NCW Libraries

The Grammy Award-winning American soul and gospel singer and mother of Whitney Houston reflects on her daughter's life, the events that led up to her death and the aftermath of a senseless tragedy. Cissy has said little publicly about Whitney's heart-breaking death. Now she opens up and shares the unbelievable story of her daughter's life, as well as her own, and addresses Whitney's brightest and darkest moments. With candor and respect, she sets...

"On February 11, 2012, Whitney Houston was found submerged in the bathtub of her suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. In the decade since, the world has mourned her death amid new revelations about her relationship to her Blackness, her sexuality, and her addictions. Didn't We Almost Have It All is author Gerrick Kennedy's exploration of the duality of Whitney's life as both a woman in the spotlight and someone who often had to hide who she was. This...

"Taylor Swift always knew she wanted to be a country music artist, so at age thirteen, she convinced her parents to move their family out of Pennsylvania to Nashville. As a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, Taylor wrote songs about teenage heartbreak and fitting in with her peers, and she performed these and other tunes at open mic nights and karaoke events. Breaking into the music industry took longer than she expected because record executives...

"A biography of Nina Simone, an acclaimed singer whose music gave voice to the struggle for racial equality during the Civil Rights Movement"--

"To the rest of the world, Cass Elliot was a rock star: A charismatic, wisecracking singer from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted band, The Mamas & The Papas; A legend of Laurel Canyon, decked out in her custom-made Muumuus, glittering designer jewelry, blessed with a powerful, instantly identifiable singing voice which helped define the sound of the 1960s counterculture movement. But to Owen Elliot-Kugell, she was just Mom. In the nearly fifty...

"A tender and intimate memoir by one of the most remarkable, trailblazing, and tenacious women in music, the two-time Grammy Award-winning "premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation" (New Yorker), Rickie Lee Jones. Have you met Ms. Jones? One weekend night on primetime television, a then-unknown singer and vital part of the burgeoning Los Angeles jazz pop scene skyrocketed to fame overnight after a now- iconic performance on Saturday...

"A pioneering biography re-evaluating the life and legacy of trans cendent musician Karen Carpenter. When the Carpenters first toured Japan, a journalist mistakenly referred to Karen as the 'lead sister' of the band. This designation stuck and Karen liked it so much that she had a T-shirt custom-made with the slogan, which she wore while drumming on the band's 1976 world tour. The term also sums up the approach of this biography: a celebratory re-evaluation...

Linda Ronstadt has been an icon for more than 50 years. Her extraordinary vocal range and ambition created unforgettable songs across rock, pop, country, folk ballads, American standards, classic Mexican music, and soul. As the most popular female recording artist of the 1970s, Ronstadt filled huge arenas as no one had ever done and produced an astounding eleven platinum albums. Ronstadt was the first artist to top the Pop, Country, and R&B charts...

"Taylor Swift: su reputación la precede. Artista, compositora, actriz, directora, ganadora de miles de premios. En conclusión, una de las figuras más importantes de la industria musical hoy en día. Pero ¿cómo se ha transformado Taylor Swift en uno de los grandes iconos musicales del siglo XXI?? ¿Qué tiene su música para conseguir atrapar a tanta gente y despertar una fidelidad casi religiosa en sus seguidores? ¿Qué hay en sus letras para...