Overview

The bestselling author of Shakey: Neil Young's Biography presents the first in-depth biography of the legendary soul singer Al Green. Al Green has blessed listeners with some of the biggest hits of the past fifty years. Love and Happiness, I'm Still in Love with You, Let's Get Married, and I'm Tired of Being Alone are but a sampling of the iconic songs that led a generation to embrace love in perhaps the most tumultuous period in this country's history, an unparalleled body of work that has many calling Green one of the greatest soul singers of all time. The music legend has sold over 20 million albums and been sampled by numerous rappers, and even President Obama has been known to sing a chorus or two. The now-Bishop Green is without a doubt one of the most beloved yet inscrutable figures ever to grace the popular music stage, and he has managed to magically sidestep being successfully scrutinized in print. Until now. Acclaimed journalist and author Jimmy McDonough expertly tackles this most elusive of subjects and aims to present readers with the definitive portrait of a man everyone knows but few understand. McDonough manages to break through Green's joyous veneer to reveal the contrary, tortured, and solitary individual beneath, a man who spent decades dancing an uneasy tightrope between the sacred and the profane. From his childhood in the backwaters of Arkansas to commanding the stage in front of throngs of lusting fans to addressing a very different audience from the pulpit of his own church, readers will bear witness to the creation of some of the most electrifying soul music ever recorded; learn the hitherto untold real story behind Green's colorful down-home Memphis label, Hi Records; and-by way of countless in-depth interviews with major players in the story, some speaking for the very first time-unravel one of the last great mysteries in popular music: Al Green.

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9781478990154

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Reviews

McDonough has taken on the challenge of a lifetime: explaining the enduring mystery of Al Green. A compulsively readable and often disquieting tale, Soul Survivor helps us understand the mass of contradictions that comprise the Reverend's life story, as well as the warring factions that continue to battle within his heart and mind. A truly remarkable look at Al Green's soul-the music and the man. -- Bob Mehr, author of Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements McDonough scrutinizes the inscrutable and finds many Al Greens...McDonough dives deep, bringing us the songs, the players, the loves, and the tragedies. This is a book where the surprises never end. -- Robert Gordon, author of Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion McDonough's sharp critical insights into Green's albums and songs energize the book...Green emerges from McDonough's biography as a gifted singer whose insecurities and inability to live comfortably between the secular and sacred worlds express themselves in his music and his sermons. -- Publishers Weekly Narrator J. D. Jackson provides a perfectly suited narration-hip, urbane, articulate, polished, and musical. -- AudioFile

Author Information

Jimmy McDonough is a journalist and biographer best known for his biographies of Tammy Wynette, Neil Young, Russ Meyer, and Andy Milligan. McDonough lives in the Pacific Northwest. J. D. Jackson is a theater professor, aspiring stage director, and award-winning audiobook narrator. He is a classically trained actor, and his television and film credits include roles on House, ER, Law & Order, Hack, Sherrybaby, Diary of a City Priest, and Lucky Number Slevin. He is the recipient of more than a dozen Earphones Awards for narration and an Odyssey Honor for G. Neri's Ghetto Cowboy, and he was also named one of AudioFile magazine's Best Voices of the Year for 2012 and 2013. An adjunct professor at Los Angeles Southwest College, he has an MFA in theater from Temple University.

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