New Stevie Wonder Book

[jobeterob]

Has anyone read it?

I am in the process of reading it.

Mark always emphasizes the sensational and knows what he has to do in order to sell a few books.

He says Lula was very difficult; difficult with Stevie, difficult with Motown ~ constant carping. And I suppose his worst suggestion is that Stevie's Dad sold Lula's sexual services; nice book in that respect.

He says Stevie got in trouble in concert because he'd go over his allotted time, especially on the reviews and the other artists didn't like it when he cut into their time.

Stevie was one of the "no hit" Motown artists..........like the Temptations and Supremes. Although he had Fingertips, he was basically hitless from then until Uptight.

And he says no one knows how much anything sold at Motown..........just Berry and the accountants knew; and of course that information is all gone; I few people might have ideas about what they saw but there is no verification of anything anymore.

[reese]

I read it earlier this year when it was first released. It was interesting enough, and it seemed that there was a lot of detail up through the late 80s or early 90s, but much less so for the years after. I'm not a big Stevie fan [[post the 60s), so I don't know enough about his career to know whether Ribowsky had inaccurate info, as there was in his Supremes book.

Re what Lula might have done for funds, I believe she revealed that herself in the authorized book BLIND FAITH by Dennis Love and Stacy Brown. However, after the book was published, I vaguely remember her recanting the story.

[smark21]

I recently read the book. It seems to provide a good overview of Stevie Wonder's career. The author is actually pretty good critiquing the music and how Motown and Gordy did business and how Motown began to lose touch in the late 60's. But like his Supremes book, this book needed a good fact check edit and copy edit as there are problems. Ribowsky is good at capturing the big picture, but has problems with some of the finite details. It's well worth reading with that caveat, and after reading the book, I finally decided to start checking out more of Stevie Wonder's music as I was first exposed to him coming up in the 80's and things like Ebony and Ivory and I Just Called to Say I Love You aren't exactly songs to make one a Stevie Wonder fan.

[jobeterob]

I noticed Ribowsky says Marvin Gaye was married to Gwen Gordy; and he strings so many phrases together using words even lawyers don't understand that the sentences become hard to understand. And I'm sure there is too much reliance on disgruntled former employees and bystanders. It makes me think again that several of us fans could write better books than these guys.

I notice the following:

- he says Lula was always running to Berry to complain about somebody

- that the Syreeta marriage was over as soon as it started because neither were interested and Stevie was "liasing" with all and sundry including Lois Reeves and a sister of Florence Ballard, unnamed

- Signed Sealed Delivered was Stevie's best selling single coming out of the 60's including For Once In My Life, Fingertips and Uptight

- Berry bought Stevie his first moog synthesizer for his 21st birthday

- Despite all the purported friends, associates, clingers............the Motown people at the Syreeta/Stevie wedding were Berry, Esther, and Gwen

- I also had a question for Ralph arising out of the book; he says that Barney Ales ran Motown after 1967; that Berry was gone by then and was either in LA or running the Supremes up and down the road and that Ales was calling the shots. I wonder if that was true??

[motown4ever]

I'll have to reserve the book at the library first and give it a read. Stevie Wonder like most of the artist at Motown have lived incredible lives in and out of the spotlight. Can't wait to read the biography.

[jobeterob]

I am glad to see that we have interested someone new in this book; I'm very surprised at the lack of interest; perhaps it is that fans are very tired of predictable Mark Ribowsky books.