Customer Reviews

The Andrews Sisters: A Biography and Career Record

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This terrific effort is jam-packed with details, information, sociology, chronology, scandal, reviews of performances and recordings from all stages of their career and an overall unabashed affection for the never-to-be-topped Andrews Sisters. To say that this author did his homework only begins to describe the vast accumulated data and the fun collage of material that is stuffed into this work. If this book is not definitive, it is about as close as any Andrews Sisters book is likely to get.
The only major missing element of this history is the lack of participation by the surviving Sister, Patty, who apparently did not respond to requests for an interview for this project. This lack of input from Patty is significant but the author provides key insights from many contemporaries close to the Sisters.
The price tag is a bargain for anyone interested in the best female vocalists of the 20th Century, their times, their struggles, their success and their joyous legacy of brassy, vibrant popular music. For Andrews Sisters collectors, this Book is the Dead Sea Scrolls!

This excellent book is likely to be the definitive volume on the

Andrews Sisters. The story is there and so is the career information with a complete discography, filmography,and listing of television and radio appearances. The wonderful photographs and discussion of their music as recorded and released on 78,album and CD is essential reading for fans of the sisters. If you want to know why Maxene and Patty were estranged, the reasons are given here and they sound logical if unfortunate and ultimately tragic. Patty Andrews chose not to be interviewed for this book and while one respects her decision, the book would probably have benefited from her contributions. However, this book is a winner and the author should win an award for a book that will probably never be equaled on this greatest of all female singing groups. Also, buy it on Amazon and save a few bucks BUT it is worth the money!

I read reviews of other Andrews Sisters books in several venues. None sounded good. I saw this book advertised in Classic Images/Films of the Golden Age, the definitive publications on famous entertainers of past times. I was delighted that Amazon had it or could get it.
The Greek sisters who had love/hate relationships with each other and were some of the best known singers of all times are enigmas. This book describes all their accomplishments, personalities, fights, foibles, and strengths. Other books were reviewed as just being lists of their professional products/songs. This book tells it all, including a little known fact about Maxine.
If you are a fan of this era, the Andrew Sisters, or just good writing, this is the book for you. It might seem a little pricey but it is huge. It is worth the price.
Dr. Kay in Houston

Nimmo's biography of The Andrews Sisters is excellent. While reading it I felt as if I was watching a film of their lives pass before me. His descriptive passages and many many quotes of the sisters including those close to them gives this book an immediacy not found in other biographies. We finally get a comprehensive history of the Andrews Sisters which features their early family life, their rise and being on the top in show business and their later years. The pace of this biography just takes off and keeps on going!

For the last 22 years of Maxene's life I was priviledged to be able to walk at her side. I watched her transform herself from "one of a..." to "I am me." For all of those 22 years Maxene was writing her autobiography. All of those pages are in storage, never having been published. Harry Arlo Nimmo has written the book that Maxene dreamed about for such a long time. And, Nimmo has created a beautiful tribute to these three fabulous sisters. Maxene would love it, believe me, she would love it.

The author has done an overall decent job in dissecting the Andrews Sisters rollercoaster career, however I was surprised that there were no photographs of sheet music or even a record album. Not even one. The singing trio released hundreds of albums over the decades, yet no photograph of an LP album cover in this book. I'd have liked to have seen what the first album cover looked like and even their final LP release.