Before the Legend: The Rise of "New Kids on the Block" and . a Guy Named Maurice Starr: The Early Years: An Unauthorized Biography

Amber Communications Group, Inc.'s imprint Colossus Books has published Before the Legend: The Rise of New Kids on the Block and...a Guy Named Maurice Starr - The Early Years, a remarkable true story as told by author and former record producer Tony Rose, the primary architect along with Maurice Starr of the Roxbury/Boston Black Music Scene. On July 20th, 21st, 23rd and 24th at a sold out Giants Stadium, (1990), the New kids On The Block with their record producer and manager Maurice Starr, made a triumphant entrance into new York city. Their lives had been filled with hard work, determination, dedication, confidence, success and many failures, but they never lost their belief, love, and loyalty for Maurice Starr and one another. Theirs is a history filled with respect for people of all backgrounds, cultures and colors. This is the true story of the mean streets of Boston, its rappers, singers and dancers; the funk, pop, blues, rock and soul..the back alleys, down south and the recording industry. Five working-class boys living in the "blue collar districts" of Boston, called North Dorchester and Jamaica Plain, and a record producer from the black ghetto of Roxbury would go to the dizzying heights of the music world at a speed so phenomenal, that it shattered all existing record sales and concert tour sales. From the bottom, to the top, this is the true, undoctored, hard-hitting, fact-filled story of Donnie Wahlberg, Jordan Knight, Jonathan Knight, Danny Wood, Joe McIntyre.............. New Kids On The Block.........and a guy named Maurice Starr. "Come with me and let me tell you the true story, the real story, the only story. I was there"..Tony Rose. Tony Rose, was born and raised in the Whittier St. Housing Projects in Roxbury/Boston, Massachusetts. During the eighties, he held production deals with Virgin Records, Atlantic Records and Pavilion / CBS / Sony Records through his Solid Platinum Records and Productions, recording, producing and licensing numerous top ten records and albums throughout the world. His over thirty year friendship and musical collaborations with the legendary Maurice Starr and Boston music legend Prince Charles Alexander resulted in the albums "Gang War" and "Stone Killers" produced by Rose, sharing the charts with Michael Jackson's "Thriller" for six consecutive months in the number one, two and three positions throughout the world, and receiving a Gold and Platinum Albums and two Ampex Golden Reel Awards for recording and engineering, in his Boston-based Hit City Recording Studio, New Kids On The Block.

Tony Rose was born in Roxbury (Boston) Massachusetts and raised in the Whittier Street Housing Projects. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force after serving in the Vietnam War, and attended the University of Massachusetts, the University of California in Los Angeles and the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA. He was employed as a production assistant at the Burbank Studios (Warner Brothers and Columbia Pictures), in the accounting and sales division at Warner/Electra/Atlantic Records (WEA), an accounts representative at Warren Lanier Public Relations and as an A & R representative at RCA Records, Los Angeles, California.Rose returned to Boston and along with record producer Maurice Starr became the primary architect of that, which in the late 70's and 80's would be called "The Boston Black Music Scene" a movement that ultimately led to the discovery of the international blockbusters Prince Charles and the City Beat Band, The Jonzun Crew, New Edition and New Kids on the Block. In 1979 he formed Solid Platinum Records and Productions and in 1982 he was named one of the "Top Ten Record Producers in the World". Rose in the 80's held recording / production deals with Virgin Records, Atlantic Records and Pavilion / CBS/Sony RecordsRose was a successful Executive Producer, Record Producer, Record Company Owner, Personal Manager, Music Publisher, Recording Studio Owner, Recording Engineer, Song Writer and Composer for more than fifteen years. His Solid Platinum Records and Productions was the first African American production company to have a production deal with Virgin Records. In 1983, albums produced by Rose "Gang War" and "Stone Killers" by Prince Charles and the City Beat Band reached Gold Album status and shared the charts with Michael Jackson's Thriller for six consecutive months in the number one, two and three positions throughout the world and his legendary "Prince Charles and the City Beat Band" albums "Gang War", "Stone Killers", "Combat Zone" and singles, have accounted for more than Four Million sold worldwide. Rose's many music awards include "Gold" and "Platinum" Albums and "Ampex Golden Reel" Awards for recording and engineering New Kids on the Block. Rose, has also penned Before the Legend - The Rise of New Kids on the Block and ...A Guy Named Maurice Starr - The Early Years, published August 2008.Tony Rose is an NAACP Image Award Winner and the Publisher/CEO of Phoenix, AZ based, Amber Communications Group, Inc., the nation's largest African-American Publisher of Self-Help Books and Music Biographies; The 2013 44th Annual NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Literature; The 2015 First Read Expo Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Literary Work and Leadership; The Los Angeles Leimert Park Book Fair / Jessie Redmon Fauset Book Awards, "2014 African American Book Publisher of the Year"; and The Harlem Book Fair / Phillis Wheatley Book Awards "2013 African American Book Publisher of the Year".Tony Rose, recently wrote the critically acclaimed, international best-seller, the 2015 non-fiction book of the year, and a Top Ten, # Four, Best Black Book of 2015, "America the Black Point of View-An Investigation and Study of the White People of America and Western Europe & The Autobiography of an American Ghetto Boy-The 1950's and 1960's-From the Projects to NAACP Image Award Winner, Volume One". www.theblackpointofview.com- www.theghettoboy.com - America the Black point of View - Paperback