This is a fascinating inside story about one prolific songwriter's experience working for the famed Motown Records and directly with Motown's founder Berry Gordy. It is an interesting look into the actual contracts between Mr. Gordy and his talented ""family"" of musicians told by one of the most famous songwriters of his time. If Motown didn't grow to be the success it is today, Motown's royalty contract-work-for-hire-compensation would be fair under the circumstances. The difficulty comes when Mr. Gordy's success as a businessman exceeds every possible prediction. The FAME WITHOUT FORTUNE story begins in 1959 with Al Cleveland as a young man who makes the hard choice to leave his wife and children behind in order to chase his dreams of being a singer and a songwriter. It follows him through the trials of New York City and putting up with discrimination on the ""Chitlin' Circuit."" There he has an adulterous affair sending the final blow to his marriage. A short time later, he marries his second wife and Al's big break seemed to come when he signed up with Motown Records under Berry Gordy. He was writing number-one songs for stars such as Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye. All along his fame grew, but he was not receiving pay for them. Instead he received headaches, heartaches, excuses, and IRS raids. He left Motown and toured with famous artists, but during that time, there was little room for a black songwriter to make a living. Al had to return to Motown to stay in the business.

This is a fascinating inside story about one prolific songwriter’s experience working for the famed Motown Records and directly with Motown’s founder Berry Gordy. It is an interesting look into the actual contracts between Mr. Gordy and his talented “family” of musicians told by one of the most famous songwriters of his time. If Motown didn’t grow to be the success it is today, Motown’s royalty contract—work-for-hire—compensation would be fair under the circumstances. The difficulty comes when Mr. Gordy’s success as a businessman exceeds every possible prediction. The FAME WITHOUT FORTUNE story begins in 1959 with Al Cleveland as a young man who makes the hard choice to leave his wife and children behind in order to chase his dreams of being a singer and a songwriter. It follows him through the trials of New York City and putting up with discrimination on the “Chitlin’ Circuit.” There he has an adulterous affair sending the final blow to his marriage. A short time later, he marries his second wife and Al’s big break seemed to come when he signed up with Motown Records under Berry Gordy. He was writing number-one songs for stars such as Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye. All along his fame grew, but he was not receiving pay for them. Instead he received headaches, heartaches, excuses, and IRS raids. He left Motown and toured with famous artists, but during that time, there was little room for a black songwriter to make a living. Al had to return to Motown to stay in the business.

EBONY is the flagship magazine of Johnson Publishing. Founded in 1945 by John H. Johnson, it still maintains the highest global circulation of any African American-focused magazine.

Despite his hard-knock beginnings, Polar Bear is finicky about his newfound fame. Will nine lives be enough for him to answer all his fan mail? This tale of two curmudgeons will tickle the fancy of everyone who has ever been owned by a cat. And it doesn't end here-Polar Bear's fans won't want to miss the third and most poignant installment of the trilogy: The Best Cat Ever.

One of The Telegraph's Best Music Books 2011 We live in a pop age gone loco for retro and crazy for commemoration. Band re-formations and reunion tours, expanded reissues of classic albums and outtake-crammed box sets, remakes and sequels, tribute albums and mash-ups . . . But what happens when we run out of past? Are we heading toward a sort of culturalecological catastrophe where the archival stream of pop history has been exhausted? Simon Reynolds, one of the finest music writers of his generation, argues that we have indeed reached a tipping point, and that although earlier eras had their own obsessions with antiquity—the Renaissance with its admiration for Roman and Greek classicism, the Gothic movement's invocations of medievalism—never has there been a society so obsessed with the cultural artifacts of its own immediate past. Retromania is the first book to examine the retro industry and ask the question: Is this retromania a death knell for any originality and distinctiveness of our own?

Thirty-Three and a Third is a series of short books about critically acclaimed and much-loved albums of the past 40 years. Over 50,000 copies have been sold! "Passionate, obsessive, and smart." -Nylon "...an inspired new series of short books about beloved works of vinyl." -Details Franklin Bruno's writing about music has appeared in the Village Voice, Salon, LA Weekly, and Best Music Writing 2003 (Da Capo). He has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from UCLA, and his musical projects include Tempting: Jenny Toomey Sings the Songs of Franklin Bruno (Misra) and A Cat May Look At A Queen (Absolutely Kosher), a solo album. He lives in Los Angeles.