By Gil Scott-Heron “Leave it to Scott-Heron to save some of his best for last. This posthumously published memoir, The Last Holiday, is an elegiac culmination to his musical and literary career. The last holiday by Gil Scott-Heron, unknown edition. His recent memoir, The Last Holiday was a 20-year work in progress when Gil Scott-Heron died last May, at the age of 62. It was originally written in the third person, but his editors thought this was problematic, and had him reframe into the first person.
Gil Scott Heron The Last Holiday Review
The stunning memoir of musician, songwriter, poet, and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner Gil Scott-Heron, the hardcover edition of The Last Holiday has received extraordinary attention both here and abroad. The Last Holiday provides a remarkable glimpse into Scott-Heron’s life and times, from his humble beginnings to becoming one of the most uncompromising and influential artists of his generation.
The memoir climaxes with a historic Stevie Wonder concert tour in which Scott-Heron’s band replaced Bob Marley as the opening act after Marley was diagnosed with cancer. The Hotter than July tour covered forty-one cities across America, drumming up popular support for the creation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday that would honor the great civil rights leader. King’s birthday, January 15, 1981, was marked with a massive rally in Washington.
Gil Scott Heron
The Last Holiday is a fitting testament to the career and achievements of an extraordinary man. These pages provide a deeply moving portrait of Scott-Heron’s close relationship with his mother, a heartfelt and highly personal recollection of Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Clive Davis, and other musical peers and acquaintances, and a compelling narrative vehicle for Scott-Heron’s keen insights into the music industry, the civil rights movement, modern America, governmental hypocrisy, and our wider place in the world. The Last Holiday confirms Scott-Heron as a fearless truth-teller, an unpretentiously powerful artist, and a bracing and inspiring observer of his times.
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