What do you think?
Rate this book
Bet My Soul on Rock 'n' Roll: Diary of a Black Punk Icon
The life and career of Haitian American musician Jean Beauvoir, a member of the legendary New York City punk band the Plasmatics
Jean Beauvoir joined the Plasmatics in 1979, playing bass and keyboards for the most notorious band to emerge out of the New York City punk scene. By 1982, he was a member of Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, a retro-rock revival act headed by Steven Van Zandt. The Disciples of Soul videos played on MTV during the network’s earliest years, making Beauvoir one of the first Black recording artists to cross the start-up music channel’s “color line.”
Beauvoir went on to become a multi-platinum artist, producer, and songwriter. Bet My Soul on Rock 'n' Roll follows his ride through the American music industry, detailing his encounters with rock stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Lita Ford, as well as the actor Sylvester Stallone, the billionaire executive Richard Branson, and even Donald Trump. Beauvoir also considers the manner in which his Haitian heritage has shaped his public image, his music, and his role as an activist for the dispossessed and the poor.
Beauvoir’s collaborations —and stories— span genres, including work with KISS, Debbie Harry, Lionel Richie, and the Ramones
Jean Beauvoir joined the Plasmatics in 1979, playing bass and keyboards for the most notorious band to emerge out of the New York City punk scene. By 1982, he was a member of Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, a retro-rock revival act headed by Steven Van Zandt. The Disciples of Soul videos played on MTV during the network’s earliest years, making Beauvoir one of the first Black recording artists to cross the start-up music channel’s “color line.”
Beauvoir went on to become a multi-platinum artist, producer, and songwriter. Bet My Soul on Rock 'n' Roll follows his ride through the American music industry, detailing his encounters with rock stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Lita Ford, as well as the actor Sylvester Stallone, the billionaire executive Richard Branson, and even Donald Trump. Beauvoir also considers the manner in which his Haitian heritage has shaped his public image, his music, and his role as an activist for the dispossessed and the poor.
Beauvoir’s collaborations —and stories— span genres, including work with KISS, Debbie Harry, Lionel Richie, and the Ramones
- GenresMusicNonfiction
288 pages, Hardcover
Published March 22, 2022
5 people are currently reading
1290 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 7, 2022
Jean Beauvoir is one of those musicians I have always been aware of but never knew their name. With his distinctive white mohawk he was hard to miss. From the Plasmatics to Crown of Thorns, Jean was an MTV staple, but more popular in Europe than the states.
His autobiography could have been one of the classics. It has all the right elements: name-dropping, sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, parties out of bounds, etc. The problem is that he comes off as a bit of an egotistical jerk who spends every dollar on the best clothes, cars, apartments (Trump Tower, barf city), equipment and bandmates. He brags a bit too much about his inherent musical genius and unorthodox business savvy while whining (unconvincingly)about his lack of self-confidence. There's a lot of flash but very little real substance. Still, there are a number of good stories that make it a worthwhile read.
His autobiography could have been one of the classics. It has all the right elements: name-dropping, sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, parties out of bounds, etc. The problem is that he comes off as a bit of an egotistical jerk who spends every dollar on the best clothes, cars, apartments (Trump Tower, barf city), equipment and bandmates. He brags a bit too much about his inherent musical genius and unorthodox business savvy while whining (unconvincingly)about his lack of self-confidence. There's a lot of flash but very little real substance. Still, there are a number of good stories that make it a worthwhile read.
April 14, 2024
I had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with Jean recently, and he signed a copy of his book for me.
Jean was one of the nicest, most down to earth person I have ever met, and had stories for days!
That being said, I banged out the book in 2 days. Jean has been there done that and then some. A very interesting read from an ever more interesting guy!
Jean was one of the nicest, most down to earth person I have ever met, and had stories for days!
That being said, I banged out the book in 2 days. Jean has been there done that and then some. A very interesting read from an ever more interesting guy!
August 27, 2022
This review is from my Racine, WI Writer in Residence post here:
https://racinewir.com/2022/08/25/obse...
At the Racine Public Library in late July, skimming the nonfiction new books titles (I only very rarely read fiction, maybe that shows), I saw a rock ‘n’ roll auto-bio by Jean Beauvoir (ghost-helper, John Ostrosky) called Bet My Soul on Rock n Roll: Diary of a Black Punk Icon.
The author’s name seemed vaguely familiar and a quick glance at the dust jacket immediately told me why: he played bass in the Plasmatics, a punk band.
Wow, they haven’t crossed my consciousness in decades!
Jean Beauvoir writes of playing for Gary U.S. Bonds at, like, age 15, even how he was given the role of bandleader by Gary which was challenging cos the band members weren’t very keen to take direction from someone so young.
A next career stop was playing bass in the Plasmatics where I must have seen him when they came to Milwaukee at the Palms, ca. 1980, but who’s paying attention to him even though he’s black with a blonde Mohawk when rather buxom front-woman, Wendy O. Williams, is coming on stage wearing only whipped cream as a top and it largely ends up getting sweated off, and doing things like taking a chainsaw to an electric guitar and such-like.
The band got roughed up afterwards by really kind Milwaukee vice squad cops who only broke Wendy’s nose.
They made a big splash with an appearance on Fridays (ABC’s effort to compete with NBC’s Saturday Night Live) where they displayed their antics. I missed that show. I watch/watched so very little TeeVee.
He ended up leaving them hoping to release a solo album and ended up playing for all kinds of people along the way, and at one point two famous people, one surnamed Jackson, the other first-named Prince, are vying to get him into their respective bands.
He was kind of paranoid that Prince’s offer would sort of have the effect of buying him out, and so he turned Prince down.
He also turned down Michael which reportedly left Michael furious.
In the foreword, written by Kermit Blackwood, there is a dialogue:
“Why would Jean turn down Michael Jackson?!”
“Can you name a bass player that Jackson used?”
“No.”
“There you have it.”
So, as I mentioned, he played for a lot of people and did solo stuff.
The only others that interest me, however, were the Ramones (he produced Animal Boy in 1986) and Debbie Harry.
I wasn’t interested enuff in Steven Van Zandt, Justin Timberlake, Lionel Richie, Nona Hendryx, or a music spot in a dumb Sylvester Stallone action flick called Cobra to have read those parts of the book. And I’m certainly not interested in Kiss*.
For me, it was mostly downhill for him after the Plasmatics, but for him, most likely at least more money with his subsequent career moves.
He said his bass playing in the Plasmatics was often actually pretty complex, and, later, touring solo, he several times had to take “Masterplan” off the set-list cos whoever is playing bass backing him couldn’t hack it. He said the part “was like something from Motown played at five times the original speed.”
He said sometimes blacks would give him grief for his blonde Mohawk, as the color wasn’t seen as natural, but never whites. This was back when he was virtually the only black to cultivate a look like that. Nowadays, such is near commonplace.
*On Wisconsin Public Radio’s BETA program, a guest said that DEVO was like the thinking man’s Kiss. And host Doug Gordon then asked if Kiss was the stupid person’s DEVO.
https://racinewir.com/2022/08/25/obse...
At the Racine Public Library in late July, skimming the nonfiction new books titles (I only very rarely read fiction, maybe that shows), I saw a rock ‘n’ roll auto-bio by Jean Beauvoir (ghost-helper, John Ostrosky) called Bet My Soul on Rock n Roll: Diary of a Black Punk Icon.
The author’s name seemed vaguely familiar and a quick glance at the dust jacket immediately told me why: he played bass in the Plasmatics, a punk band.
Wow, they haven’t crossed my consciousness in decades!
Jean Beauvoir writes of playing for Gary U.S. Bonds at, like, age 15, even how he was given the role of bandleader by Gary which was challenging cos the band members weren’t very keen to take direction from someone so young.
A next career stop was playing bass in the Plasmatics where I must have seen him when they came to Milwaukee at the Palms, ca. 1980, but who’s paying attention to him even though he’s black with a blonde Mohawk when rather buxom front-woman, Wendy O. Williams, is coming on stage wearing only whipped cream as a top and it largely ends up getting sweated off, and doing things like taking a chainsaw to an electric guitar and such-like.
The band got roughed up afterwards by really kind Milwaukee vice squad cops who only broke Wendy’s nose.
They made a big splash with an appearance on Fridays (ABC’s effort to compete with NBC’s Saturday Night Live) where they displayed their antics. I missed that show. I watch/watched so very little TeeVee.
He ended up leaving them hoping to release a solo album and ended up playing for all kinds of people along the way, and at one point two famous people, one surnamed Jackson, the other first-named Prince, are vying to get him into their respective bands.
He was kind of paranoid that Prince’s offer would sort of have the effect of buying him out, and so he turned Prince down.
He also turned down Michael which reportedly left Michael furious.
In the foreword, written by Kermit Blackwood, there is a dialogue:
“Why would Jean turn down Michael Jackson?!”
“Can you name a bass player that Jackson used?”
“No.”
“There you have it.”
So, as I mentioned, he played for a lot of people and did solo stuff.
The only others that interest me, however, were the Ramones (he produced Animal Boy in 1986) and Debbie Harry.
I wasn’t interested enuff in Steven Van Zandt, Justin Timberlake, Lionel Richie, Nona Hendryx, or a music spot in a dumb Sylvester Stallone action flick called Cobra to have read those parts of the book. And I’m certainly not interested in Kiss*.
For me, it was mostly downhill for him after the Plasmatics, but for him, most likely at least more money with his subsequent career moves.
He said his bass playing in the Plasmatics was often actually pretty complex, and, later, touring solo, he several times had to take “Masterplan” off the set-list cos whoever is playing bass backing him couldn’t hack it. He said the part “was like something from Motown played at five times the original speed.”
He said sometimes blacks would give him grief for his blonde Mohawk, as the color wasn’t seen as natural, but never whites. This was back when he was virtually the only black to cultivate a look like that. Nowadays, such is near commonplace.
*On Wisconsin Public Radio’s BETA program, a guest said that DEVO was like the thinking man’s Kiss. And host Doug Gordon then asked if Kiss was the stupid person’s DEVO.
July 22, 2024
Feel the Heat!
When I first saw the "Feel the Heat" video the summer of 1986, I loved the song but thought he was one of the coolest looking people I had ever seen in my life. A black man with a blonde Mohawk... I'm a little disappointed those were blue contacts! I always wondered why he wasn't "bigger."
But as I've learned more about the industry myself, and after reading his story, he was a pretty big deal. What a repertoire! I found this book by chance when I found his Facebook page. I'm definitely going to keep up with him and hopefully I'll catch one of his shows one day.
Underrated and underappreciated. He really knows his stuff!
When I first saw the "Feel the Heat" video the summer of 1986, I loved the song but thought he was one of the coolest looking people I had ever seen in my life. A black man with a blonde Mohawk... I'm a little disappointed those were blue contacts! I always wondered why he wasn't "bigger."
But as I've learned more about the industry myself, and after reading his story, he was a pretty big deal. What a repertoire! I found this book by chance when I found his Facebook page. I'm definitely going to keep up with him and hopefully I'll catch one of his shows one day.
Underrated and underappreciated. He really knows his stuff!
January 22, 2023
interesting character in the history of rock n roll
As a huge Plasmatics and Little Steven fan I’ve always been interested in Jean Beauvoir and had to read this book. It’s fine, but feels a bit ghost written in how it skims along the surface and in how the narrator is the hero of every interaction kind of story. The essay that JB shares at the reads like it was written by an entirely different person.
Having read SVZ’s much better written autobiography, it’s interesting how differently they tell a few of the same stories.
Overall recommended and fun.
As a huge Plasmatics and Little Steven fan I’ve always been interested in Jean Beauvoir and had to read this book. It’s fine, but feels a bit ghost written in how it skims along the surface and in how the narrator is the hero of every interaction kind of story. The essay that JB shares at the reads like it was written by an entirely different person.
Having read SVZ’s much better written autobiography, it’s interesting how differently they tell a few of the same stories.
Overall recommended and fun.
April 29, 2022
This book certainly answers some questions that I've had for years. I was surprised to learn how much international success he has had. I had no idea that for decades he lived in mansions with supermodels! Respect for not going into detail about a longtime friendship that recently ended badly.
February 3, 2023
Sungguh sangat berwarna perjalanan karir Jean Beauvoir dan saya baru tahu bahwa Voodoo X adalah band-nya dia!
December 25, 2024
Listened to it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews