Aretha's biography by Mark Bego was so interesting, light, breezy, well written and entertaining that I decided to continue with Mark Bego's work - I love celebrity biographies, specially about female performers (whom I always found more interesting that men, for some reason) and Bego writes well, with just right mix of fascination, affection and curiosity. Best of all, he is not evil biographer but seems a genuinely thrilled with stars and so far I have not encountered anything close to Kitty Kelley who is determined to expose flaws with her subjects - Bego always does his research job seriously but is respectful.
My very first introduction to Bette Midler was trough soundtrack of her movie "The Rose" - we are talking about early 1980s - back than I thought she was some bargain-basement version of Streisand and not even near her as a either singer or actress. With time I came to realize that they are in fact completely different artists - if Streisand was a modern-day Fanny Brice, Midler was modern-day Sophie Tucker. Both were jewish girls who started in music and moved to movies, but where Streisand in her heydays was probably the best singer in the world, Midler was actually outrageous stand-up comedienne with a decidedly vulgar shtick who could also occasionally sing. Yes, she recorded tons of albums and some of them even sold very well, though she was never considered truly great singer. Her main weapon were live concerts where she dazzled as a bawdy entertainer supported by mainly gay audience who particularly loved her offbeat, campy humor.
Bego's biography comes across as affectionate and written from a fan's point of view - he meticulously lists every step of Midler's surprisingly long and successful career, from her very early Broadway steps onwards, trough each single, album and movie she ever made. Its clear that he loves his subject and his contagious enthusiasm sent me to her music, though I don't always agree with him and still find Midler only a mediocre singer when compared to some other, more original voices. As much as I like her and find her funny, she always seemed a bit victim of her own campy image - in the movies she was over-the-top cartoon, in the music likewise. That her ballads occasionally present a softer, sentimental side of her just points that maybe a sensitive performer is buried somewhere under all those layers of vulgarity and bawdiness. I guess that privately Midler just might be completely different person that what people expect from her. She comes across as extremely likable and author has nothing bad to say about her - occasional nervous exhaustion and stress is all he hints at, which is natural coming from someone who juggles several projects simultaneously. I really only know her from movies and albums so all this details about public appearances, awards and gowns don't really seem very important in light of what counts finally - however, book is extremely detailed (updated in fact, from 1987 version) and probably a enjoyable experience for her fans. Since Midler continued strong even after the date of this book, it could easily be updated again as she doesn't show any signs of slowing down.
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