Bill DeYoung – författare

On the morning of May 9, 1980, harbor pilot John Lerro was guiding a 600-foot freighter, the Summit Venture, into Tampa Bay. Directly in the ship’s path was the Sunshine Skyway Bridge--two ribbons of concrete, steel, and asphalt that crossed fifteen miles of open bay. Suddenly, a violent weather cell reduced visibility to zero at the precise moment when Lerro attempted to direct the 20,000-ton vessel underneath the bridge. Unable to stop or see where he was going, Lerro drove the ship into a support pier; the main span splintered and collapsed 150 feet into the bay. Seven cars and a Greyhound bus fell over the broken edge and into the churning water below. Thirty-five people died.

Skyway tells the entire story of this horrific event, from the circumstances that led up to it through the years-long legal proceedings that followed. Through personal interviews and extensive research, Bill DeYoung pieces together the harrowing moments of the collision, including the first-person stories of the survivors, and remembers those whose lives were cut short by the events of that fateful day. Similarly, DeYoung details the downward spiral of Lerro’s life, his vilification in the days and weeks that followed the accident, and his obsession with the tragedy well into his painful last years.

DeYoung also offers a history of the ill-fated bridge, from its construction in 1954, through the addition of a second parallel span in 1971, to its eventual replacement. He discusses the sinking of a Coast Guard cutter a mere three months before Skyway collapsed and the Department of Transportation’s dire warnings about the bridge’s condition. The result is a vividly detailed portrait of the rise and fall of a Tampa Bay landmark.

A go-getting, red-headed college kid eager to break into the music business, Phil Gernhard produced a handful of singles for South Carolina doo-wop group Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs. One of these songs, "Stay," reached number one on the charts in 1960. Gernhard was just 19 years old.

Phil Gernhard, Record Man is the story of a self-made music mogul who created nearly fifty years'' worth of chart-topping songs. From a tiny office and studio in Florida, he co-wrote the Royal Guardsmen''s "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron," America''s fastest-selling single of 1966. He revived the career of singer Dion DiMucci with the ballad "Abraham, Martin and John"--a million seller. He discovered and produced hit records for Lobo, Jim Stafford, and the Bellamy Brothers. Through a long collaboration with music business icon Mike Curb, he launched to fame many others, including country superstars Tim McGraw and Rodney Atkins. In Nashville and Los Angeles, Phil Gernhard was a legend.

Yet Gernhard''s private life was crumbling. He battled physical and emotional demons that he simply couldn''t overcome, struggling with alcoholism, drug addiction, and a bad past with his father. He filed for his fourth divorce just months before taking his own life in 2008.

Through interviews with Gernhard''s musicians, business partners, family members, and ex-wives, Bill DeYoung offers an intimate portrait of a brilliant yet troubled man who channeled his talent, ego, and ambition into the success of others. A true "record man," Gernhard did it all. He lived to make records into gold, to make unknowns into stars, and above all, to make music.