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Benjaminson, PeterBenjaminson, Peter | Alt 1
Benjaminson, PeterBenjaminson, Peter | Alt 1

Peter Benjaminson

Peter Benjaminson is the author of The Lost Supreme, Death in the Afternoon: America's Newspaper Giants Struggle for Survival, Secret Police: Inside the New York City Department of Investigation,The Story of Motown, Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Mowtown's First Superstar, and Super Freak: The Life of Rick James, and is the coauthor of Investigative Reporting. He is a former reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Detroit Free Press.
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Titles by Peter Benjaminson

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Titles Found: 3
Mary Wells
Mary Wells (4 Formats) ›
By Peter Benjaminson
Trade Paper Price 16.99

Trade Paper, PDF, EPUB, Mobipocket

Published Apr 2016

Complete with never-before-revealed details about the sex, violence, and drugs in her life, this biography reveals the incredibly turbulent life of Motown artist Mary Wells. Based in part on four hours of previously unreleased and unpublicized deathbed interviews with Wells, this account delves deeply into her rapid rise and long fall as a recording artist, her spectacular romantic and family life, the violent incidents in which she was a participant, and her abuse of drugs. From tumultuous affairs, including one with R&B superstar Jackie Wilson, to a courageous battle with throat cancer that climaxed in her gutsiest performance, this history draws upon years of interviews with Wells’s friends, lovers, and husband to tell the whole story of a woman whose songs crossed the color line and whose voice captivated the Beatles.

Super Freak
Super Freak (4 Formats) ›
By Peter Benjaminson
Cloth Price 28.99

Cloth, PDF, EPUB, Mobipocket

Published Mar 2017

Rick James played with Neil Young, self-produced his first album (later picked up by Motown), crossed rock and funk to come up with one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s, became one of the biggest pop stars of the era, turned a young white woman named Teena Marie into an R&B superstar, displayed an outrageously sex- and drug-filled lifestyle, was tried and found guilty of assaulting and imprisoning a young woman, went on to record new music that was compared to the Beatles’ White Album, and ended his life as a punch line for Dave Chappelle. James attempted to tell his own story—in two different books—but left out many incidents that reflected badly on his character. Now, based on court records, newspaper archives, and extensive interviews with dozens of family members, band members, friends, and lovers, here is the definitive biography of Motown’s most controversial superstar.
The Lost Supreme
The Lost Supreme (4 Formats) ›
By Peter Benjaminson
Trade Paper Price 16.99

Trade Paper, PDF, EPUB, Mobipocket

Published Sep 2009

In the months before she died, Florence Ballard, the spunky teenager who founded the most successful female vocal group in history—the Supremes—told her own side of the story. Recorded on tape, Flo shed light on all areas of her life, including the surprising identity of the man who raped her prior to entering the music business, the details of her love-hate relationship with Motown Records czar Berry Gordy, her drinking problem and pleas for help, a never-ending desire to be the Supremes’ lead singer, and her attempts to get her life back on track after being brutally expelled from the group. This is a tumultuous and heartbreaking story of a world-famous performer whose life ended at the age of 32 as a lonely mother of three who had only recently recovered from years of poverty and despair.