Showing posts with label GOD THE DEVIL & JAMES BROWN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GOD THE DEVIL & JAMES BROWN. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
SOUL SINGER MARVA WHITNEY HAS PASSED AWAY
One of James Brown,s proteges in the late 60s, Ms. Marva Whitney, passed away Saturday, Dec. 24th. JB gave her the nickname of "Soul Sister #1".
She was a powerhouse singer who gave her all on stage, performing with JB at the Boston Gardens concert (the day after Martin Luther King,s assassination) as well as volunteering to go with the James Brown Revue on a tour of Vietnam at wartime in 1968.
She left the revue and after two disappointing solo recordings, exited the music business. Marva returned in the late 80s, occasionally performing with former members of James Brown,s band.
She suffered a stroke in 2009 but returned to the stage in 2010, performing mainly in Europe and Japan. Her long awaited book, "God, The Devil and James Brown" (working title) will hopefully be released in early 2013. She is gone but will never be forgotten.
***UPDATE***
Marva,s biography has FINALLY been released! "God, The Devil And James Brown" is available on Amazon!
June 3, 2013
I've been a Marva Whitney fan since I heard her smash album "Live And
Lowdown At The Apollo". She was funky before it was cool. She had a
powerful raw voice, an amazing talent and drive which took her to the
top.
My first meeting with her was occasioned by the J.B.'s All Stars reunion in London in July 1988 (where I was involved as a producer). She was friendly and funny.
On stage her vocal delivery was sweet when it needed to be, but utterly explosive when she got down with the Funk.
I've always loved Marva's music, but knew little about her life.
This book is very detailed in tracking the career of Ms. Manning and tells of the accolades as well as the low points in her career; well written and full of unknown information about the Godfather of Soul and his musicians.
He was a very complex man, but one of the greatest talents of Black music, and he was the first to realize her soulful talent.
Marva reveals how he tried to control her life as well as her career. This autobiography reveals her upbringing and her motivations, her ambitions and her disappointments, her happy days and dramatic ones.
She talks about her music, her personal life and troubles, her philosophy, and, what I think is most exciting, show business and stage performance.
You get the feeling that this is Soul Sister no. 1 telling you her extraordinary story in a long and fascinating conversation.
Charles Waring did a very detailed job and then put it all down for the reader to enjoy.
It's a very well-executed biography and an unbiased account of the legendary life and career of a funky diva. It is really sad to know that she missed seeing her book published but her soul will live on.
This book is a must-read for anyone who loves Funk music and a must-have in any serious James Brown bibliography.
My first meeting with her was occasioned by the J.B.'s All Stars reunion in London in July 1988 (where I was involved as a producer). She was friendly and funny.
On stage her vocal delivery was sweet when it needed to be, but utterly explosive when she got down with the Funk.
I've always loved Marva's music, but knew little about her life.
This book is very detailed in tracking the career of Ms. Manning and tells of the accolades as well as the low points in her career; well written and full of unknown information about the Godfather of Soul and his musicians.
He was a very complex man, but one of the greatest talents of Black music, and he was the first to realize her soulful talent.
Marva reveals how he tried to control her life as well as her career. This autobiography reveals her upbringing and her motivations, her ambitions and her disappointments, her happy days and dramatic ones.
She talks about her music, her personal life and troubles, her philosophy, and, what I think is most exciting, show business and stage performance.
You get the feeling that this is Soul Sister no. 1 telling you her extraordinary story in a long and fascinating conversation.
Charles Waring did a very detailed job and then put it all down for the reader to enjoy.
It's a very well-executed biography and an unbiased account of the legendary life and career of a funky diva. It is really sad to know that she missed seeing her book published but her soul will live on.
This book is a must-read for anyone who loves Funk music and a must-have in any serious James Brown bibliography.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
MARVA WHITNEY ,S SOON-TO-BE RELEASED AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Soul Diva Marva Whitney has collaberated with Bank House Books to soon released "God, The Devil and James Brown", an autobiography of her life and career.
Here, in an exclusive preview, is the ‘flashback’ that opens Marva’s book:
James Brown is holding a gun against my head. I think I’m about to die. I can feel the cold metal pressing against the side of my skull. I’m terrified. It’s 1969. We’re in James’s suite at the Beverley Comstock Hotel in Beverley Hills, Los Angeles.
A few minutes earlier, downstairs, I’d told him I had decided to leave his show and stay with some friends in LA. James didn’t want that. He turned on his charm and persuaded me not to go. He said he was going to change and I believed him.
So I went with him and Charles Bobbitt, his manager, into the hotel elevator to go up to his room. As I walked into the elevator a sharp, violent kick to my backside pushed me to the floor. I lay there while James kicked me, over and over. Charles Bobbitt stepped over me but did nothing to help.
A few minutes later I’m being bundled into James’s room. ‘So you were goin’ to leave me, Whit?’ he grunts. ‘I tell you what you gonna do. You’re gonna [Censored] and fall back in it. [Censored] and fall back in it!’ He almost spat the words out as he pulled a gun on me.
So now I’m praying. Help me, Lord, I’m saying to myself, help me, Lord, and wondering how I got into this mess in the first place.
If you enjoyed Fred Wesley,s "HIT ME FRED" biography, along with the James brown books, "I FEEL GOOD", "GODFATHER OF SOUL", and "SAY IT LOUD!", this book will be a welcome and interesting read.
Read ‘God, The Devil and James Brown’ to find out how Marva ‘got into this mess’, and the whole long inspiring story of how she got out of it.
http://www.fasttrackcash.com/go.php?offer=mikewayn80&pid=8(As of this date Marva,s book still hasn,t been released but hopefully soon!)
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