New biographies on JAMES CARR and DENISE LASALLE

Hi!

Besides those two book reviews, also WENDY MOTEN tells about her new CD at

https://www.soulexpress.net/deep3_2020.htm

Best regards
Heikki

thanks Heikki


edafan

Thanks, heikki! Both books look like my cup of tea. Carr is such a fascinating figure; it's a shame the text portion of the book is so brief.

I want the Denise Lasalle book but I'll just stick to listening to my James Carr music.
Too much sadness in his story for me right now...

Heikki:

Thanks for the review of Denise's book. Goodness knows I will not be able to match the depth of your analysis, but just on my own general level, I found it to be pretty much what I expected with just a few surprises here and there.

For example, even though I CERTAINLY should have expected this, I guess I had never given any real thought to the fact that her family was dirt poor. I never imagined her as being born into royalty of course but maybe something somewhere in between.

I was a little saddened to read about her less than ideal relationship with her mother and the feeling that she was not really loved as a child. I believe that Denise was around 50 when her mother passed away, and therefore well into her career, so hopefully her mother came around to admire her and they patched things up.

I guess the biggest surprise was the confusion over her marriages. What woman doesn't remember how many times she has been married and to whom? But unless I missed something, she told the story as if her second husband was really her first one, and the co-writer had to correct that in his epilogue. But there seemed to be no mistaking the fact that Wolfe was the real love of her life.

I enjoyed her frankness about the other stars she met along the way, although I guess some of our die-hard Aretha fans will take offense at the idea of anything negative being said about her. But relax guys........all Denise said was that she was not overly friendly and that there was nothing warm about her handshake. She was QUITE complimentary of Aretha's music, as of course anyone would be.

Overall a very good book and since she was still able to participate right up until the final few months of her life, you wondered how she felt about her own mortality and if she had any inkling that the end was near, especially after the leg amputation. But it appears that she kept her spirits up and a good attitude till the end.

Thanks again Heikki and let's find someone willing to tackle that boxed set!!!!

Thank you "edafan", "sansradio" and "splanky."
And thank you David for your spot-on thoughts.

Best regards
Heikki

Refreshing this thread for Reese's convenience.