Harlem to Hollywood (Audible Audio Edition) Billy Vera Backbeat Books Books
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This is the extraordinary story of singer/songwriter/actor/music historian Billy Vera, suburban child of a showbiz family who fell in love with black music at an early age. We follow his journey as he plays the Times Square mafia-owned clubs by night and works as a staff songwriter by day, penning tunes for the likes of Ricky Nelson, Fats Domino, and the Shirelles, before finally writing one for himself and gospel singer Judy Clay. His dream comes true as the duo plays to standing ovations at Harlem's Apollo Theatre. With the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. and the arrival of the Woodstock generation, the change in the culture renders blue-eyed soul singers like Vera irrelevant and a decade of '70s survival gigs ensues, until Dolly Parton's version of one of his songs hits number one. Relocating to Los Angeles, our hero forms a band, Billy Vera and the Beaters, and finds career renewal in the form of a hit record and a side career as an actor. At the ripe old age of 42, he finds himself with a number-one record, followed by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and eventually a Grammy award, all without ever falling into the musician's trap of drugs or alcohol (we told you this isn't your typical musician's tale.) This is the story of a true musician who held on to his art through highs and lows. Along the way, we see a history of the music business of the 1960s, '70s, and '80s as told by one who lived it and sustained his work through all of it.
Harlem to Hollywood (Audible Audio Edition) Billy Vera Backbeat Books Books
I recommend this book for many reasons but in particular, it’s a *must read* for anyone who aspires to be successful in show business. Sure, we know Billy Vera for memorable achievements like his hits “Storybook Children” and “At this Moment,” his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and his Grammy Award. But in between those mountaintop experiences, there were plenty of career valleys which Vera describes in this book, as he struggled to keep a toe-hold on the ladder of success in an industry where musical tastes seem to change like the weather. At one point he was living in a single room in NYC with no heat or running water and at another needed to move back in his with his mother during the “cultural desert” of the ‘70s and ‘80s when his distinct blue-eyed soul style fell out of favor with a fickle public. Throughout his lifetime, Vera turned to acting, producing, announcing, songwriting, and lots of dead-end gigs as necessary to pay the bills while seeking recognition for his formidable songwriting and performance talents. This tenacity and dogged determination to excel is a consistent theme with many artists who have struggled to achieve success in a profession that can very quickly chew you up and spit you out.A career in show business was perhaps inevitable for Vera. With two parents involved in broadcasting and the entertainment industries, Vera had met more celebrities by the age of 16 than most people will meet in several lifetimes. Vera mentions these encounters in the book but he also describes the many colorful characters of lesser fame he crossed paths with during his long career. Vera pulls no punches and doesn’t hesitate to tell a few tales or call someone a jerk if they deserve it, including some big-name celebrities that may surprise you.
Vera has an amazing ability to lay out precise details of events over his more than five decades as a performer, which makes me think he either kept a detailed diary over those years or that he has a flypaper memory to which anything and everything sticks. The book is replete with anecdotes about events big and small, collaborations with some of the biggest names in music, romances, gigs, brushes with organized crime, shysters, drunks, hustlers, and how he came to be a prodigious curator of great old music. In many ways, this book is as much about the evolution of music industry since the 1950s as it is about Vera himself. Thankfully, Vera has added a 16-page index at the end of the book to help readers easily locate the many people, places and things he covers in his life story. There are also a number of belly-laughs in this book such as when Vera discloses how the Beaters got their name, or how he was rescued from a scary confrontation by the Shirelles’ gay bodyguard. Vera is not politically correct nor does he display a big ego, which adds to the enjoyability of the book as he throughout demonstrates a refreshing disrespect for pretense along with a strong sense of tolerance and acceptance of people who may not fit the norm.
Billy Vera and I grew up in the same area of New York where we had a number of friends in common, so I thought I knew something of his life story. But after I read this skillfully-written book, I realized I had seen just the tip of the iceberg. This book details Billy’s roller coaster ride of a career from its high points (opening act at the Apollo to winning a Grammy) and everything in between. And when I closed the back cover, I couldn’t help but feel that the final chapter on this wonderfully entertaining story has still not been written – and that we still have a lot to hear from Billy Vera.
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Harlem to Hollywood (Audible Audio Edition) Billy Vera Backbeat Books Books Reviews
Fortunately I got my hard back copy soon after it came out (and my autograph) from the artist who performed one of my top 10 favorite heart wrenching songs of all times, "At This Moment". Here is a guy who remained real for all these years, was smart (wait till you read his documented life and all the great musical history he is a part of in this book), he had the courage to keep it going in the quagmire that is show business and still has more to give to the world with his identifiable voice and sound, great lyrics and arrangements and all the extra surprises you will discover in the book.
I can't miss the opening of the TV reruns of "King of Queens" just to hear his opening theme song that gives us an inkling of what hilarity is coming during the next l/2 hour of Kevin James and Leah Remini's fun comedy.
On and on it goes, who knows what clever, yet undisclosed part of his talent he will spring on us next...I wonder what is his secret to keep such fun and optimism after a lot of years in "the biz"....you can't put this book down once you get into it..it's got music history and yes, some sex, music,family and all the elements of a great life.
I keep the CDs in my car and sometimes play songs over and over just to get "that feeling"...that feeling is what keeps us coming back to our favorite artists...he isn't done yet so hold stay tuned!!!
If you are someone who is acquainted with Billy Vera's work, and consider yourself a fan, then of course this book will interest you. There's no way it wouldn't. But if you aren't really familiar with what he's done over the course of his long career, a sentence on page 203 struck me as being quite significant, and just one example of why Billy Vera matters--and matters not just to people of his own generation. "For any of you contemplating a career in show business," Vera wrote, "I can't emphasize enough what my mother said about living below your means." In that same paragraph he refers to "my frugal ways." I wouldn't call this book a memoir, although it does amount to an autobiography. (Vera did not have a co-writer on this.) Billy Vera (born William McCord) is a name known to many music fans who lived in the New York City area in the '60s and '70s, and to ones living in the Los Angeles area in the '80s and '90s. At one time he made his living primarily by playing nightclubs and bars in the Tri-State area, and then in Southern California. His mother was a professional singer, his father a television announcer who worked for the NBC network. The occupations of his parents influenced his choice of career, but the book reveals how the young man's eventual success was hard-earned. A die-hard fan of rhythm 'n blues music, Vera (a stage name he adopted early on) seemed to always understand that a willingness to wear many different hats could be the key to ongoing employment as well as longevity. Along with his talents as singer, guitarist, and bandleader, Vera has also been a songwriter, musical director for other established acts (notably The Shirelles), record producer, radio show host, recording artist, and actor. One of his early songwriting partners was Chip Taylor (real name James Wesley Voight). Once he made the move to L.A., Taylor's brother, famed movie actor Jon Voight, suggested that Vera come to an acting class. He did, and that was the start of a whole new career direction. Vera played roles in theatre, film and TV, as well as later writing and singing TV theme songs (i.e., "The King of Queens") and eventually getting into voiceover work, where he's enjoyed great success also. Vera's insights about what to do and what not to do in this kind of life (he's always stayed away from drugs and alcohol, especially remarkable for someone who has spent so much time in and around nightclubs) are all throughout the book, even though what he's advocating is often implied. The wisdom accrued through 50 years in the business (the music business being just a part of the larger universe of show business) informs much of what Vera has here to tell. By the end of the book, Vera had not run out of steam. The last section is about the songs he wrote or co-wrote, and how he created them. This would be of particular interest to those who want to learn this craft, or to motivate themselves to go further in the songwriting game. The next-to-last section is the most poignant of the entire book. It is about Vera's little sister, Kathleen, who passed away right before the book was set to be published. A talented singer and songwriter in her own right, Kat McCord never found the kind of success her brother did, but neither was she ever jealous of her big brother Billy, who helped her out whenever he could. Vera shares his feelings about his sister and his mother, both of whom suffered from their addictions. But aside from his success, Vera also happily attests to his personal joys about being a father. I recommend Billy Vera's book to most people, because if you don't know him now, you will by the time you finish reading it. The only type of person I would not recommend it to is anyone who is too easily offended. The author's use of language isn't always so nice and polite. But then, if you are easily offended, as Vera could tell you, probably the last thing you ought to be contemplating is any kind of career in show business. But if you're all about the music, "Harlem To Hollywood" won't disappoint.
I recommend this book for many reasons but in particular, it’s a *must read* for anyone who aspires to be successful in show business. Sure, we know Billy Vera for memorable achievements like his hits “Storybook Children” and “At this Moment,” his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and his Grammy Award. But in between those mountaintop experiences, there were plenty of career valleys which Vera describes in this book, as he struggled to keep a toe-hold on the ladder of success in an industry where musical tastes seem to change like the weather. At one point he was living in a single room in NYC with no heat or running water and at another needed to move back in his with his mother during the “cultural desert” of the ‘70s and ‘80s when his distinct blue-eyed soul style fell out of favor with a fickle public. Throughout his lifetime, Vera turned to acting, producing, announcing, songwriting, and lots of dead-end gigs as necessary to pay the bills while seeking recognition for his formidable songwriting and performance talents. This tenacity and dogged determination to excel is a consistent theme with many artists who have struggled to achieve success in a profession that can very quickly chew you up and spit you out.
A career in show business was perhaps inevitable for Vera. With two parents involved in broadcasting and the entertainment industries, Vera had met more celebrities by the age of 16 than most people will meet in several lifetimes. Vera mentions these encounters in the book but he also describes the many colorful characters of lesser fame he crossed paths with during his long career. Vera pulls no punches and doesn’t hesitate to tell a few tales or call someone a jerk if they deserve it, including some big-name celebrities that may surprise you.
Vera has an amazing ability to lay out precise details of events over his more than five decades as a performer, which makes me think he either kept a detailed diary over those years or that he has a flypaper memory to which anything and everything sticks. The book is replete with anecdotes about events big and small, collaborations with some of the biggest names in music, romances, gigs, brushes with organized crime, shysters, drunks, hustlers, and how he came to be a prodigious curator of great old music. In many ways, this book is as much about the evolution of music industry since the 1950s as it is about Vera himself. Thankfully, Vera has added a 16-page index at the end of the book to help readers easily locate the many people, places and things he covers in his life story. There are also a number of belly-laughs in this book such as when Vera discloses how the Beaters got their name, or how he was rescued from a scary confrontation by the Shirelles’ gay bodyguard. Vera is not politically correct nor does he display a big ego, which adds to the enjoyability of the book as he throughout demonstrates a refreshing disrespect for pretense along with a strong sense of tolerance and acceptance of people who may not fit the norm.
Billy Vera and I grew up in the same area of New York where we had a number of friends in common, so I thought I knew something of his life story. But after I read this skillfully-written book, I realized I had seen just the tip of the iceberg. This book details Billy’s roller coaster ride of a career from its high points (opening act at the Apollo to winning a Grammy) and everything in between. And when I closed the back cover, I couldn’t help but feel that the final chapter on this wonderfully entertaining story has still not been written – and that we still have a lot to hear from Billy Vera.
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