Mark Ribowsky

A soul icon and the southern music he helped popularize come to life in this moving requiem. When he died in one of rock's string of tragic plane crashes, Otis Redding was only twenty-six, yet already the avatar of a new kind of soul music. The beating heart of Memphis-based Stax Records, he had risen to fame belting out gospel-flecked blues in stage performances that seemed to ignite not only a room but an entire generation. If Berry Gordy's black-owned...

"The first biography of soul pioneer Isaac Hayes, whose groundbreaking music provided the foundation for hip-hop and a new racial paradigm."--Amazon.

The first definitive biography of music legend Stevie Wonder, "Signed, Sealed, and Delivered" takes an in-depth look at Stevie Wonder's life and his evolution from kid-soul pop star into a mature artist whose music helped lay the groundwork for the evolution of hip hop and rap.

In 1970 a scraggly, antiheroic man from North Carolina by way of Massachusetts began presenting a comforting yet biting new sound. Within a year, when young ears sought the latest in rock, there was "Fire and Rain" and "You've Got a Friend," and a new Southern California-fed branch of pop music. James Taylor was its reluctant leader. Remarkably, Taylor has survived: his 2015 release, Before This World, edged out Taylor Swift and went to No. 1 on the...

"For generations, American athletes have enjoyed the ever-escalating celebrity lavished upon them when they combine on-the-field talent with off-the field charisma, but never before have we seen as transformative a sports dynasty as the Mannings: a bloodline of strong arms, Southern values, and savvy business instincts--each man compelling in his own right, made whole by family. But how, in just fifty years, did this private trio achieve football...

The Supremes is a sprawling tale of unforgettable music, cutthroat ambition, and heartbreaking betrayal. Mark Ribowsky explodes Dreamgirl fantasies by taking the reader behind the closed doors of Motown to witness the rise of group leader Diana Ross, the creation of timeless classics like 'Where Did Our Love Go?" and the dramatic power struggles within Detroit's fabled music factory.

The Everly Brothers-aka Don and Phil to fans with an intimate appreciation for them-seemed to exist almost as an apparition. Emerging within the formative era for young Baby Boomers during the blandly regimented '50s, they were a ubiquitous presence, clad in snug suits and skinny ties, hair neatly Brylcreemed, never raising their voices when they sang. The two prim-looking country boys with dark, curiously penetrating eyes and perfectly merged, honey-dipped...

A deeply misunderstood sports legend, once the most hated and loved man in America, gets his due in this absorbing, revelatory biography.

Everyone knows Yogi Berra, the American icon. He was the backbone of the New York Yankees through ten World Series Championships, managed the National League Champion New York Mets in 1973, and had an ingenious way with words that remains an indelible part of a lexicon. But no one knew him as his family did. It chronicles of his unshakeable bond with his father, as well as an intimate portrait of one of the great sports figures of the Twentieth Century....