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“There is plenty about hanky-panky and substance abuse in “Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown’s First Superstar”; apparently Wells never ran into a man or a narcotic (or a highball or a cigarette) she didn’t like. And though Peter Benjaminson reports on all that, he also tells us where the music came from and how it went away, doing justice to his fallen angel of a pop star.” - Wall Street Journal; There was Something About Mary ” Twenty years after her death, singer Mary Wells’s unmistakable voice still has the power to haunt and heal her fans. Just listen to her classic “Two Lovers.” In “Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown’s First Superstar (Chicago Review Press,$26.95), author Peter Benjaminson chisels away at the walls that the singer built up over her career to protect herself and preserve her image.” - Essence Magazine “Until now, Wells’ story has been told in bits and pieces in various books (including, full disclosure, my 1998 book “Women of Motown”) and in a 2011 episode of TV One’s celebrity biography show “Unsung,” but Benjaminson’s biography is the first full-length book about Motown’s early superstar, the female singer who, had she stayed at Motown, arguably might have “been” Diana Ross.” - Susan Whitall, “The Rise and Fall of Mary Wells”, Detroit News
“I thought I knew all there was to know about MARY WELLS. I was wrong. Here, PETER BENJAMINSON tells Mary’s story with great love and compassion in a way that informs even the so-called experts. I love Peter’s work, and am happy to see Mary Wells finally be given the recognition she so deserves.” — J. RANDY TARABORRELLI, author of “MICHAEL JACKSON,” “AFTER CAMELOT,” and “THE SECRET LIFE OF MARILYN MONROE.” In 1960, a 17-year-old Mary Wells approached Motown founder Berry Gordy at a Detroit nightclub with an original song and enough nerve to sing it for him on the spot. In the years that followed, Wells would become Motown’s first solo superstar. While the Supremes were still picking up jobs as backup singers, Wells’s signature hit, “My Guy,” was topping the charts — even briefly surpassing the Beatles — becoming one of the first Motown songs to cross the color line into mainstream popularity. However, the same spirited self-determination that brought Wells fame would also inspire her to leave Motown at age 21 — and spend the rest of her life fighting to get back to the top.
Growing up in a rundown Detroit neighborhood, Wells went on to make a string of hit singles under Motown — including “Two Lovers” and the Grammy-nominated “You Beat Me to the Punch” —composed mainly by Smokey Robinson. At the peak of her fame, she recorded a duet with rising star Marvin Gaye and toured in the UK with the Beatles,who became captivated by the soulful young singer. After merely fours years, however, Wells had come to consider herself hard-done by the company that had plucked her from obscurity. In a move that would reveal for the first time that all was not sweetness and light at America’s first major black-owned music company, Wells broke her contract and left Motown. Even without Motown backing her, Wells had a ferocious belief in her own talent, and she never stopped performing. “Mary Wells” tells of her life on the road as “Queen of the Oldies,” etching out a living on her voice alone,rather than on records or royalties. Having interviewed Wells’s friends, lovers and husbands, author Peter Benjaminson also shares the never-before-revealed details of the violence in her life, her abuse of drugs and alcohol and her romantic entanglements with several singers and songwriters, including two of the well-known Womack brothers. At the end of her life, Wells fell victim to throat cancer and spent her last few months testifying before the US Congress about the need to continue funding anti-cancer research. Mary Wells helped define Motown’s emerging sound in the 1960s, preparing the stage for many female Motown vocalists. In “Mary Wells,” the first complete account of the singer’s life, Peter Benjaminson reintroduces Wells in all her glamour. Complete with never-before-revealed details about the sex, violence, and drugs in her life, this biography reveals the incredibly turbulent life of Motown artist Mary Wells. Based in part on four hours of previously unreleased and unpublicized deathbed interviews with Wells, this account delves deeply into her rapid rise and long fall as a recording artist, her spectacular romantic and family life, the violent incidents in which she was a participant, and her abuse of drugs. From tumultuous affairs, including one with R&B superstar Jackie Wilson, to a courageous battle with throat cancer that climaxed in her gutsiest performance, this history draws upon years of interviews with Wells’s friends, lovers, and husband to tell the whole story of a woman whose songs crossed the color line and whose voice captivated the Beatles. |
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| Posted in: African-American History, Author signings, Book Reviews, Detroit & Michigan, Music | No Comments » |
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“At the Dark End of the Street is one of those rare studies that makes a well-known story seem startlingly new. Anyone who thinks he knows the history of the modern civil rights movement needs to read this terrifying, illuminating book.” – Kevin Boyle, author of “Arc of Justice” Books will be available for purchase at the event. If you have any questions regarding this event, please call Book Beat (248) 968-1190. |
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| Posted in: African-American History, Author signings, Book Signings | No Comments » |
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“My mother told me, if you call yourself ‘Little’ Stevie Wonder you’d better be as good as Little Willie John.” – Stevie Wonder “Little Willie John was a soul singer before anyone thought to call it that.” – James Brown On Tues., July 12th at 7pm, Book Beat will host an event with author and Detroit News columnist Susan Whitall along with Kevin and Keith John (children of Little Willie John) in memory and celebration of one of Detroit’s greatest unsung musical heroes, Little Willie John, creator of such timeless classics as “Fever,” “Need Your Love So Bad,” and “Grits ain’t Groceries.” One of the first singers to successfully meld gospel with rhythm and blues into what eventually became known as soul music, Willie was primed to become a breakout pop star when a tragic incident led to his imprisonment and suspicious death at the age of 30. “Fever: Little Willie John’s Fast Life, Mysterious Death and the Birth of Soul” is the first authorized biography to consider the life of the influential singer and the circumstances surrounding his untimely death. Author Susan Whitall will be joined by John’s two sons, Keith and Kevin John, for a rare presentation in memory of this brilliant, and electrifying singer. Link to Detroit News article about Willie’s life and career here Excerpt from “Fever” describing Willie on stage here Our next door neighbor Street Corner Music will be stocking some of Little Willie John’s music. Please don’t miss this exciting presentation!
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| Posted in: African-American History, Author signings, Detroit & Michigan, Music, New Arrivals | 1 Comment » |
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Danielle McGuire is a writer and Assistant Professor in the History Department at Wayne State University. Since receiving her PhD from Rutgers in 2007, she has won numerous teaching and research awards. Her dissertation on sexualized racial violence and the African American freedom struggle received the 2008 Lerner Scott Prize for best dissertation in women’s history. The Book Beat will be selling her book at the event, she will be speaking and autographing. This event is free and open to the public. The Oak Park Public Library is located @ Oak Park Public Library 14200 Oak Park Boulevard, Oak Park, MI 48237 (248) 691-7480 |
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Book Beat will be selling books for this event. Please contact Book Beat (248) 968-1190 if you have any questions regarding this event or you would like to reserve a copy to be signed. “In the nineteenth century, when much of the nation was solidifying racial discrimination and barriers between the races and to achievement for former slaves, the small town of Covert, Michigan, was embarking on a bold social order–equality among the races. Historian Cox details the founding families–black and white–who established Covert in 1860 as a mixed-race community that defied the social conventions of the time, electing blacks to powerful political positions and providing a haven for economic development for achievers of all races. Drawing on historical documents from newspaper accounts to personal diaries and town records, Cox portrays the determined individuals who helped one another in hard times, built schools for all to attend, encouraged church membership for all, and in myriad ways took a different path than that of a nation in the grip of Jim Crow and lynchings.” -ALA review |
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| Posted in: African-American History, Author signings, Detroit & Michigan | No Comments » |
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Chris Tysh Book Signing Sun. Feb 6th
“The shining star of Night Scales, though, is author Chris Tysh. It was Tysh’s own mother who survived the Holocaust by passing for Catholic and being exiled to Paris, where her daughter was raised. The author’s poetic meditation not only confronts survival in a visceral sense, but also the emotional implications of having to survive, weighing its value and its consequences in a manner that hasn’t been reached since Elie Wiesel’s harrowing recollection. Through a series of jarring poetic scenes, Tysh comments on the weight that gets passed on to the family who made such radical sacrifices, showing us that though scars fade, they span generations and never really disappear.” -Metro Times Review of Night Scales Chris Tysh has been on the faculty of the English department at Wayne State University, Detroit since 1989, where she teaches creative writing and women’s studies. She has authored several poetry collections and completed a full screenplay based on a novel of Georges Bataille. Her books include Secrets of Elegance, Porn?, Coat of Arms, In the Name, Continuity Girl and Cleavage. Recently, her play, Night Scales, A Fable for Klara K, was produced at the Wayne State University Studio Theatre under the direction of Aku Kadogo. She has given numerous readings, both here and abroad. She is a recipient of a 2003 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and a 2010 Kresge Artist Fellowship. Books will be available for purchase at the event. Book Beat is located at 26010 Greenfield Rd. Oak Park, MI 48237. Please contact us (248) 968-1190 if you have any questions or would like to reserve a book for this event. Author Anna-Lisa Cox at Southfield Library Thurs., Feb 10th
Book Beat will be selling books for this event. Please contact Book Beat (248) 968-1190 if you have any questions regarding this event or you would like to reserve a copy to be signed. “In the nineteenth century, when much of the nation was solidifying racial discrimination and barriers between the races and to achievement for former slaves, the small town of Covert, Michigan, was embarking on a bold social order–equality among the races. Historian Cox details the founding families–black and white–who established Covert in 1860 as a mixed-race community that defied the social conventions of the time, electing blacks to powerful political positions and providing a haven for economic development for achievers of all races. Drawing on historical documents from newspaper accounts to personal diaries and town records, Cox portrays the determined individuals who helped one another in hard times, built schools for all to attend, encouraged church membership for all, and in myriad ways took a different path than that of a nation in the grip of Jim Crow and lynchings.” -ALA review Signed Copies of Amos Mcgee back in stock!We’re happy to have signed copies of this year’s Caldecott-winning title “Amos McGee Has A Sick Day” back in stock. They are signed by both Illustrator Erin E. Stead and Author Philip C. Stead. Book Beat is located at 26010 Greenfield Rd., Oak Park, MI 48237. Please call us at (248) 968-1190 if you would like to reserve a copy or have any questions. 2011 ALA Award Winners now in stock!Congratulations t Newberry and Caldecott Award-winners- as well as Honor titles- are now in stock, including author Clare Vanderpool’s Newberry award-winning debut novel, Moon Over Manifest. Special congratulations to Michigan illustrator Erin E. Stead and her husband, author Philip C. Stead, on their 2011 Caldecott Award-winning book A Sick Day for Amos Mcgee. Some of you may recall meeting Philip and Erin in 2009 when we hosted a signing at the Oak Park Public Library for Philip’s first book Creamed Tuna Fish & Peas on Toast. We are very happy for them and look forward to their future efforts. Reading Group Selection for February
Copies of The Tanners are now in stock at Book Beat and are discounted 15%. “A clairvoyant of the small” W. G. Sebald calls Robert Walser, one of his favorite writers in the world, in his acutely beautiful, personal, and long introduction, studded with his signature use of photographs. “The incredible shrinking writer is a major twentieth-century prose artist who…can be placed in that comic tradition [that] runs from Gogol through Kafka and down to José Saramago . . . . When Walser met Lenin in Zurich during the war, all he had to say was ‘So you, too, like fruitcake?’ . . . It is remarkable to see what variety and richness what easiness and charm, what winsome inanities and philosophical depths he could pack into half a page.” Author Heather Sellers at the Baldwin Library, Wed. Feb. 16th
“You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know does not read like any memoir you know…Unless I’ve got prose blindness, Sellers is an ace…Her calm, glass-half- full-to-overflowing worldview could, in another writer’s hands, veer towards treacle, but she pulls it off beautifully. I predict exciting things for her: critical acclaim, hearty sales, and, perhaps best of all, long lines of strangers at every reading.” Book Beat will be selling books for this event. If you have any questions or would like to reserve a copy to be signed, contact Book Beat at (248) 968-1190. |
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| Posted in: African-American History, Art, Author signings, Award winning books, Book Signings, Children's Books, Detroit & Michigan, News & Events | No Comments » |
Detroit Poet and Playwright Chris Tysh will be signing and reading from her latest work Night Scales on Sunday, February 6th at 2pm.
Author Heather Sellers will be reading from and signing her latest book You Don’t Look Like Anyone I Know at the | Catalogs Sitemap | Shipping Policy | Privacy & Security | Shop Statement | Contact |