David Ritz Bücher

"Elvis by the Presleys"ist ein faszinierendes Kleinod: Der mit zahlreichen privaten Fotos sowie Abbildungen persönlicher Erinnerungsstücke illustrierte Band lässt Graceland zu neuem Leben erwachen. Er gibt einen tiefen Einblick in das Leben dieses außergewöhnlichen Menschen, vor allem dann, wenn Elvis selbst seine Gefühle und Gedanken offenbart.§Graceland war der pulsierende Familiensitz: Die Küche war das Zentrum, im Garten wurde je nach Jahreszeit Football gespielt, gerodelt oder er wurde durch umhersausende Elektro-Caddies unsicher gemacht. Graceland lebte durch Elvis, und für ihn war es der einzige Ort auf der Welt, wo sich frei und glücklich fühlte.§Seine ehemalige Frau Priscilla Presley, ihre gemeinsame Tochter Lisa Marie, seine Cousine Patsy Presley Geranen, Priscillas Eltern und weitere Familienangehörige berichten einfühlsam und freimütig über den Menschen Elvis und würdigen zugleich einen der größten Entertainer.§Darüber hinaus ist es die Lebensgeschichte eines hoch begabten, doch häufig enttäuschten Künstlers. Es ist die unter die Haut gehende Story einer Liebe, der auch Trennung und Scheidung nichts von ihrer Intensität nahm. Erzählt wird sie, wie sie nur die Familie erzählen kann: mit Wärme und rückhaltloser Offenheit. Und sie lässt uns die Kraft seines musikalischen Vermächtnisses begreifen, das uns bis heute in den Bann zieht.

A memoir by Morris Day of The Time centering around his lifelong relationship and association with Prince

The most important and revealing book ever on Elvis Presley - by his wife and daughter Twenty seven years after his death, Elvis Presley remains one of the world's most beloved and iconic figures. There has been an impressive array of bestselling Elvis books over the years, but there has never been a book like this. Now, for the first time, Elvis, the man, husband father and artist, is remembered intimately and honestly by his ex wife Priscilla, daughter Lisa Marie and other close family members. Including deeply personal documents and previously unseen family photographs, this lavishly illustrated book will also feature new interviews with family and friends by celebrated Rolling Stone founder, David Dalton. From personal diary entries to unearthed artefacts, Elvis by the Presleys is set to become a publishing phenomenon and will come closer than any other book in revealing the private dreams and truths of the extraordinary and complex man, who became the king of Rock and Roll.

Sein Elternhaus ist arm, seine Kindheit freudlos, und sein Vater ein Despot. Doch Lang Lang hat ein außergewöhnliches Talent: Er spielt unvergleichlich gut Klavier. Dieses Talent führt ihn auf die Bühnen der Welt und ist das Ergebnis seiner innigen Liebe zur Musik. Mit zwei Jahren erhält er ein Piano und beginnt sofort zu spielen. Ein prägendes Erlebnis ist der Fernsehmoment, als er Tom und Jerry bei einem rasanten Klavierkonzert sieht, was seine Leidenschaft entfacht. Sein größter Wunsch ist es, ein großer Pianist zu werden. Stundenlang übt er am Klavier und während er die Werke der Klassiker spielt, entfalten sich die bunten Geschichten, die ihm in seiner Kindheit fehlen. Sein Vater setzt alles daran, ihn zum Weltstar zu machen, was Lang Langs Kindheit von Disziplin und harter Arbeit prägt. Die ständige Angst, die Familie durch eigenes Scheitern ins Unglück zu stürzen, begleitet ihn. Doch dank seines Talents und Fleißes perfektioniert er sein Spiel und wird mit neun Jahren am Pekinger Konservatorium aufgenommen, gewinnt nationale und internationale Wettbewerbe. Schließlich zieht er mit seinem Vater in die USA, wo ihm 1999 mit 17 Jahren der internationale Durchbruch gelingt. Eine einzigartige Karriere und eine Hommage an die Faszination der Musik.

"Etta tells it like it is. I related to every page. Great book!"--Ray Charles Etta James--brash, sassy, and uncannily gifted--has left a soul-sized footprint on modern music, from blues to R&B to jazz. As the Houston Chronicle puts it, her "expressive voice and exquisite dramatic timing can actually make you tremble." Rage to Survive captures that amazing voice. Etta tells riveting stories of her youth in Los Angeles--from being discovered at age five singing in her church choir (when celebrities like Lana Turner and Orson Welles would sneak in the back to listen to the girl genius) to why she hates encores (her father would drag her out of bed in the middle of the night to sing for his card-playing buddies) to her first hit record and her work with Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, and the great stars of the Golden Age of Soul. She tells of meeting the man she believes is her father--the legendary pool hustler Minnesota Fats--her recovery from the grip of drugs, her childhood dealing with a mother who worked on the streets, and her lifelong trouble with "bad men." To quote Liz Smith in Newsday: "Candid? Brutally honest? You don't know about candor and brutal honesty until you've read Etta's life story in her own rough, unvarnished, and humorously right-on words . . . any major movie studio would do itself a huge favor by turning this book into a sizzling, big-screen saga."

B. B. King has the blues running through his blood. Growing up in the rural poverty of the Mississippi Delta, King first experienced the blues at nine years old, when his mother passed away. The man of the house before the end of his first decade, he used this strife as a source of inspiration and launched one of the most celebrated musical careers in American history. King has led a remarkable life, and this riveting autobiography dramatizes his whirlwind adventures from the Memphis of the forties to the Moscow of the nineties with unflinching candor and sincerity. But most of all, B.B.'s story is the story of the blues—the evolution from country acoustic to urban electric, the birth and explosion of rock 'n' roll—and B.B.'s own long, but ultimately triumphant, struggle for crossover success, during which he remained unwaveringly true to the music of his heart.

Drawing from interviews conducted before Marvin Gaye's death, acclaimed music writer David Ritz has created a full-scale portrait of the brilliant but tormented artist. With a cast of characters that includes Diana Ross, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, and Stevie Wonder, this intimate biography is a definitive and enduring look at the man who embodied the very essence of the word soul.

Ray Charles (1930-2004) led one of the most extraordinary lives of any popular musician. In Brother Ray, he tells his story in an inimitable and unsparing voice, from the chronicle of his musical development to his heroin addiction to his tangled romantic life. Overcoming poverty, blindness, the loss of his parents, and the pervasive racism of the era, Ray Charles was acclaimed worldwide as a genius by the age of thirty-two. By combining the influences of gospel, jazz, blues, and country music, he invented, almost single-handedly, what became known as soul. And throughout a career spanning more than a half century, Ray Charles remained in complete control of his life and his music, allowing nobody to tell him what he could and couldn't do.As the Chicago Sun-Times put it, Brother Ray is "candid, explicit, sometimes embarrassing, often hilarious, always warm, touching and deeply human-just like his music."

A lighthearted comedy about the way a spiritual teacher tries to empower his followers, but they invest him with all the power. “… brilliant, wise, moving, and funny. Like,  really  funny. … Spiritual writing like this is rare. “ Shozen Jack Haubner, author of  Zen Confidential   Henry “Hank” Wilder, a divorced loner, is unsuccessfully trying to establish a new Zen center when he accidentally cures an ex-girlfriend’s recurring cancer with his touch and discovers—at least this is what people keep telling him—that he has healing powers. Suddenly the empty zendo is overcrowded with Zen students who also want to be touched and healed by Hank. At first he resists, but when he cures a local Mexican boy of a bad limp, his reputation takes off. A TV story on Hank’s healings goes viral. The Latino community shows up, bearing food and icons of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Hank befriends a Catholic priest and falls in love again. When his life gets totally out of hand, he escapes to Mexico on a spiritual odyssey and finds out who he really is.