Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro

Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro is a biography of the pioneering singer-songwriter whose recordings and high-drama performances were both beloved and inspiring in the 1960s and '70s. With her groundbreaking honest and passionate lyrics, her unusual and innovative rhythms and melody, Nyro's influence is still felt by singers and songwriters today. Beginning with her childhood and teen years in the Bronx, and ending with her untimely death from ovarian cancer in 1997, Soul Picnic details how Nyro was "discovered" as a prodigious eighteen-year-old songwriter, had her songs covered with great success by other singers (most famously, the Fifth Dimension, Blood, Sweat &amp; Tears, Three Dog Night, and Barbra Streisand), and created her own remarkable albums, such as Eli and the Thirteen Confession and New York Tendaberry. It also tells how a young David Geffen, as her agent and then manager, helped boost her career, but how she ultimately rejected both Geffen and the glare of stardom for a quieter rural life. Nyro was a very private person, and Michele Kort has uncovered aspects of her life offstage never previously revealed, including a romance with famed rock musician Jackson Browne and the love affair that led to the birth of her son, Gil. It also fleshes out her long, loving relationship with painter Maria Desiderio. Kort features Laura Nyro's music, the making of each of her albums, the musical influences that informed her work, and the important legacy she has left behind. She interviewed nearly all of the producers and arrangers Nyro worked with, and many of the musicians who played on her albums. The book also includes a discography of both Nyro's recordings and many covers of her songs by well-known artists. With passion and style, acclaimed journalist Michele Kort has seamlessly joined thorough research with oral history in this beautifully rendered biography of an important, often-overlooked music icon.

Biographies & Memoirs

Kort, Michele

Arts & Literature

Thomas Dunne Books

"Kort's biography brilliantly captures the world of one of music's most misunderstood and eccentric talents... For the Nyro fan, Soul Picnic deftly fills in the blanks of her life and works; for the uninitiated, the biography will act as the perfect int

St. Martin's: Griffin

For the first time, Chastity Bono shares the moving story of her early adulthood: how her traumatic tabloid outing as the openly gay daughter of Sonny and Cher threatened her burgeoning musical career, and how her first true love was taken from her by cancer. At an early age, Chastity survived challenges many of us never face. A story of love won and lost, of dreams fulfilled and destroyed, The End of Innocence is a coming-of-age story that provides a deeply personal look into the private struggles of a very public and courageous woman.
Chastity Bono was first known as the daughter of Sonny Bono and Cher, when she made appearances on her parents' TV show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. She established her own identity after coming out on the cover of The Advocate in 1995 and went on to become a reporter for the magazine. Since then, she's worked as the 1996 National Coming Out Project's spokesperson for the HRC. From 1997 to 1998, she was the Entertainment -Media Director for GLAAD. She is also the author of the bestselling Family Outing and continues to lecture around the country. 
Michele Kort is an award-winning journalist whose writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times Magazine, L.A. Weekly, Shape, Redbook, Self and The Advocate. A Los Angeles resident, she is also the author of Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro.

The End of Innocence: A Memoir

Bono, Chastity

Advocate Books

When Colgate-Palmolive and the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) decided to inaugurate a new golf tournament in 1972 under the name of TV star Dinah Shore, who expected all those lesbians to show up? Golf? Who said anything about golf? Within a decade, the tournament week became crowded with comedy concerts, pool parties and tea dances. Promoters reserve entire hotels for the huge flock of lesbians that migrate into town each year, and the dance parties are so large an airplane hangar is required for the 5,000 sunbaked gals. The Dinah Shore tournament is merely an excuse for the year’s biggest pool party. This lavishly illustrated, oversize book celebrates all things Dinah, including:A history of the tournament highlighting the main players—with gaydar ratings for each. Interviews with club promoters, bartenders, and -partygoers on the evolution of the “Gay Dinah.” An exploration of responses to the phenomenon by the LPGA brass, the golfers, the Mission Hills Country Club, and the city of Palm Springs. “Dinah Style”—a look at the changing couture, including how to get your polo shirt collar to stand up. “The Dinah Guide,” including how to get to Palm Springs and its vicinity, how to secure lodging and tickets, directions for getting around, and a tourist guide to the area.Longtime journalist and freelance writer Michele Kort is the author most recently of Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro and the collaborating writer with Chastity Bono on The End of Innocence.

Dinah!: Three Decades of Sex, Golf, and Rock 'N' Roll

Sports & Outdoors

Alyson Pubns

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kort, Michele. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Kort, Michele

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Kort, Michele. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro

Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro

The End of Innocence: A Memoir

Dinah!: Three Decades of Sex, Golf, and Rock 'N' Roll