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Best known for his polemic The Revolution Will Not Be Televised Gil Scott-Heron was a musical icon who defied characterization He tantalized audiences with his charismatic stage presence and his biting observant lyrics in such singles as The Bottle and Johannesburg provide a time capsule for a decade marked by turbulence uncertainty and racism While he was exalted by his devoted fans as the black Bob Dylan a term he hated and widely sampled by the likes of Kanye West Prince Common and Elvis Costello he had never really achieved mainstream success Yet he maintained a cult following throughout his lifeeven as hegrappled with the personal demons that fueled so many of his lyrics Scott-Heron performed and occasionally recorded well into his later years until eventually succumbing to his life-long struggle with addiction He passed away in the end to what had become a hermit-like existenceIn this biography Marcus Baram--a friend and acquaintance of Gil Scott-Herons--will trace thevolatile journeyof a trouble musical genius From southern roots in Tennessee toNew York City hell chartScott-Herons odyssey a drug addicts twisted path to redemption and enduring fame In Gil Scott-Heron Pieces of a ManMarcus Baram puts the complicated icon into full focus.



About the Author

Marcus Baram

MARCUS BARAM is a senior news editor at Fast Company and a former editor at the New York Observer, The Wall Street Journal, and the Huffington Post. He has also worked at the New York Daily News and ABC News, and has written for The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York magazine, Vibe, The Village Voice, and the New York Post. He's also waited on tables, bartended, deejayed at nightclubs, driven an ice cream truck and taught elementary school. This is his first book.



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