Street Player: My Chicago Story (Paperback or Softback)

With their distinctive blending of soulful rock and horn-infused urban jazz, Chicago has thrilled music fans for more than forty years with their lyrical brilliance. In this no-holds-barred memoir, legendary rocker Danny Seraphine shares his dramatic—and often shocking—experiences as the popular supergroup's cofounder and longtime drummer. He reveals behind-the-scenes anecdotes about Chicago’s beginnings as the house band at Los Angeles's legendary Whisky A Go Go, where they were discovered by music icons Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, and personal insights about the group’s many comebacks and reinventions over the years.

• Offers a lively inside account of the music and history of the perennially popular band Chicago, one of the most successful American bands ever with over 122 million albums sold, by the band’s cofounder and longtime drummer Danny Seraphine 
• Includes riveting tales and rare photographs from Seraphine's time on the road touring with performers including Dennis and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Bruce Springsteen 
• Candidly tackles many rumors about Chicago, including Mafia ties, accounting and payola scandals, and major drug abuse 
• Discusses the mysterious circumstances surrounding Seraphine's 1990 firing from the band as well as his comeback with his critically acclaimed new band, California Transit Authority 

Whether you're a diehard Chicago fan or just love a well-told rock-and-roll memoir, Street Player will entertain and surprise you.

In Street Player, legendary drummer Danny Seraphine, a founding member of the iconic band Chicago, tells the dramatic story of his rise from the very mean streets of Chicago to the pinnacle of rock fame and fortune in the 1960s, a watershed period in music history. In this riveting book, Seraphine offers vivid portraits of his fellow band members and reveals how Chicago differs from all other bands and why they have captured the hearts of millions of fans worldwide.

This lively inside story is filled with fascinating and colorful tales from Seraphine's time on the road. He recalls how his first meeting with Janis Joplin nearly turned into a fist fight (and how she sweetly apologized afterward), why Jimi Hendrix invited Chicago to tour with him, and how Hendrix, a former paratrooper, calmly reassured him during a very turbulent flight. He talks about touring with the Beach Boys, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, and other music legends. Seraphine's tales of learning and perfecting his craft, and of how he pushed his and the band's art to their limits and beyond, are told with an unforgettable passion and urgency.

Seraphine shares moving and heartfelt stories of his life. For example, in the winter of 1965, as a high school dropout, he stood alone in his mother's kitchen wondering what had happened to his dream. He had thought he would be a professional drummer by then, basking in the roar of applause and well on his way to a brilliant career. Instead, he could hear only echoes of the shotgun blast that nearly took his life the night before. He imagined a pointless future of street fights and felonies in which the best he could hope for was a low-level position in the Chicago Mafia. Knowing there was no way out, he was close to despair. Then the phone rang; the rest is music history.

And in this book, for the first time, Seraphine tells the painful story, from the heart, of close friend and cofounder Terry Kath's death and of Seraphine's traumatic 1990 firing from the band and the pain that he has only recently overcome.

Complete with dozens of photos from Chicago's early years, Street Player is an uncommonly powerful rock memoir that is easy to pick up and very hard to put down.