NCW Libraries

The touching, triumphant story of a young black man's journey from violence and despair to one of the world's most elite artistic institutions. In 2011, at the age of twenty-four, Ryan won a nationwide competition hosted by New York's Metropolitan Opera. Today, he is a rising star performing major roles at the Met and Europe's most prestigious opera houses.

"Brandi Carlile was born into a musically gifted, impoverished family on the outskirts of Seattle and grew up in a constant state of change, moving from house to house, trailer to trailer, fourteen times in as many years. Though imperfect in every way, her dysfunctional childhood was as beautiful as it was strange, and as nurturing as it was difficult. At the age of five, Brandi contracted bacterial meningitis, which almost took her life, leaving...

"Before Billy Porter was slaying red carpets and giving an iconic Emmy-winning performance in the celebrated TV show Pose; before he was the groundbreaking Tony and Grammy Award-winning star of Broadway's Kinky Boots, ... Porter was a young boy in Pittsburgh who was seen as different, who didn't fit in. At five years old, Porter was sent to therapy to 'fix' his effeminacy. He was endlessly bullied at school, sexually abused by his stepfather, and...

"From jazz and blues, hip hop and R&B, pop, punk, and opera, Black women have made major contributions to the history and formation of musical genres for more than a century. In this fully illustrated middle grade anthology, 50 strong, empowering, and inspiring Black women singers' bios will teach kids to follow their dreams, to think outside the box, and to push the boundaries of what's expected. Written by music writer and journalist Jordannah Elizabeth...

La historia jamás contada del ícono musical, Jenni Rivera, relatada a través de la perspectiva de dos exmánagers, Pete Salgado y Gabriel Vazquez. Este libro nos lleva al ojo del huracán y ofrece una perspectiva a las estrategias y momentos que llevaron a Jenni a los titulares nacionales. Salgado comparte quién era Dolores realmente, la que sus seguidores no conocían y nunca vieron en el escenario. Salgado y Vazquez ofrecen una mejor perspectiva...

Thirty years after rising to global stardom in The Wizard of Oz, showbiz legend Judy Garland arrives in London to perform a five-week sold-out run at The Talk of the Town. While preparing for the shows, Garland battles with management, reminisces with friends and adoring fans, and embarks on a whirlwind romance with soon-to-be fifth husband Mickey Deans, all while bravely struggling to overcome intensifying anxiety and physical decline.

Neither a conventional biopic nor a traditional concert film, this documentary is a raw and intimate portrait of the legendary folk singer and activist that shifts back and forth through time as it follows Joan on her final tour and delves into her extraordinary archive, including newly discovered home movies, diaries, artwork, therapy tapes, and audio recordings. Baez is remarkably revealing about her life on and offstage, from her lifelong emotional...

Meet famous music star Pharrell Williams!

"Tina Knowles, the mother of iconic singer-songwriters Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles, and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, is known the world over as a Matriarch with a capital M: a determined, self-possessed, self-aware, and wise woman who raised and inspired some of the great artists of our time. But this story is about so much more than that. Matriarch begins with a precocious, if unruly, little girl growing up in 1950s Galveston, the youngest...

Using the untold story of Christian music legend Russ Taff, it reveals how the redeeming power of the gospel can change hearts, save lives and hold a marriage together through the unimaginable obstacles of abuse, anger, shame and alcoholism.