"You won't find a more fascinating rock bio. Ritz lays it out without flinching, sensationalizing or slowing down." - Village Voice
"Ritz is a scribe of remarkable insight and sensitivity." - The Nation
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FAITH IN TIME: THE JAZZ Experience OF JIMMY SCOTT (2002)
“There's no other story like this in American music. Only Jimmy Scott could have lived it and only David Ritz could have written it. A triumph!” - B.B. King
“In the eloquent wordage of 'Sweets' Edison, 'It don't get no excel than this.' Jimmy Scott has been the unique 'soul man' for over six decades. His experience parallels the best of American musical history.” - Quincy Jones
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RESPECT: THE LIFE OF ARETHA FRANKLIN (2014)
"Ritz�s
Publisher Description
The Life of Marvin Gaye: Divided Soul is the definitive biography of an enormously gifted and sensitive musician.
David Ritz presents his uniquely candid and intimate account of the tumultuous life of the Prince of Essence music, Marvin Gaye.
Assembling years of conversations and interviews from his existence as a close buddy and lyricist to the gifted Soul sensation, Ritz tells the Marvin Gaye story with fly-on-the-wall accuracy and detail. From his early years as an abused child in the slums of Washington DC, through his rise to the very peaks of the Motown phenomenon, his fall from grace and subsequent comeback, to his untimely death at the hands of his father, Marvin's story is the stuff of legends.
The cast of characters includes the Jacksons, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross and countless other icons of the world of soul music.
GENRE
Arts & Entertainment
Customer Reviews
R.I.P. Marvin Gaye
It gives a vivid insight of Marvin's views on existence and how people who knew Marvin viewed him
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Marvin Gaye's I Want You
Marvin Gaye sang like he lived in bed. He could croon, deliver a political commentary, and vocalize to you like you were the only other soul on this land. And in 1976 he gave us a style of his erotic imagination with I Want You. An album made in honor of his continuing love affair with Janis (Jan) Hunter, Gaye delivered excess and restraint to sound his desire. I Want You is an album that stands apart from Gaye's earlier collaborations with Diana Ross, Tammi Terrell, Mary Wells, and Kim Weston. Though not technically a duet, Gaye forges another kind of collaboration with Jan, the result of which is an album that provides an intimate portrait of an artist in treasure and lust.
Using interviews, visual art, poetry, criticism, and gossip, this book explores ecstasy, funk, sensation, and a host of other delicious and fleshy concerns that animate I Desire You. It does not attempt a strict historicization of the album as that would do it a disservice. Instead, this book seeks fidelity to the album by centering Gaye's fantasies, his engagement with Ernie Barnes' painting Sugar Shack, and sonic expression of desire for Jan.
MARVIN GAYE, MY BROTHER
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Frankie Gaye with F.E. Basten
Marvin Gaye's life and brilliant career were carve tragically short when he was shot and killed by his own father. For the first moment, his story is told in intimate detail by his brother and other members of his possess family. Photos.