| I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You: Aretha Franklin, Respect, and the Making of a Soul Music Masterpiece Contributor(s): Dobkin, Matt (Author) |
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ISBN: 0312318294 ISBN-13: 9780312318291 Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL OUR PRICE: $20.69 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2006 Annotation: "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, " Aretha Franklin's first album for Atlantic Records and famed producer Jerry Wexler, was a pop and soul music milestone that jump-started Franklin's languishing career. Almost overnight, Aretha became a top-selling recording artist and a cultural icon. Matt Dobkin has unearthed fascinating details about the recording session in Muscle Shoals, Alabama: about the volatile behavior of Aretha's manager/husband, Ted White; about Aretha's reaction to the lack of black musicians in the session; and about how tempers and alcohol almost derailed the session with only a track and half in the can. This book goes far beyond anything that's been written about "The Queen of Soul" or her music before. I NEVER LOVED A MAN THE WAY I LOVE YOU is the story of a great achievement and includes scores of fresh interviews, including Wexler, the session men from Muscle Shoals and Aretha's own musicians. It gives insight into a star more complex and determined than her modern diva image would seem to indicate. Aretha, a teenage mother and daughter of a commanding preacher father, rose above her circumstances and transformed them into art. She gave the Civil Rights movement, already well underway in 1967 when the album came out, a passionate call to arms. And with "Respect" she provided the burgeoning feminist movement with an enduring theme song. The first serious, non-biographical look at Aretha Franklin's work, I NEVER LOVED A MANTHE WAY I LOVE YOU will deepen even ardent fans' understanding of one of the great soul artists of our time, a direct descendant of Bessie Smith and Billie Holliday. "Effusive writing...about her sublime musicianship and the impact of her songs on feminism and the Civil Rights movement...opens an enlightening window on the creative process." --"Publishers Weekly" |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Music - Biography & Autobiography | Cultural, Ethnic & Regional - General - Biography & Autobiography | Women |
| Dewey: B |
| Physical Information: 0.9" H x 5.3" W x 8.4" (0.75 lbs) 288 pages |
| Themes: - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Sex & Gender - Feminine |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: I Never Loved a Man the Way I Loved You: Aretha Franklin, Respect, and the Making of a Soul Music Masterpiece presents the remarkable story of how The Queen of Soul created what Rolling Stone called "the greatest soul album ever made." The album she recorded that earned soul legend Aretha Franklin her first major hits after eleven previous efforts, I Never Loved A Man the Way I Loved You was a pop and soul music milestone. Apart from its status as a #1 hit record, the album also had a much wider cultural impact. By early 1967, when the album was released, the Civil Rights Movement was well underway; Aretha's music gave it its theme song. And the #1 Billboard pop chart single "Respect"--written by Otis Redding--not only won two Grammys for best R&B recording and best R&B solo female vocal performance, it became a passionate call to arms for the burgeoning feminist movement. Matt Dobkin has unearthed a wonderful story of the creation of an album that goes far beyond anything that's been written about Aretha before. With scores of interviews--including ones with Atlantic Records' famed producer Jerry Wexler, and the Muscle Shoals session musicians who recorded with Aretha--I Never Loved A Man the Way I Love You is the story of a great artistic achievement. It's also the story of a star who is both more complex and determined than her modern image as a diva indicates. |
Contributor Bio(s): Giovanni, Nikki: - Nikki Giovanni has written many books of poetry for children and adults. She is the author of Rosa, a Caldecott Honor book, Lincoln and Douglass, The Genie in the Jar, and Ego-tripping and Other Poems for Young People. Giovanni calls herself, "a Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English." She was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Lincoln Heights, an all-black suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. She studied at Fisk University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University. She published her first book of poetry, Black Feeling Black Talk, in 1968, and since then has become one of America's most widely read poets. Oprah Winfrey named her as one of her twenty-five "Living Legends." Her autobiography Gemini was a finalist for the National Book Award, and several of her books have received NAACP Image Awards. She has received some twenty-five honorary degrees, been named Woman of the Year by Mademoiselle Magazine, The Ladies Home Journal and Ebony, was the first recipient of the Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award, and has been awarded the Langston Hughes Medal for poetry. Nikki Giovanni lives in Christiansburg, Virginia, where she is a professor of English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute.Dobkin, Matt: - Matt Dobkin is the author of Getting Opera. He is the former classical music editor at Time Out New York, and his work has appeared in New York magazine, Bazaar, Out, and a variety of other publications. He lives in New York City. |