Biography, Autobiography, Memoir discussion

Hi Buddies
I got some time and started reading this one yesterday. I'll stop here for a breather and note down my thoughts as I'm reading it.

It's quite a thick book and with 482 pages of narrative. I'm about half way. There are some colour picture inserts. It was published 2014 so does not cover the end of her life she died in 2018. So there might be an updated one coming out in the future.

David Ritz actually did ghost-write or co-write Aretha's own autobiography, he says so in the prologue. But he wrote this book because he felt she wasn't very forthcoming with him. So it isn't her version of her life that she wants the world to know, which is that everything was roses, she was always at the top and she never got sick or was depressed a day in her life.

In it he interviews her brother and sisters, and also a lot of her record execs. So it's more like a 'he says' 'she says' bio than really getting into Aretha herself, who seems like a very private, guarded person - except when she sings when bares her soul.

I have learned quite a lot of things that I didn't know about Aretha, and the times she grew up in. The bio is quite detailed on the kind of music scene she was part of and the family was a very musical family.

Hmm I would say reading this Aretha definitely comes across as a lot more diva than Ms Carey.

The artist married to the pimp seems a recurring theme. Aretha married Ted White who also acted as her manager, until that relationship came to a violent end, then her brother took over as manager.

I guess if you want to be a star, you do whatever it takes to be noticed, and if your husband is in the biz, then that gets you somewhere. But it also means if you make it big, you become his meal ticket...

Well, it was school holidays so I started reading and did end up finishing. So took me a few days, not a book you can read in one sitting.

I think the book covered Aretha's highlights and lowlights pretty well, in terms of career, but less charitable in terms of figuring out why Aretha became the way she was in terms of her difficulties in her personal life.

I think anyone who left an abusive, controlling marriage does not want to go back to that and it seems she was determined to carve out her own path after that, for better or for worse.

In that sense then, she decided she wanted to do everything herself, but as an artist you can't always do everything yourself, as things like coordinating booking gigs and public appearances, even wardrobe, is not something one person can do all the time. That she kept singing and didn't quit is because she knew she had a gift, unfortunately I think she failed to cultivate it in some areas because she didn't have that best girlfriend or someone to look after her best interests (like her mother!) and to say girl, you might want to rein it in a bit here.

This is why her business ventures often went nowhere beyond an idea..and she would make up stories to bring publicity and people interested in buying her records. She went to Clive Davis specifically for the hits. I don't think I can blame a person, who relies on making music for a living, if she wants to make money, though she always needed it because she tended to spend more than she could earn.

It was said she carried her purse on stage with her as she sang! lol trust noone...

Otherwise this bio was pretty good except for the annoying asides by the author to try and make Aretha out to be the artist he wanted her to be. No artist is always going to stay on top all the time and that she would deny or ignore what some deem as her failures (ie. records that didn't sell) seem to be missing the point you just keep on singing even if nobody is buying because what else are you going to do? Understandably she didn't want to be trotting out her old hits all the time on the oldies circuit.

Bear in mind, Selina, that David Ritz is less than rigidly honest. For instance, he portrayed Marvin Gaye as one of his best friends when he wrote Divided Soul: The Life Of Marvin Gaye and even claimed to.have inspired him to write one of his biggest songs, "Sexual Healing." Turns out he only interviewed him once, for a couple of hours, and that was their great friendship...

It seems like he piggybacked off every soul singer out there. He's written a tonne of bios and ghostwritten as many.
A lot of the book is basically just repeating what other people say about her. Not much insight into WHY she acts a certain way or chose to do or not do something. I found it a bit annoying this part, though he seemed to blame Aretha for NOT being forthcoming when he couldn't dig much out of her.

Yes she liked food it seems but no mention of why she comfort ate or what foods she liked, whether this was due to her mother leaving, then dying or being brought up by her grandmother.

No mention of perhaps the difficulties she may have had breaking into the Hollywood scene, being a black actress perhaps?

The funny thing was reading one of the souls singers assessment on why Aretha couldn't be 'produced' or told what to do. When you have a gift, someone who knows next to nothing musically and is years younger than you can't really tell you how to sing a song.

That he thought she should only sing gospel/soul was a bit annoying, yes she was best at this genre, but she was also an entertainer and wanted to have the freedom to sing whatever she wanted, and if that meant Al Jolson, then why not.

Her 'Queen of Soul' moniker was sort of like Michael Jacksons' "King of Pop' label. It probably did go to her head a bit, but I do think her rivalry with others (and her own sisters) was rather exaggerated in this bio.

An interesting article by the author in Rolling Stone magazine about his experiences with Aretha.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/mu...

How are you going with the bio Koren?

I requested Amazing Grace from the library, it's the film of her singing in church that was made into an album. I don't own any of Aretha's albums although she undoubtedly featured on many compilations especially movie soundtracks.

My favourite songs are all of the usual suspects -

Respect
Think
You make me feel like a natural Woman
I say a little prayer for you
You're all I need to get by (this was featured as an ad for Visa credit cards)
Chain of Fools

I think an examination on the impact of Aretha's songs had on peoples lives would be interesting, like one memoir I read about Gloria Gaynor who focussed on her song 'I will survive' and how fans would write to her about how that one song got them through so many trials. It was this one We Will Survive: True Stories of Encouragement, Inspiration, and the Power of Song

Respect seemed to usher in a wave of feminist consciousness that was rolling at the time. Men were no longer the primary breadwinners, it was actually the women keeping the household together and solvent. Even if they weren't paid or as much, they were there doing the housework on top of it all! Though sometimes its rather confusing the marital arrangement of this song. Originally written from a guys point of view.

I don't know too many other female anthem songs. There's I am woman, hear me roar. Wonder if Aretha would have sung that one.

I think what was missing from this bio was the female perspective, I think it would have been a bit different if it was written by a female biographer, seeing as Women's lib was big and important issue at the time. David Ritz tried his best, but I think he was missing a lot of Aretha's life because she wasn't going to share her personal intimate details to a man.

I'm only about 30 pages in. I'm trying to finish a different book before the end of the month then I will get more into this one. I'm not going to read your comments until I get further in just in case anything would be a spoiler to me.

I'm going to watch the film of Amazing Grace. Have borrowed it from the library. I've don't think I've heard it or seen it before. According to this biographer, it was her best album.

I would say at the time, late 60s when Aretha was big, albums weren't as big as singles were for the music buying public. I think it's a bit unfair to say her albums were flops when artists were trying to have hit singles. A lot of albums people might only buy to hear one or two songs anyway. They were more expensive too.

200 pages in. Not sure I want to keep going but I'm past the 50 page mark which is where I quit if I'm not into a book. I am liking the parts where he talks about more personal stuff but wishing he would condense the business side of it. Maybe a hard core Aretha fan would enjoy talking about each album and song but its not for me. Well, we are going on a 3 hour drive tomorrow so maybe get some reading time in the car. Then we have a funeral on my husband's side of the family so I probably won't be posting until late Friday or Saturday.

Finished the book during my recent long car ride. I have to say I skimmed most of this. I stopped when the author was talking about more personal stuff but started to skim when he went into detail about music related things. Selina, I agree with pretty much everything you said. I think hard core Aretha fans might like this book a lot more when he goes on at great length about each song and album and sometimes concerts. I may at some point try the other book he was the ghostwriter for to get Aretha's own perspective but this book did not show her in a very good light. She came across as not being very likeable. Maybe he was not flattering to her because he had resentments about the first book.

Yes well
It's like reading books about Elvis, some are hagiographies where he can do no wrong. Others are like what ?! he ate peanut butter fried sandwiches on the toilet and gave everyone 5 cars and the groupies ripped him off. And then others are like...here are the sales figures for every song and album. Too bad he didn't do this and this and this...and made even more money.

Anyhow. I watched Amazing Grace. I can't say it was lifting the roof off though, it was just Aretha starring in an LA church with her home crowd. Of course she's going to have an appreciative audience there. Hadn't these people ever heard gospel before??

Aretha's granddaughter was a contestant on American Idol tonight. She didn't make it through but she was only 15. I hope she comes back when her voice matures. I think she will be great.

Koren wrote: "Aretha's granddaughter was a contestant on American Idol tonight. She didn't make it through but she was only 15. I hope she comes back when her voice matures. I think she will be great."

! What is her name?
I didn't know American Idol was still going. NZ idol only ran for 3 seasons and was canned. But then our music industry is pretty tiny.

Selina wrote: "Koren wrote: "Aretha's granddaughter was a contestant on American Idol tonight. She didn't make it through but she was only 15. I hope she comes back when her voice matures. I think she will be gre..."

Here you go:

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/a...

and yes, American Idol is still going on, although not as big as it used to be. It's only on one night a week. They also don't have the terrible singers like they used to. I miss Simon's critiques but apparently there was some backlash over how cruel he was.

Oh wow had a watch. Yes if she can get over her shyness then she's got the chops. Big shoes to fill though!

I remember it was mentioned that Aretha always carried her purse with her when performing. Cos it had her money in it.

I saw a doc on Netflix about Clive Davis. It did mention he had a hand in reviving Aretha Franklin in the 80s and giving her some hit records.

Clive Davis sounds like an interesting character, like Tommy Mottola was for Mariah Carey except he was more the producer behind Whitney Houston.
However credit to Clive he didn't sleep with his artists.

Selina wrote: "I saw a doc on Netflix about Clive Davis. It did mention he had a hand in reviving Aretha Franklin in the 80s and giving her some hit records.

Clive Davis sounds like an interesting character, li..."

I read bios on both Clive Davis and Mottola. Both were very good.

I couldn't find any in my library about Clive Davis. The Netflix doco was pretty good though.

Selina wrote: "I couldn't find any in my library about Clive Davis. The Netflix doco was pretty good though."

This is the one.

The Soundtrack of My LifeThe Soundtrack of My Life

I watched the biopic of Respect starring Jennifer Hudson.

Ok I vaguely remember the bio mentioning Aretha fell pregnant when she was 12. She had two sons, another at 14 and didn't name the father. But the bio couldn't dig too much personal info out of her.

In the film, it shows how wealthy they already were so I'm not sure why Aretha had to hold on to her money when she sang. But then her pimp husband may have taken it all.

She making records for a long time before she hit it big and had hits. I think the movie was a bitty and didn't have a main story arc and was too long. If you want a good biopic film of a singer - Selena is a good series.

With Aretha, especially with Jennifer Hudson playing her (apparently she asked for her before she died) she's just emoting and wailing a lot and you're not really sure why. When the REAL, older Aretha comes on at the end, she surpasses any imitation.