Bonnie Raitt: Just in the Nick of Time [Hardcover]

Mark Bego (Author), Joan Baez (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1995

A revealing look at the life of Bonnie Raitt chronicles the ups and downs of her career, showing how she broke away from her hard-drinking blues singer image, put her life back in order, and recorded her biggest album.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

It took Raitt over 20 years to make it big as a mainstream blues singer, and her struggles are chronicled in this unauthorized account by prolific celebrity biographer Bego (most recently as ghostwriter for Martha Reeves's Dancing in the Streets, LJ 8/94). Though such bios usually put fear in the hearts of their subjects, this is an unabashedly flattering portrait. Raitt was born into show business (her father is Broadway star John Raitt). She left college to become a serious student of the blues and a political activist. She struggled and partied until alcoholism led her to Alcoholics Anonymous. Two years later she won four Grammies and, at age 40, found personal happiness with her marriage to actor Michael O'Keefe. Bego did not work with Raitt but relied mostly on print interviews, and that is the book's greatest weakness. It is detailed in its discussion of each of Raitt's songs but weak when it comes to her private life. Purchase according to demand.?Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Bay Area Cooperative Lib. System, Cal.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Bego has found a groove writing about or acting as coauthor with such divas as Aretha Franklin, Linda Ronstadt, and Martha Reeves (Dancing in the Streets, 1994). Here he offers an unauthorized portrait of the generous, socially responsible, and ever-creative Bonnie Raitt. Bego does gush, but we Raitt fans demand a certain amount of reverence for our heroine, and Raitt has kept her private life so private we're grateful for any information, however facile. Raitt comes by her music and her political activism naturally: her mother is an accomplished pianist, her father is Broadway star John Raitt, and both are Quakers. But her love for the blues, her feisty independence, and her artistic authority are all her own. Bego lovingly describes the production of each of Raitt's innovative and heart-winning albums, capturing the essence of her highly original, sexy, "womanly-wise" music. Commercial success was long in coming to Raitt because she never played glamour girl or compromised her artistic integrity, so when she received four Grammy Awards in 1990, her many loyal fans rejoiced. And they'll be on the lookout for this overdue tribute. Donna Seaman

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Birch Lane Pr; 1ST edition (December 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1559723157
• ISBN-13: 978-1559723152
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,102,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Bego is the author of 56 books on rock & roll and show business, including two "New York Times" Best Sellers, a "Los Angeles Times" Best Seller, and a "Chicago Tribune" Best Seller, three multi-million-sellers, and two half-million selling titles. With over 10 million books in print, he is acknowledged as the best-selling biographer in the rock and pop music field. His latest book is his 2010 memoir about his career as an author, entitled "Paperback Writer." His show business biographies have included the life stories of some of the biggest stars of ROCK (Elton John, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bonnie Raitt, The Doobie Brothers, Three Dog Night, Billy Joel), SOUL (Aretha Franklin, The Supremes, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston), POP (Sonny & Cher, The Monkees, Sade, Barry Manilow), and COUNTRY (George Strait, Patsy Cline, Alan Jackson, Vince Gill). He has also written about film and television stars as well (Rock Hudson, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, Matt Damon, The Marx Brothers.

One of the most exciting books of Bego's career is his recent biography on Elton John. The book was released in June of 2009 by Hannibal books of Austria. Published in the German language under the title "Elton John: Die Story," it has been heralded in the media as "the ultimate Elton John" biography by "Manner Magazine." The book was published by Phoenix Books in America under the title "Elton John: The Bitch is Back" (2009), and in England and Australia with the title "The Elton John Story" from JR Books in London that same year. It will be published in Denmark and in Russia as well.

Thanks to Hannibal Books, in 2009 Mark had a great year in German language bookstores. As he explains it, "Not only has Hannibal published my 'Elton John: Die Story,' they also published the German language reprint of my Tina Turner book, under the title 'Tina Turner: Die Biographie.' In addition, they also published a German language exclusive: 'Whitney Houston: Die Biographie.'" All three books are available internationally through German Amazon.com and they are also distributed to bookstores throughout Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The Whitney and Tina books were released in October 2009. In 2011 Mark is due to update his critically acclaimed book, "Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul," internationally.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Review of reviews, November 18, 2002

By 

Nanci "Book Dragon" (Tri-Cities, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bonnie Raitt: Just in the Nick of Time (Hardcover)

Instead of spending money on this book, just go back and read every review written on Bonnie Raitt's work, and you will get the same information. Mr. Bego offers nothing new and no inside information, no childhood background, no authorization or cooperation from the artist herself. Disappointing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst star biography written in recent years, August 25, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Bonnie Raitt: Just in the Nick of Time (Hardcover)

The book is basically all the interviews I've ever read about the life of Bonnie Raitt, rolled together in one book and sold for an exorbitant amount of menoey. Bego promised new information about her life, but there was none whatseover that I could find. There are glaring typographical errors, that even the most perfunctory copy editor shounld have picked up. Furthermore, the writing style is absolutely awful. Bego thinks he's a writer, and tries to be suave but his trite commentary on Ms. Raitt's extrordinary life left me wondering why I'd even opened the book in the first place

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I enjoyed the book....but, August 5, 1999

By 

J. Bilby "littlebibs" (Kingston, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bonnie Raitt: Just in the Nick of Time (Hardcover)

Without going into alot about this book, it was first, unauthorized so it just isn't going to have the impact as if Bonnie was sitting there by the fire on a cold night, playing some acoustic slide and starting from the beginning, but there are alot of people out their who are new to Bonnie's music and don't know much about her and it was informative without getting into a whole personal detail. I enjoyed this for what it was, some day Bonnie will sit down and tell all but until then I just get off on her music and the great human being she is. That is all you need to know, just listen to what her song say to the heart and mind.