Artist biographies that made you cry.

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I'm not a rockist, so usually I don't give a shit about the tragic fates of dead musicians. However, I recently read the biography of Jaco Pastorius, and that one really brought tears to my weary eyes. Has this ever happened to you?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 11:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The liner notes of Jackson C Frank's "Blues Run The Game" are farcically tragic.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 11:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Nick Drakes bio was sad.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 12:41 (twenty-three years ago)

Not a "biography" in the literary sense, but VH1's Driven special on Pink made me cry. You heard it here first.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 12:43 (twenty-three years ago)

Ronnie Spector's autobio (Be My Baby, I think?) made me cry. But it had a happy ending, and that was so powerful, knowing that she had been through so much, but it hadn't broken her. Especially when she whooped Phil's ass in court and got her millions. So it made me cry, but it filled me with hope. :-)

― kate, Wednesday, 26 March 2003 12:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Charlie Parker.

― maria b (maria b), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 16:37 (twenty-three years ago)

the article on Tom Cora's life,
in April's issue of The Wire,
did profoundly move me

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 23:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Bud Powell. What a tragedy.

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"People Funny Boy" was so bad it almost brought me to tears.

I think the only bio I read that really made me cry was Sam Cooke's though, "You Send Me". The bit at the end where he talks about Cooke's funeral and people leading "brother Ray" (as in Charles) up to play "He Was a Friend of Mine"... damn, that shit was sad.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:07 (twenty-three years ago)

a second vote for Nick Drake's...

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:16 (twenty-three years ago)

none music related have (Behind The Music-wise: the Cliff Burton Metallica one or the Motley Crue one when Vince Neil's daughter dies is the closest probably), but a book about Vic Morrow and two child extras' deaths on the set of the Twilight Zone made me tear up a little.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:23 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think I could ever read Without You: The Tragic Story of Badfinger. It'd be just too painful.

― Arthur (Arthur), Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Leif Garrett!

― Adam A. (Keiko), Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Okay, I didn't cry. That was pretty sad, tho

― Adam A. (Keiko), Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Call me a softy, but the Metallica behind the music choked me up, just a little, when they we're talking about Cliff Burtons final busride.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Thursday, 27 March 2003 04:08 (twenty-three years ago)

ODB's biography makes you laugh for a while, until the genuine
tragedy of this individual strikes home.

― Squirl Plise, Thursday, 27 March 2003 06:42 (twenty-three years ago)

I remember shedding a few tears at Smokey Robinson's ghost-written efforts. Can't recall what, probably how his fairytale childhood sweetheart romance all fell to shit because he became an evil cokemonster. Crap book though.

― Ian SPACK (Ian SPACK), Thursday, 27 March 2003 20:16 (twenty-three years ago)

My wife made fun of me for getting all emo during the 'Phil finally kicks the bucket' part of the Thin Lizzy Behind the Music. They interviewed his mom and she was crying, and...well, it wasn't pretty.

― Neudonym, Thursday, 27 March 2003 20:22 (twenty-three years ago)

i was one of the few people who was sentimentally touched by Ray Davies' X-Ray... i mean, if you don't feel the melancholic nostalgia of "Oklahoma USA" strictly from the record, the background stories will definitely shed some light on the emotional heaviness buried deep on the mid-period Kinks records.

and the kinks 2nd (3rd? 4th?) comeback record -- Come Dancing -- benefitted tremendously from this text. I can't listen to Don't Forget To Dance or Come Dancing without thinking of Ray's sister.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 28 March 2003 00:07 (twenty-three years ago)

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