with blues and ragtime to create a unique sound. Recounts the influence of Jim Crow laws. 2006By D. Dexter Vizinau. 2004
The son of Margaret Vizinau, an African American woman born blind in Arkansas in 1927, describes growing up in San…
Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s. Relates how his single mother, a devout Christian, supported her sons by singing and playing the piano in church. Strong language. 2003By Studs Terkel. 2005
Pulitzer Prize-winning author offers more than forty interviews of musicians from his post-World War II Chicago radio talk show "The…
Wax Museum." Includes the insights of Marian Anderson, Ravi Shankar, Aaron Copland, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and others. 2005By Sharon Lawrence. 2005
Interviews with family, friends, and musicians about the life of guitarist/songwriter Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970). Traces Hendrix's rise from backup roles…
to success in Europe and the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. Covers Hendrix's drug and business problems and tragic death and the contest over his estate. Some strong language. 2005By Edmund Morris. 2005
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian chronicles the life of composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). Portrays the musician's struggle against "epic odds" including…
numerous medical problems (deafness, colitis, arthritis, cirrhosis) and loneliness. Also describes his genius for creating symphonies and sonatas. 2005By Joseph Lanza. 2007
Surveys the twentieth-century development of background music--a subdued, unobtrusive genre such as that used in elevators, hotels, and restaurants. Chronicles…
the history of the Muzak corporation from the 1920s and the parallel growth of easy-listening instrumentals, while discussing prominent musicians, various applications, and cultural prejudice. Includes discography. 2004By Margo Jefferson. 2006
Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for the New York Times pens an essay analyzing the complexity of pop musician Michael Jackson. Traces…
Jackson's curious transformations over time from child prodigy to accused criminal and studies the people and events that influenced him. Strong language. 2006Recounts Aretha Franklin's musical accomplishments and her struggles as a Detroit jazz singer. Describes the remarkable success of her 1967…
album and how she became the "queen of soul." Reconstructs the creative process during the recording studio sessions that led to Aretha's breakthrough performance. 2004By Etta James. 1998
Autobiography of African American native of Los Angeles, who began singing gospel at church in the 1940s at age five…
and developed into a blues, jazz, and soul singer. James recalls her unstable childhood, drug addiction, love affairs, and career with other notable musicians. Strong language. 1995By Dolly Parton. 2023
A beautiful celebration of Dolly Parton’s iconic sense of style through entertaining personal stories, interviews with friends and family, music,…
and archival interview and performance clips. In Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones, global superstar Dolly Parton shares, for the first time, the full story behind her lifelong passion for fashion, including how she developed her own, distinctly Dolly style, which has defied convention and endeared her to fans around the world. Featuring behind-the-scenes stories from Dolly Parton’s life and career, this audiobook spotlights her most unforgettable looks from the 1960s to now. The sky-high heels, famous wigs, bold makeup, eye-catching stage clothes—she shares them all. Along the way, Parton discusses memorable outfits from her past and the daring styles that continue to entertain and inspire today. Filled with candor, humor, and lots and lots of rhinestones, Behind the Seams: My Life in Rhinestones is a shining tribute to one of the most beloved musicians in history, a treasured keepsake for anyone who loves Dolly Parton, and an indispensable guide to forging your own path to beauty and confidence. This audio is narrated by the authors with contributions from many of Dolly’s lifelong fashion collaborators: Dolly Parton, Holly George-Warren, Rebecca Seaver, Allister Ann, Ann Roth, Art Streiber, Aurelia, Bobbe Joy, Cheryl Riddle, Debra McGuire, Fran Strine, Iisha Lemming, Jason Pirro, Jim Herrington, Randee St Nicholas, Riley Hanratty, Robert Behar, Stacia Lang, Stacie Huckeba, Steve Summers, Timothy White, and Vance NicholsBy Clyde E. B Bernhardt. 1986
African American musician's recollections of his jazz and blues career that began in the 1920s. Describes his American and European…
tours with such prominent entertainers as Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. Some strong language. 1986By Jimmy Guterman. 2005
Seven essays analyze the music of New Jersey rock musician Bruce Springsteen. Presents a song-by-song comparison of recordings and concert…
tours from the 1970s through 2004. Discusses band members, lovers and wives, and the commercial enterprises of the singer. 2005By James R Gaines. 2005
Describes the encounter between young Frederick the Great and the elderly kapellmeister Johann Sebastian Bach and examines Bach's masterful response…
in "A Musical Offering" to the warrior-king's compositional challenge. Combines the history of music and of eighteenth-century culture with biographies of these two notable figures of the era. 2005Provides a brief biography of Italian stringed-instrument-maker Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737). Recounts the history of five surviving violins and one cello…
from their creation among more than one thousand to modern ownership by such well-known musicians as Paganini, Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, and Yo-Yo Ma. 2004By Julia Blackburn. 2005
Biography of jazz singer Billie Holiday (1915-1959) based on some 150 interviews with colleagues, boyfriends, and acquaintances conducted in the…
1970s by Linda Kuehl and concluded later by Blackburn. Covers Holiday's life from her rough Baltimore childhood to New York fame. Explicit descriptions of sex, violence, and strong language. 2005By Ray Charles. 2004
Candid autobiography of Georgia-born Grammy-winning musician Ray Charles (1930-2004). Describes overcoming poverty, blindness, his parents' deaths, and addiction to succeed…
in performing his unique blend of blues, jazz, and country styles. Includes discography and Ritz's 2004 postscript, "The Last Days of Brother Ray." Descriptions of sex and strong language. 1978By Mitch Winehouse. 2012
" Le 23 juillet 2011, Amy Winehouse disparaissait tragiquement à l'âge de vingt-sept ans. Encensée par la critique et acclamée…
par des millions de fans à travers le monde, elle a vécu sous le feu des projecteurs, entre triomphes et tragédies, jusqu'à devenir une légende. Pour la première fois, son père et confident, Mitch Winehouse, nous dévoile la vision qu'il a d'elle : petite fille adorée, artiste superstar, combattante. À l'aide d'histoires personnelles et de souvenirs intimes, il brosse le portrait d'une fille aimante et espiègle, à la voix merveilleuse, bercée de jazz et de rêves de gloire, puis raconte son ascension fulgurante et les périodes plus sombres de lutte contre les addictions. Illustrant ses propos d'extraits jamais publiés de son journal intime et de photos de famille inédites, Mitch revient sur les événements les plus marquants de sa courte existence. Véritable livre hommage à une icône trop tôt disparue, ce témoignage unique offre un regard sincère et bouleversant sur la chanteuse la plus talentueuse de sa génération, par celui qui la connaissait le mieux. " -- 4e de couvBy Philippe Crocq. 2010
" John Lennon était un artiste unique dont la Japonaise Yoko 0no révéla la personnalité bicéphale. Elle le rencontra, star…
d'un groupe mondial, et n'aura de cesse de le transformer en un défenseur de toutes les injustices qu'elle pensait déceler dans le monde, particulièrement aux États-Unis, pays de la liberté qui était alors en guerre. Ils s'installèrent à New York et proclamèrent que " la guerre était finie pour ceux qui le voulaient ". Les Beatles deviendront un ex-groupe lorsque John décidera de les quitter et Yoko, tenue pour responsable de leur séparation détiendra le titre de " personnalité le plus mondialement détestée ". Ils vivront alors un amour fusionnel artistique, qui se manifestera à travers différentes créations : films d'avant-garde, expositions et bien sûr, enregistrements musicaux. " -- 4e de couvBy Louise Forestier. 2012
" De Louise Belhumeur, née à Shawinigan, élevée à Montréal et étudiante à l'École nationale de théâtre elle est devenue…
Louise Forestier, grande artiste ayant louvoyé toute sa vie entre chanson, théâtre, cinéma, radio et télévision. Dans son autobiographie qu'elle qualifie d'autoportrait, Louise Forestier se raconte avec générosité et franchise. Ses rencontres, ses triomphes et ses défaites ainsi que les moments déterminants de la vie d'une femme sensible et d'une artiste passionnée. Celle qui a connu le succès avec entre autres lOsstidcho, Demain matin, Montréal m'attend, Starmania, IXE-13, Les Ordres et son rôle dans Le Négociateur a su toujours se renouveler avec audace, humour, créativité et authenticité. Nous la suivons de son enfance, au sein d'une famille pas toujours facile, à ses amours tumultueuses, à son état de mère absente, de femme déterminée à vaincre la dépression, à celle qui a vécu des heures de gloire professionnelle nombreuses. " -- 4e de couvBy Peter J. Levinson. 2005
Biography of composer/arranger who began his career with the dance bands of the 1940s, including a stint with Tommy Dorsey's…
orchestra. Describes Riddle's personal and professional life, his success in rekindling fellow New Jerseyite Frank Sinatra's career, and his work with Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, and others. 2005