Miss Rhythm; The Autobiography of Ruth Brown, Rhythm and Blues Legend

viii, 360 pages. Illustrations. Inscribed on the half-title page To "Pam" with all my love & thanks, Ruth Brown. Introduction, Discography, and Index. Chapters include Peppermint and Pickles, "Look What the Mailman Brung!"; Forces' Sweetheart; "The Girl Is Dead"; Ahmet, Herb, and Me; Lighthouse Keeping; With Mr. B and the Count; The "Great" Bundini; Oh, What a Dream; Rock Children; Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean; Mrs. Showbiz; "Nurse Blunt"; Redd Foxx to the Rescue; Bundini Returns; Swanson Too; A Brand-New Bitch; Black and Blue; Howell in Action; On Capitol Hill; motormouth Meets Jesse Jackson; Hall of fame; Skeletons in the Closet; Love of My Life; Atlantic Settles; "Ain't No Band Playin' This Time"; Long Live Royalty Reform; My Way of Evangelizing. Ruth Brown is the recipient of a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Broadway Musical ("Black and Blue"), a Grammy for Best Jazz Album, the NAACP Image Award, and numerous gold records. In 1994 she was inducted into the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame. Andrew Yule is the author of the biographies of Sean Connery: From 007 to Hollywood Icon; Life on the Wire: The Life and Art of Al Pacino; and Richard Lester and the Beatles, all published by Donald I. Fine, Inc. He divides his time between his home in Ayrshire, Scotland, and New York City. Told here in her own words, this is a story of trial and triumph, and of chart-topping success in spite of seemingly impossible odds. Ruth Brown (1928 - 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and actress, sometimes known as the "Queen of R&B". This candid, revealing autobiography is the true story of a rhythm-and-blues legend, her music, her landmark confrontation with a major record label, and her incredible and much lauded comeback as one of the music scene's most dynamic and versatile performers. Derived from a Kirkus review: A key figure in rhythm and blues looks back on her turbulent past with the help of film journalist Andrew Yule. Ruth Brown from childhood harbored dreams of being a professional singer, dreams that her religious but hard-drinking father adamantly opposed. In adolescence, Brown managed to begin a singing career on the sly, even sneaking off to New York, where she won the talent contest at the Apollo Theater's legendary amateur night. She met Blanche Calloway (Cab's sister), who gave her some polish and poise. Calloway hooked her up with Atlantic Records, then a nascent firm specializing in ``race'' records. Atlantic would become known over the next several years as the ``House that Ruth Brown built,'' as she landed one hit R&B number after another. In the meanwhile, she suffered from a succession of faithless husbands, the effects of a car accident that broke both her legs in several places, and finally, a classical '50s suburban marriage that brought her career to a halt for several years. Much of the second half of the book is taken up with her lengthy battle with Atlantic to get a fair share of the money she had helped the company earn in the 1950s, counterposed with her comeback in the 1980s, which was climaxed by a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway show Black and Blue. Brown's ultimately successful battle to win monetary justice for herself and other aging R&B stars and her startling recollections of traveling throughout the segregated South lift this above the usual run of show-biz bios.…