Paul McCartney and John Lennon described him as the Beatles' "favorite group," he won Grammy awards, wrote and recorded hit songs, and yet no figure in popular music is as much of a paradox, or as underrated, as Harry Nilsson. In this first ever full-length biography, Alyn Shipton traces Nilsson's life from his Brooklyn childhood to his Los Angeles adolescence and his gradual emergence as a uniquely talented singer-songwriter. With interviews from friends, family, and associates, and material drawn from an unfinished autobiography, Shipton probes beneath the enigma to discover the real Harry Nilsson. A major celebrity at a time when huge concerts and festivals were becoming the norm, Nilsson shunned live performance. His venue was the studio, his stage the dubbing booth, his greatest triumphs masterful examples of studio craft. He was a gifted composer of songs for a wide variety of performers, including the Ronettes, the Yardbirds, and the Monkees, yet Nilsson's own biggest hits were almost all written by other songwriters. He won two Grammy awards, in 1969 for "Everybody's Talkin'" (the theme song for Midnight Cowboy), and in 1972 for "Without You," had two top ten singles, numerous album successes, and wrote a number of songs--"Coconut" and "Jump into the Fire," to name just two--that still sound remarkably fresh and original today. He was once described by his producer Richard Perry as "the finest white male singer on the planet," but near the end of his life, Nilsson's career was marked by voice-damaging substance abuse and the infamous deaths of both Keith Moon and Mama Cass in his London flat. Drawing on exclusive access to Nilsson's papers, Alyn Shipton's biography offers readers an intimate portrait of a man who has seemed both famous and unknowable--until now.

Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter

Shipton, Alyn

Humor & Entertainment

Oxford University Press

Jazz Makers gathers together short biographies of more than 50 of jazz's greatest stars, from its early beginnings to the present. The stories of these innovative instrumentalists, bandleaders, and composers reveal the fascinating history of jazz in six parts: * The Pioneers, including Scott Joplin, Louis Armstrong, and Bessie Smith * Swing Bands and Soloists, with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday * The Piano Giants, featuring Fats Waller, Art Tatum, and Mary Lou Williams * Birth of Bebop, including Dizzy Gillepsie, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis * Cool Jazz, Hard Bop, and Fusion, with John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Stan Getz * A Century of Jazz, featuring Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, and other contemporary greats.

Jazz Makers: Vanguards of Sound (Oxford Profiles)

Biographies & Memoirs

Clad in white tie and tails, dancing and scatting his way through the "Hi-de-ho" chorus of "Minnie the Moocher," Cab Calloway exuded a sly charm and sophistication that endeared him to legions of fans. In Hi-de-ho, author Alyn Shipton offers the first full-length biography of Cab Calloway, whose vocal theatrics and flamboyant stage presence made him one of the highest-earning African American bandleaders. Shipton sheds new light on Calloway's life and career, explaining how he traversed racial and social boundaries to become one of the country's most beloved entertainers. Drawing on first-hand accounts from Calloway's family, friends, and fellow musicians, the book traces the roots of this music icon, from his childhood in Rochester, New York, to his life of hustling on the streets of Baltimore. Shipton highlights how Calloway's desire to earn money to support his infant daughter prompted his first break into show business, when he joined his sister Blanche in a traveling revue. Beginning in obscure Baltimore nightclubs and culminating in his replacement of Duke Ellington at New York's famed Cotton Club, Calloway honed his gifts of scat singing and call-and-response routines. His career as a bandleader was matched by his genius as a talent-spotter, evidenced by his hiring of such jazz luminaries as Ben Webster, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jonah Jones. As the swing era waned, Calloway reinvented himself as a musical theatre star, appearing as Sportin' Life in "Porgy and Bess" in the early 1950s; in later years, Calloway cemented his status as a living legend through cameos on "Sesame Street" and his show-stopping appearance in the wildly popular "The Blues Brothers" movie, bringing his trademark "hi-de-ho" refrain to a new generation of audiences. More than any other source, Hi-de-ho stands as an entertaining, not-to-be-missed portrait of Cab Calloway--one that expertly frames his enduring significance as a pioneering artist and entertainer.

Hi-De-Ho: The Life of Cab Calloway

Groovin' High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie was one of the most important and best-loved musicians in jazz history. With his horn-rimmed glasses, goatee, jive talk, and upraised trumpet bell, he was the hipster who most personified bebop. The musical heir to Louis Armstrong, he created the modern jazz trumpet-playing style and dazzled aficionados and popular audiences alike for over 50 years. In this first full biography, Alyn Shipton covers all aspects of Dizzy's remarkable life and career, taking us through his days as a flashy trumpet player in the swing bands of the 1930s, his innovative bebop work in the 1940s, the worldwide fame and adoration he earned through his big band tours in the 1950s, and the many recordings and performances which defined a career that extended into the early 1990s. Along the way, Shipton convincingly argues that Gillespie--rather than Charlie Parker as is widely believed--had the greatest role in creating bebop, playing in key jazz groups, teaching the music to others, and helping to develop the first original bebop repertory. Shipton also explores the dark side of Dizzy's mostly sunny personal life, his womanizing, the illegitimate daughter he fathered and supported--now a respected jazz singer in her own right--and his sometimes needless cruelty to others. For anyone interested in jazz and one of its most innovative and appealing figures, Groovin' High is essential reading.

Jazz buffs have been waiting for Danny Barker's full account of his life in jazz since the 1950s, when Nat Hentoff and Nat Shapiro published Heah Me Talkin' to Ya, an oral history of jazz which drew heavily on Barker's reminiscences. A jazz guitarist, Danny Barker played with many important New Orleans bands in the 1920s and then moved to New York to play with swing bands in the 1930s, notably Cab Calloway's band, at a time when several future pioneers of the bop movement were in the band, including Dizzie Gillespie. (It is Barker who made famous the scene when Gillespie and several cohorts began playing bop during a Calloway band stage show, which produced the angry blast from Calloway, "I won't have any of that Chinese music in my band!") Barker's memoirs brilliantly recreate the jazz world of New Orleans (parades, funerals, brothels, dance halls, and more) and the pioneer musicians of the day. The book is also a knowing account of the big band swing world. It will surely rank as one of the basic documents in jazz history.

A Life in Jazz

Barker, Danny

The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets (OXFORD STUDIES IN RECORDED JAZZ SERIES)

The Gerry Mulligan Quartet, founded in Los Angeles in 1952, was widely acclaimed as the first small ensemble in jazz that did not include a chordal instrument such as a piano or guitar. Using original scores and detailed transcriptions of Mulligan's work, The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets offers an intimate look at Mulligan's musical development from the initial quartet with Chet Baker to its successors with Bob Brookmeyer, Jon Eardley, and Art Farmer. The backdrop is an unparalleled account of his musical life from his teen- age years to adulthood, analyzing the ways in which his compositions and arrangements evolved through collaborations with Elliot Lawrence, Gene Krupa, and Claude Thornhill, culminating with Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool nonet. Featuring original interviews with many of Mulligan's associates, author Alyn Shipton presents a fresh take on Mulligan's harmonic creativity, in the process tracing the ups and downs of Mulligan's heroin addiction, imprisonment, sobriety, and eventual musical triumph.

Arts & Literature

Clad in white tie and tails, dancing and scatting his way through the "Hi-de-ho" chorus of "Minnie the Moocher," Cab Calloway exuded a warm charm and sophistication that endeared him to legions of fans. In Hi-de-ho: The Life of Cab Calloway, author Alyn Shipton sheds new light on Calloway's life and career, explaining how he traversed racial and social boundaries to become one of the country's most beloved entertainers. Drawing on first-hand accounts from Calloway's family, friends, and fellow musicians, the book traces the roots of this music icon. Beginning in obscure Baltimore nightclubs and culminating in his replacement of Duke Ellington at New York's famed Cotton Club, the book shows how Calloway honed his gifts of scat singing and call-and-response routines. His career as a bandleader was matched by his genius as a talent-spotter, evidenced by his hiring of such jazz luminaries as Ben Webster, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jonah Jones. As the swing era waned, Calloway reinvented himself as a musical theater star, appearing as Sportin' Life in "Porgy and Bess" in the early 1950s; in later years, Calloway cemented his status as a living legend through cameos on "Sesame Street" and his show-stopping appearance in the wildly popular The Blues Brothers movie, bringing his trademark "hi-de-ho" refrain to a new generation of audiences.

Hi-de-ho: The Life of Cab Calloway

This first biography of Jimmy McHugh captures a lively and significant contributor to American songwriting. Creator of favorite tunes such as "I'm in the Mood for Love" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street," McHugh was a one-man history of twentieth-century popular music: in his prolific composing career, he wrote songs for Duke Ellington, Shirley Temple, Bobby Breen, Carmen Miranda, Deanna Durbin, Frank Sinatra, Ethel Waters, Adelaide Hall, and scores of other entertainers. His last works were turned into smash hits by Pat Boone and Fats Domino, making McHugh one of the few musicians to have written successfully for numerous genres from ragtime to rock 'n' roll.
Following McHugh from humble Irish-American beginnings in Boston to eventual success in New York, Europe, and Los Angeles, Alyn Shipton deftly evokes the lively milieus of Tin Pan Alley, the Cotton Club, Broadway, and Hollywood. McHugh began his career in the classical world working alongside such superstars as Enrico Caruso, but he soon became a song plugger for Irving Berlin and began writing his own popular songs during World War I. He crossed the color line frequently, writing revues for African American casts at the Cotton Club as well as for Gertrude Lawrence, Bob Crosby, and Florenz Ziegfeld. He and his songwriting partner Dorothy Fields were also among the first to create Hollywood musical films.
In the 1940s, McHugh began heroic efforts at fundraising for the war effort and for the crusade against polio, and as a result he became a leading member of the Beverly Hills community. His involvement extended to the East Coast as well, as he had political and friendly social ties in New England politics and with the Kennedy family in particular, and he also wrote the official state song of Massachusetts. He continued to write songs for shows, movies, and revues and managed up-and-coming singers late in his life.

I Feel a Song Coming On: The Life of Jimmy McHugh (Music in American Life)

University of Illinois Press

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

Books by Shipton, Alyn

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

Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter

Jazz Makers: Vanguards of Sound (Oxford Profiles)

Hi-De-Ho: The Life of Cab Calloway

Groovin' High: The Life of Dizzy Gillespie

A Life in Jazz

The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets (OXFORD STUDIES IN RECORDED JAZZ SERIES)

The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets (OXFORD STUDIES IN RECORDED JAZZ SERIES)

Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter

Hi-de-ho: The Life of Cab Calloway

I Feel a Song Coming On: The Life of Jimmy McHugh (Music in American Life)