|
Books > Arts & Architecture > Music > Composers & musicians
|
Buy Now
Bessie Smith - A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK (Paperback, Main)
Loot Price: R291
Discovery Miles 2 910
|
|
|
Bessie Smith - A RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK (Paperback, Main)
 (sign in to rate)
Loot Price R291
Discovery Miles 2 910
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
|
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK Bessie Smith: singer, icon, pioneer.
Scotland's National Poet Jackie Kay brings to life the tempestuous
story of the greatest blues singer who ever lived. 'A gem of a book
. . . beautiful.' BERNARDINE EVARISTO 'A wonderful writer on a
magnificent singer.' ROBERT WYATT 'Kay's book is the amplifier that
Smith's voice deserves.' SUNDAY TIMES 'The most vivid evocation of
Bessie Smith I have ever read.' IAN CARR, BBC MUSIC BESSIE SMITH
was born in Tennessee in 1894. Orphaned by the age of nine, she
sang on street corners before becoming a big name in travelling
shows. In 1923 she made her first recording for a new start-up
called Columbia Records. It sold 780,000 copies and made her a
star. Smith's life was notoriously difficult: she drank pints of
'bathtub gin', got into violent fist fights, spent huge sums of
money and had passionate love affairs with men and women. She once
single-handedly fought off a cohort of the Ku Klux Klan. As a young
black girl growing up in Glasgow, Jackie Kay found in Bessie
someone with whom she could identify and who she could idolise. In
this remarkable book Kay mixes biography, fiction, poetry and prose
to create an enthralling account of an extraordinary life.
'Biographies don't usually bring the subject to life again. This
one did. I finished the book then started it again immediately.'
PEGGY SEEGER 'What a life! What gulpable storytelling! Exactly the
kind of writing about music we need: personal, ardent, playfully
confrontational, questioning, undogmatic. A love song to a
complicated idol.' KATE MOLLESON 'Pure joy: one trailblazing woman
pays tribute to another. Jackie Kay finds the music in the short,
dazzling, capricious life of Bessie Smith.' HELEN LEWIS
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
You might also like..
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
