Description
American pop music is arguably this countrys greatest cultural contribution to the world and its singular voice and virtuosity were created by a shining thread of Black women geniuses stretching back to the countrys founding This is their surprising heartbreaking soaring storyfromone of the generations greatest most insightful most nuanced writers in pop culture Shea Serrano
Sparkling the overdue singing of a Black girls song with perfect pitch delicious to readOprah Daily
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR San Francisco Chronicle NPR The Root Variety Esquire The Guardian Newsweek Pitchfork She Reads Publishers Weekly
SHORTLISTED FOR THE PORCHLIGHT BUSINESS BOOK AWARD
A weave of biography criticism and memoir Shine Bright is Danyel Smiths intimate history of Black womens music as the foundational story of American pop Smith has been writing this history for more than five years But as a music fan and then as an essayist editor Vibe Billboard and podcast host Black Girl Songbook she has been living this history since she was a latchkey kid listening to Midnight Train to Georgia on the family stereo
Smiths detailed narrative begins with Phillis Wheatley an enslaved woman who sang her poems and continues through the stories of Mahalia Jackson Dionne Warwick Aretha Franklin Gladys Knight and Mariah Carey as well as the underconsidered careers of Marilyn McCoo Deniece Williams and Jody Watley
Shine Bright is an overdue paean to musical masters whose true stories and genius have been hidden in plain sightand the book Danyel Smith was born to write
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