Contains photographs and profiles of seventeen of the world's best known female rhythm and blues vocalists, including Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, and Anita Baker; based on the author's personal relationships with the women featured.

Personal portraits of over a dozen divine divas, from Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, and Diana Ross to Patti LaBelle, Anita Baker, and Natalie Cole. 40 illustrations.

Black Women’s Liberation Movement Music argues that the Black Women’s Liberation Movement of the mid-to-late 1960s and 1970s was a unique combination of Black political feminism, Black literary feminism, and Black musical feminism, among other forms of Black feminism. This book critically explores the ways the soundtracks of the Black Women’s Liberation Movement often overlapped with those of other 1960s and 1970s social, political, and cultural movements, such as the Black Power Movement, Women’s Liberation Movement, and Sexual Revolution. The soul, funk, and disco music of the Black Women’s Liberation Movement era is simultaneously interpreted as universalist, feminist (in a general sense), and Black female-focused. This music’s incredible ability to be interpreted in so many different ways speaks to the importance and power of Black women’s music and the fact that it has multiple meanings for a multitude of people. Within the worlds of both Black Popular Movement Studies and Black Popular Music Studies there has been a long-standing tendency to almost exclusively associate Black women’s music of the mid-to-late 1960s and 1970s with the Black male-dominated Black Power Movement or the White female-dominated Women’s Liberation Movement. However, this book reveals that much of the soul, funk, and disco performed by Black women was most often the very popular music of a very unpopular and unsung movement: The Black Women’s Liberation Movement. Black Women’s Liberation Movement Music is an invaluable resource for students, teachers, and researchers of Popular Music Studies, American Studies, African American Studies, Critical Race Studies, Gender Studies, and Sexuality Studies.

Rabaka explores funk as a distinct multiform of music, aesthetics, politics, social vision, and cultural rebellion that has been remixed and continues to influence contemporary Black popular music and Black popular culture, especially rap music and the Hip Hop Movement. The Funk Movement was a sub-movement within the larger Black Power Movement and its artistic arm, the Black Arts Movement. Moreover, the Funk Movement was also a sub-movement within the Black Women’s Liberation Movement between the late 1960s and late 1970s, where women’s funk, especially Chaka Khan and Betty Davis’s funk, was understood to be a form of “Black musical feminism” that was as integral to the movement as the Black political feminism of Angela Davis or the Combahee River Collective and the Black literary feminism of Toni Morrison or Alice Walker. This book also demonstrates that more than any other post-war Black popular music genre, the funk music of the 1960s and 1970s laid the foundation for the mercurial rise of rap music and the Hip Hop Movement in the 1980s and 1990s. This book is primarily aimed at scholars and students working in popular music studies, popular culture studies, American studies, African American studies, cultural studies, ethnic studies, critical race studies, women’s studies, gender studies, and sexuality studies.

Animals can be our heroes, our confidantes, our coaches, and our best examples of unconditional love. In Animal Prints on My Soul, we explore the human-animal bond through the experiences and stories of women. Featuring horses, dogs, cats, birds, and more, animal lovers will connect with these ordinary - yet extraordinary - stories of how animals impact our lives. Heartwarming, touching, and joyful, this book is a splendid gift for those who love animals. The stories of Healing, Connection, and Love & Loss also encourage us to pause and appreciate the wonderful gifts our animal friends bring us so we've provided deeper-dive prompts for those who would like to transform these blessings into inspiration for their own lives. Contributors to Animal Prints on My Soul: Healing The Wisdom of Horses - Angie Payne Whispers from an Angel - Daphne McDonagh My Healing Journey with Animals - Diane Rose-Solomon The Unicorn Search - Beth Lauren Parrish Healing Beauty - Ginny Jablonski Connection A Friend by My Side - Marla Patrick My First Best Friend - Deb Matlock For the Children - Lorie Murphey A Horse, a Boy, and Undying Love - Naomi McDonald Lessons from a Red-Tailed Hawk - Linda Roberts A Divine Communication - Esta Bernstein What It Means to Be a Red Barn Horse - Alexis Braswell Farm Girl Memories - Abigail Stimpert When God Says, "Wait." - Hannah Stimpert Letting Go and Holding On - Donna Palamar Gabriel's Story - Sharon Dilley 26 Marathons and My Trainer - Jo Dibblee Leadership in Flight - Haseena Patel Love and Loss Lead with Love - Kate Neligan Spirit Animals - Stef Skupin Country Life - Joyce Benning Expectations: People vs. Dogs - Katherine Jensen Becoming the Community Cat Lady - Kathy Lynn Mackison Grief, Death, and Dying - Tracy Pierce Horse, Heart, and Home - Ley-Anne Mountain When Fate Brings You Fur Kids - Jean Brannon

American soul music of the 1960s is one of the most creative and influential musical forms of the twentieth century. With its merging of gospel, R&B, country, and blues, soul music succeeded in crossing over from African American culture into the general pop culture. Soul became the byword for the styles, attitudes, and dreams of an entire era. Female performers were responsible for some of the most enduring and powerful contributions to the genre. All too frequently overlooked by the star-making critics, seven of these women are profiled in this book -Maxine Brown, Ruby Johnson, Denise LaSalle, Bettye LaVette, Barbara Mason, Carla Thomas, and Timi Yuro. Getting started during the heyday of soul, each of these talented women had recording contracts and gave live performances to appreciative audiences. Their careers can be tracked through the popularity of soul during the 1960s and its decline in the 1970s. With humor, candor, pride, and honest recognition that their careers did not surge into the mainstream and gain superstardom, they recount individual stories of how they struggled for success. Their oral histories as told to David Freeland address compelling issues, including racism and sexism within the music industry. They discuss their grueling hardships on the road, their conflicts with male managers, and the cutthroat competition in the recording business. As each singer examines her career with the author, she reveals the dreams, hopes, and desires on which she has built her professional life. All seven face up to the career swings, from the highs of releasing the first hit to the frustrating lows when the momentum stops. Although the obstacles to stardom are heartbreaking, these singers are committed to their art. With determination and style these seven have pressed onward with club appearances and recordings. They survive through their savvy mix of talent, hubris, and honesty about their lives and their music.