Back to reading and its a sort of reading renaissance for me, as at certain point I had a serious slump in reading and now this current year I am on fire. For me its all about the right choice, as I my "to read" pile is definitely bigger and more ambitious than realistic, so I simply have to select something that will not be a task but a pleasure. So far this year I swallowed a complete "Silo" trilogy by Hugh Howey and really enjoyed some random choices, like Nigerian writer Nuzo Onoh, horror works by Robert McCammon and Stephen King, even glanced at historical fiction (Jennifer Saint) but curiously, I stayed away from my real, true love - music biographies. Knowing that this is something I easily gravitate towards, I kind of control this impulse, otherwise my reading list would be just celebrity memoirs. (I did sneaked in a book about Phil Spector and one by Nick Tosches on my reading list this year, but they were short and not demanding) At this point, it looks as I am deserving a threat for myself so I took autobiography of P.P. Arnold and, unsurprisingly, swallowed the whole darn thing in just a few days.
As a lifelong fan of Tina Turner I am aware of the majority of people who were in her orbit, so I knew about P.P. Arnold - she was one of The Ikettes who was convinced (by Mick Jagger, no less) to stay in UK and try a solo career, instead of going back home. For one glowing moment, Arnold was in the spotlight, with two hits to her name: "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (written by young and upcoming Cat Stevens) and "Angel of the Morning" - but the hits, along the music career, eventually fizzled away and she spent decades floating between UK and US, trying to put her career back on track.
Even if Arnold herself was just a footnote in 1960s pop, "Soul Survivor: The Autobiography" bursts with fascinating anecdotes and insights of music business of swinging London - simply by being an Ikette, she was instantly fascinating to most of UK audiences who idolised black American artists. She was there with Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones, Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, George Harrison, The Bee Gees, Lulu and the list goes on forever. There are many interesting stories and observations, but sadly, the book eventually changes tone and becomes quite somber and cautionary, even as Arnold keeps a brave face and philosophically accepts her lot. What strikes me the most fascinating here is the understanding that the talent itself is not enough - it is assumed - but for a success, one needs much more, like right contacts, management, connections and the whole decision how to present yourself not just to audiences but to a musicians as well. It makes one appreciate even more, the later renaissance of Tina Turner who could easily have been just another forgotten casualty, but managed to break away and bulldoze her way to the top again.
"On the way back, we stopped at a quaint little pub off the motorway and sat in the garden for high tea: smoked salmon sandwiches, scones with preserves and clotted cream and of course tea. Marianne was in one of her ‘Lady of the Manor versus the Ghetto Mistress’ moods and began bitchily comparing my Watts roots with hers as daughter of a baroness. I was in no mood to put up with this and simply ignored her. I didn’t want to get into an argument in front of the children. I was hungry and refused to let her spoil the afternoon. Back at Cheyne Walk, I was surprised when Mick rushed Marianne into the house to a waiting doctor, who gave her an injection. This may have explained her behaviour. She needed her drugs and was having withdrawals."
"In 1968, Maurice Gibb had fallen in love with the singer Lulu and she and the family desperately wanted Barry to produce her with Maurice, but she was not Barry’s cup of tea and he had no intention of doing so. She very much wished to be Britain’s female soul favourite. I was this American outsider and she sometimes showed up at our sessions and put out very negative energy, showing me no love at all. By contrast, Dusty Springfield, who was Britain’s actual female soul favourite, was always warm and friendly with me."
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