Faith In Time: The Life Of Jimmy Scott - Hardcover

Ritz, David

4.3

50 ratings by Goodreads

9780306810886: Faith In Time: The Life Of Jimmy Scott

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0306810883 ISBN 13: 9780306810886

Publisher: Da Capo Press, 2002

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Born in Cleveland in 1925, "Little" Jimmy Scott lost his mother at age thirteen, the same year he was diagnosed with Kallman's syndrome. The disease stunted his growth and earned him his nickname, but it also left him with a haunting voice, a mesmerizing voice. He soon built a following as a singer touring with Lionel Hampton's great orchestra in the '40s, then performed with many of the stars of the '50s, from Lester Young to Charlie Parker to Dinah Washington, and was signed by Savoy Records. He thought he had his big break when, in 1962, Ray Charles produced what was by all accounts Jimmy's best work, Falling in Love Is Wonderful. But when it was forced off the shelves by contract disputes, Scott worked as an orderly and clerk in Cleveland for almost two decades. Fans thought he was dead-until songwriter Doc Pomus's funeral in March of 1991.As Pomus had instructed in his will, Jimmy sang over his friend's coffin. High-pitched and androgynous, his voice seemed to come out of thin air, transcending gender and age, evoking pure heartbreak. No one knew who he was-heads turned, celebrities conferred, record executives were reduced to tears-until finally Lou Reed turned around and whispered, "He's Jimmy Scott, the greatest jazz singer in the world." And so he was. By the next morning, he had a record deal with Sire that relaunched his career with the masterpiece All the Way, and he has been performing to packed clubs ever since. With full cooperation from Jimmy, his siblings, spouses, and colleagues from Ray Charles to Ruth Brown, Faith in Time is at once an intimate biography, an invaluable history of a life that spanned big band to bebop to pop, and the poignant story of a man whose voice will live forever.

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About the Author:

David Ritz is the author of Faith in Time: The Life of Jimmy Scott, Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye, and many other books with or about Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, and B.B. King. He is a three-time winner of the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award. He lives in Los Angeles.

From Publishers Weekly:

Ritz, who has helped Ray Charles and Laila Ali write their autobiographies, now turns his attentive eye to the life of singer "Little" Jimmy Scott. Born in Cleveland in 1925, Scott grew up in a town bursting with clubs and theaters that showcased the touring jazz greats, from big band to the then-nascent bebop. While still a teenager, Scott finagled his way from a job as an usher at a Cleveland theater into singing a few numbers after Lester Young had performed. The audience was transfixed by his unearthly voice and clamored to know if he was a man or woman. Scott suffered from Kallman's Syndrome, which meant that his testicles never descended and his genitals never fully developed, keeping his voice in a high, haunting register. Never fully welcomed into the jazz world, Scott performed wherever and whenever he could over the decades. He sang with Lionel Hampton and Charlie Parker, recorded an album with Ray Charles and influenced a generation of singers from Frankie Valli to Marvin Gaye. But such occasional gigs never paid the bills and Scott kept taking odd jobs to support himself and his many poorly chosen spouses. A brief renaissance that came in the early 1990s offered the strange sight of the diminutive singer touring with Lou Reed and singing on an episode of Twin Peaks. Ritz keeps his distance, letting people like Reed, B.B. King, Quincy Jones, and especially the odd and feisty Scott himself, tell the story of a man caught between worlds and almost lost in time.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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