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5 comments about Donna Summer: Her Life and Music.

1. Having known Donna since teaching her children in preschool through high school age, I am appalled at what is written here. IF you are interested in Donna's life then read Ordinary Life and leave it at that. Donna truly is one of the sweetest people in "celebrity life" that I have encountered. And its really upsets me when these kinds of books are written as a informational book. SAVE your money!!



2. This book is a very interesting read as long as you take it all with a grain of salt. Josiah Howard writes the book as though it was an in-depth feature length article, rather than an unauthorized biography.
   
   Pulling info from articles, interviews, and tv shows, Howard weaves a spell-binding tale of the rise and fall of Donna Summer.
   
   Though at times it seems as if the author is bashing the artist, Howard comes to those conclusions based on Summer's actions. Whether or not Summer's intentions are in line with his findings, we'll never know, until she writes a no holes-barred biography that doesn't just skim the surface.
   
   "Oridinary Girl," isn't it. There are still things that Summer will not talk about including the "AIDS and Gays" controversy, instead using her charitable work for AIDS organizations to to speak for themselves, but Howard provides a play-by-play run down.
   
   The book includes a bibliography, discography(including singles and album info), and TV appearances/specials. If you're looking for a book that's a page turner, giving a glimpse into the life of a legend, than this is it.
   
   Donna Summer has led a fascinating life proving time and again that she is no "oridnary girl" and Howard lays it all out in this book.



3. Hmmmm.... This book was interesting. I picked this up only after reading Donna's book first, and then reading some of the other user reviews on this site. I got it cheap, and I must say I enjoyed it, flaws and all. It's no doubt entertaining, as I read it in just a day and a half. It's a very comfortable read. However, at times it seems like little more than a smear on Donna Summer rather than an unbiased, well researched chronicle of her life and career. While there are many revelations here that she did not make in her own book, some of the things he says seem based solely on his own opinion. His claim that she was never really accepted by blacks (particularly all the comments about the "On The Radio" album cover photos) seem like opinion stated as fact. I know plenty of black folks, young, old, straight and gay, who like her. His claim that the album cover has been feverishly discussed was not backed up at all. I'm black, and I've never heard such talk! I really liked the information about her early singles and the photos of those early picture sleeves... he definitely did his homework in some areas. Some of the quotes and things he pulls out of the cut directly contradict some things she said in her book (in this respect, you can tell he's a journalist). His whole account of the "Enough is Enough" sessions is extremely interesting. But at other times he does not seem to like his subject a whole hell of a lot. He constantly criticizes her appearance. He dogs her hair, make-up and costumes, and even dogs the photos from the "Live and More" LP jacket. I mean come on... even a passing pop music fan identifies Donna Summer with that photo of her singing, eyes closed and head tilted back. I always thought the album was nicely packaged with great pictures, but the brother is entitled to his opinion I guess. I also thought his account of her fallout with gays was very biased, seemingly calling her honesty into question. It's obvious he thinks she made the remarks denouncing gays based on the articles he chose to cite throughout that chapter. I guess I'm looking at it from a journalistic standpoint, but the book is just not very balanced at all. In his defense, I found the photos in this book more interesting than the ones in her's, and the discography and TV appearance sections were worlds better than that pitiful discography in Donna's autobiography. However, much of the book is poorly edited... I had to resist the temptation to take out my red pen and mark it up. But overall, it's pretty entertaining, light reading. You'll find out some things you didn't know, and if nothing else it's a nice bookend to Donna's less revealing "Ordinary Girl."



4. Overall this book for the most part was ok. It was fairly interesting, I actually read it in one day, and it serves as a great book to read if you are not familiar with Donna. However I question why the author chose to write a book about Donna as he seems to diss her through alot of the book to the point of it becoming annoying. Granted she had her downs, the 80's was not all that kind to her, he seems to bring up things that should not come up, along with "that rumor" in which he questions Donna's own honesty, he has negative comments for many of her albums, including the fan favorite 'Once Upon a Time' and also disses her physical appearance. Not to mention he uses an awful picture of her on the cover, you can't tell until you have the book in your hands, but her skin appears rough and blotchy. Another minus is that he uses photos that everyone has seen, and they are not even good quality, they look as though he made copies of them from a public library printer. Bottom line, if you have no idea who Donna Summer is, or if you are an obsessed fan who must have anything associated with her, then get this book. Otherwise, skip it!



5. What a great find. A friend told me about it. I'm 20 years old guy really into dance, R & B and disco music. This book taught me all i needed to know about Donna Summer, Casablanca Records (the biggest dance label of the 70's) and disco music in general. The best parts are when the author brings you into the studio with Donna as she makes the great "Love to Love You Baby", "Last Dance" and her killer album "Once Upon A Time". A MUST READ for anyone interested in popular music or 1970's culture.

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3 comments about Just Mahalia, Baby: The Mahalia Jackson Story.

1. Great biography! I have always enjoyed reading about the world's greatest singer, and this biography simply takes out all the stops and tells about the true Mahalia, in her own words. Mahalia, I miss you more and more each day, because no one sings like you or as well as you sang.



2. I read this lengthy story many years ago. In the meantime I was privileged to meet one of Mahalia's former pianists, Rev. J. D. Strawther, who is so listed in the book. Hearing Strawther's chronicle of his experience with the powerful singer made the book come alive to me. I am a very strong admirer of the late Clara Ward, and enjoyed reading, from Mahalia's viewpoint, about the relationship of the Ward Singers and Miss Jackson.

   It is extremely admiral to see how that Mahalia pulled herself up by her own bootstraps in a day and time when that was very difficult, and given her problem with timing in regards to her vocal singing. It must have taken a lot of courage for Laurraine to write the good, the bad and the ugly; and some instances were rather disappointing. But she wrote as she was instructed, "Don't make me no saint, baby."




3. Just great...but very long. In my school library, we have 2 copies of of this book, and I believe that I've checked them out close to 15 times. I really enjoyed the parts that I've been able to read.

   It had it's contented times and it had it's sad times. There's information about Mahalia's concerts/T.V appearances...what went on backstage, during the concert, and after the concert. One of my favorites was the part where Mahalia was a guest on Dinah Shore's show and they sang many songs, and then it came time to sing my favorite song, "Elijah Rock." Dinah said that she couldn't remember the words, but tried everything in her power to distract her singing by clapping or adding stuff in the song. I believe that I remember reading that Mahalia, shortly after beginning the song, saw that Dinah forgot the song and kept looking at her in a joking manner. I laugh everytime I read that.

   This book was great, and you should read it to...SERIOUSLY!

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