Chip Deffaa – författare

"Somebody has to pay the dues," says LaVern Baker. Here are the remarkable stories of six dazzlingly talented performers who blazed the R & B trail,the story of the performers' music and also of their struggle against racism and financial exploitation: Ruth Brown and LaVern Baker, two of the most popular female black singers of the 1950s Little Jimmy Scott, whom Madonna calls the only singer who ever really made her cry Charles Brown, master of the club blues" style Floyd Dixon, a more rambunctious fellow-traveller and the earthy, urbane Jimmy Witherspoon, who recorded some of the biggest R & B hits ever.

This memoir by David Cassidy tells the real story behind his phenomenal ’70s stardom—and the sadness that shadowed it. Includes photos and a new afterword.   Barely out of his teens, David Cassidy landed a role on a new sitcom about a musical family that toured in a psychedelic bus. The critics blasted it—but TV viewers loved it! And the young female audience especially loved Keith Partridge. Not only did they tune in each week, they bought The Partridge Family’s hit single, “I Think I Love You,” in the millions, and plastered David’s image on their bedroom walls. Throughout the early seventies, David Cassidy was a phenomenon.   In this wry, witty memoir, he recounts not only those wild youthful years and Hollywood relationships—with, among others, stepmom Shirley Jones, costar Susan Dey, actress Meredith Baxter, and two guest stars who soon found greater fame on Charlie’s Angels—but also the darker parts of his life as well. David delves into his painful family history and his childhood in West Orange, New Jersey, and the groupies and drugs he indulged in as his success began to overwhelm him. He also shares his encounters with the icons of the era—Lennon and McCartney, Elvis, the Beach Boys, and more. Most of all, he takes us back to a time when the world seemed more innocent—at least until the camera stopped rolling.  Includes a new afterword about David’s final years by friend and coauthor Chip Deffaa.   “A chatty read about becoming an overnight success and all the trappings that came with it: Tiger Beat magazine, sold-out stadium shows, hit records, willing girls in every hotel lobby.” —Star Tribune

Chip Deffaa presents the recollections of eighteen musicians, covering a wealth of American musical history.

In the 18 profiles that make up this book, the reader will hear the stories—mostly in their own words—of a lively array of contributors to mainstream jazz and popular music. New York Post jazz critic Chip Deffaa has interviewed musicians both famous and not so famous—big band leaders like drum whiz Ray McKinley, Andy Kirk, and "Twentieth Century Gabriel" Erskine Hawkins; celebrated sidemen like clarinetist Johnny Mince and bassist Bob Haggart; 1920's trumpeter Doc Cheatham and arranger Bill Challis; 30's trumpeter Bill Dillard; 40's saxist George Kelly; and drummer Sonny Igoe, pianist Dick Hyman, and drummer Jack Hanna of more recent years; plus Buddy Morrow, Oliver Jackson, Mahlon Clark, Joe Wilder, Bucky and John Pizzarelli, and Ken Peplowski.