Tragic Country Queen: The Biography of Tammy Wynette - Rilegato

Mcdonough, Jimmy

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 1847370624 ISBN 13: 9781847370624

Casa editrice: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2010

Riassunto

We all know the anthem, 'Stand By Your Man', that Tammy took to the top of the charts but few know the staggering story of the woman behind the song. Virginia Wynette Pugh was born into a poor family in Mississippi but was blessed with an astonishing singing voice. She always believed in her talent so, when her first marriage was breaking down, she bundled her three children into her car and roared off to make her name in the capital of Country music, Nashville. An overnight success, Wynette took the persona of the tortured housewife and turned it into hit records. Yet Tammy never found the idealized love she desperately yearned for, and her soap opera life included five husbands (one marriage lasting only forty-four days); four kids; thirty-plus operations; a monstrous addiction to painkillers; and even a bizarre unsolved kidnapping attempt that some insiders suggest Tammy might have staged herself. Her tragic death at age 55 shocked her fans but not those who knew of her health and addiction problems. Then the final indignity: her family had Wynette's body exhumed a year after her passing to ascertain the cause of her demise, yet the death has never been fully explained. Jimmy McDonough has been a true fan of Tammy all his life and has spent years researching the singer's story. TRAGIC COUNTRY QUEEN is the definitive biography of this complex and often contradictory artist. The author interviewed musicians, producers, fellow Country music superstars, ex-husbands, and family members (many who speak publicly for the first time). He reveals Tammy's mysterious and often desperate pre-Nashville days and her chaotic private life which included vast wealth, affairs, fires, overdoses, controlling husbands, pills, gunshots and fine music. 'The more I unearthed, the more haunting her music became,' writes McDonough. Funny, heartbreaking and remarkably researched, Tragic Country Queen is the book on the queen of country music.

Su questo libro

Recensione

‘Who was she? Who was this woman who sang: ‘Stand by your man’, but who couldn’t stand by anyone, least of all herself? The woman who, even her adoring biographer admits, loved to spin ‘tall tales’ about her life?... The final chapters, detailing her marriage to her last husband, the controlling George Richey, are appalling. He sticks needles of medication in her arm, and forces her onto the stage to earn money. She crashes out in the tour bus, barely breathing and no one raises an eyebrow. When she dies, it seems inevitable. Be warned: Tragic Country Queen is not a jolly romp. It’s an anthem to a life destroyed’
Daily Mail 12/3
'McDonough wishes that the classic country formula – three chords, steel guitar and a sad song – hadn’t exhausted itself along with Wynette. But he reminds us that her tortured voice is now available at the click of a mouse, and he hopes that, “right about now one of her songs is getting some lost soul through a dark and lonely night.”’
Telegraph 20/3

Dalla seconda/terza di copertina

We all know the anthem, 'Stand By Your Man', that Tammy took to the top of the charts but few know the real story of the woman behind the song.
Tammy, born Wynette Pugh in Mississippi, bundled her three children into her car and, abandoning both a troubled marriage and a beauty shop job, roared off to make her name in the capital of country music, Nashville. An overnight success, Wynette took the persona of the tortured housewife and turned it into hit records, as well as high art. Yet Tammy never found the idealized love she desperately yearned for, and her soap-opera life included five husbands (one marriage lasting only forty-four days); four kids; thirty-plus operations; a monstrous addiction to painkillers; and even a bizarre unsolved kidnapping attempt that some insiders suggest Tammy might have staged herself. Her life grew increasingly weird and out of control until her tragic death at the age of fifty-five. Then came the final indignity: in an attempt to ascertain the cause of her demise (which has never been fully explained), Wynette's body was exhumed a year after her passing.

Jimmy McDonough has spent years researching Tammy Wynette's life and has written the definitive biography of this complex and often contradictory artist. He has interviewed hairdressers, bus drivers, musicians, producers, fellow country music superstars, ex-husbands, and family members (many speaking publicly for the first time). He's delved into Tammy's mysterious and often desperate pre-Nashville days and her chaotic, somewhat crazy, private life. The book also dissects Tammy's voluminous body of recordings, making a case for Wynette as a profound singer the equal of Billie Holiday or Edith Piaf.
Funny, heartbreaking, and ultimately as haunting as one of Wynette's ballads, Tammy Wynette is the book on the queen of country music.
£18.99

Author photo)
Jimmy McDonough is the author of Shakey: Neil Young's Biography, as well as biographies of Russ Meyer and Andy Milligan.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Data di pubblicazione: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1847370624
• ISBN 13: 9781847370624
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 304