Book Description

Soul evolved from gospel and blues to speak to an entire generation—black and white—about the importance of pride, freedom, determination, and R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Nowhere to Run examines the lives behind the legends of soul with energy, warmth, and emotion—the same qualities that characterized songs such as ”Baby, I Need Your Loving,” ”Papa's Got a Brand New Bag,” and ”I Heard It Through the Grapevine.” Author Gerri Hirshey takes us on a bus tour with the Temptations and on the backroads of rural Georgia with James Brown. Diana Ross reminisces about her lean teen years in Detroit; at home in California, ex-Supreme Mary Wilson fills out the story. ”The Wicked” Wilson Pickett tells his best stories long after the midnight hour in a New York City dressing room. And Michael Jackson, driving his Camaro and singing along to the radio, talks about opening shows for the great soul acts when he was a child.But soul faded, giving way to disco, rap, and black pop. And the artists who once captured the heart of the world soon had, as Martha and the Vandellas' 1965 hit put it, “Nowhere to run to baby, nowhere to hide.” In this enthralling narrative, Gerri Hirshey captures the triumphs and failures of soul like no one else before or since, telling the soul story through the eyes of those who lived the dream—and the often harsh reality.