Customer Reviews

Lonely Teardrops -- The Jackie Wilson Story

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The book is a very difficult read. It is hard to follow who saids what. There is too much detail given about too many people. The added details makes it difficult to decipher the confusion behind the life of Jackie Wilson. However, there is some good information pertaining to this great star that any fan would find enlightening. I'm glad it was written, we need more books about Jackie Wilson, but I wish it would have stayed focus on the man himself instead of giving us so much detail of the lives of the people surrounding him.

Will go down as the definitive work on Jackie Wilson. Tells all; the good, bad and ugly. One learns this great singer was a victim of his environment and the people surrounding him, and was himself a victimizer. While the man certainly could belt out a love ballad, sadly, he had no understanding of, or success at, love. One gains a real sense for the tragedy which seemed to dominate Jackie's off-stage life.

The work is well researched, and well written. While it is obvious the author is a true aficianado, he does not pull any punches. Myths are debunked, such as Jackie's "Golden Glove" status.

It is somewhat difficult to keep track of all the people who impacted on Jackie personally and professionally. It becomes very confusing at times to keep track of who's who, but I suspect this is how Jackie's life was, not the fault of the author.

A highly recommended read for all who admired and still miss the unique talent that was "Mr. Excitement", Jackie Wilson!

--David Yaros, Cincinnati, OH

I've been perfoming a musical tribute to Jackie Wilson for about ten years and I was very happy to meet Tony Douglas and find some real history of such a great entertainer. I find that the book reveals a real life entertainer of yesterday and as an entertainer of today, not much has changed. Just the names and faces. The book has enlighten me and as I continue to perform my tribute to this great entertainer, I feel as if I can capture his spirit, charisma,and excitement in my tribute to him. Thank you Tony Douglas for telling a story that is as much as life is as can be.Bobby Brooks, Las Vegas

Tony Douglas wrote this book because he found out there was not one biography of Jackie Wilson. He took it upon himself to go to America and interview pretty much all the persons who played a part in Wilson's life and therefore it is well researched and thurough. It is also not a hagiography like many other music-biographies are, he definitely pays attention to the womanizing side and addictiveness of Wilson.

The stories about him in the end of his life as a vegetable but also the death of many of his children are harrowing. But also the early beginning are well covered.

It is however hard to follow sometimes, the chronology sometimes doesnt make sense or is badly constructed, making you sometimes flipping back to see where you are. Another thing is that more years, months and dates could have been used to have a better view of where he was in life.

His friendships with other soul singers are interesting and some things are mentioned that I hadn't read in other books, about Sam Cooke for example. The discography in the back is adequate.

There are not that many biographis on Jackie Wilson so therefore it's worth the read, but maybe someone should take it upon himself to write another wne that can equal Daniel Woolf's 'You Send Me' about Sam Cooke.

As a friend of Jackie's for last 20 years of his life I find the book has uncovered many facts that certain people don't want the pubic to know about. This is the magnificence of Jackie plus all that went on behind the scenes as told by his family and friends. Not all of it is pretty, but it is extremely well researched and leaves not a stone unturned in it's quest to find the real Jackie Wilson.The respected "Q" magazine in the UK gave the book a 4(out of 5) star rating. Mojo magazine also recommended it. And so do I-read it and find out how great a star Jackie really is.

I came across this book while surfing Amazon's site. I thought that the then 4 star rating Amazon gave it made for a good read. After barely making it all the way through I came back to this site and found that 3 or 4 of the reviews were fromthe author himself who of course gave it five stars each time he posted. Probablly he had his friends write the other reviews that were positive as I find that many others have now come forward with their objective remarks which embody my feelings about the book:

Inconsistent, contradictory, speculative, and a total let down.

Where was Harleen Wilson's side of things? Why did Douglas give so much attention to a virtual gorupie's version of Jackie's life. It's very dissapointing and makes me wonder if Douglas tried to pull the wool over our eyes when he realized he could not get more reliable sources to talk about Jackie's life. As a fan of Wilson's I know quite a bit more about his life than it seems the author does. I hope someday someone has the gutts to tell the REAL story about this amazing entertainer's life

As an intense reader and collector of books on the history of Rhythm & Blues, I'd waited over a year for "Lonely Teardrops" to become available... and the wait was well worth it! Tony Douglas provided such an inside view of Jackie Wilson's life that I felt as if I was in a room full of people who'd known Wilson intimately... from the cradle to the grave. True officianados will be enlightened by the scores of first-hand accounts of life with Jackie Wilson; not just the mega-entertainer that he truly was, but also the complex man whose emotional pendulum moved in gigantic swings.

I've read, and enjoyed, this book. I had the feeling here of a great man who wanted, above all else, to be an entertainer; who wanted to make people happy. A man, dedicated to his art, whose love of singing led him to trust when perhaps he shouldn't have, to accept when perhaps he should have questioned. I met a man here who tried so hard he often didn't see, or couldn't avoid the pitfalls of a life where friends and money come and go like the wind. A life where so much is expected, so little quarter given, and where so many are ready to take, but so few are prepared to give. Sometimes this man fell into despair and depression, taking refuge in alcohol, drugs and sex. I felt for him in those moments. I wanted him to beat the odds, and keep up his great work. I wished for him to achieve even greater heights, which he so obviously deserved, and I wanted to say to people, "This man can really sing. Make him famous. Go out and buy his records." There were some funny, some touching, some ugly, some tragic, and some very confusing episodes in Jackie's life. We were given a real feeling for these in this book. Many questions were asked, some were answered, and many, many people were involved in the creation of this story. Much of the narrative was carried by others in the form of quotes. So many! One notable exception was Harlean, Jackie's 2nd wife. She seemed to have nothing to say for herself at all. Some people were good for and to Jackie, some were not. Gee, I hope this book gets made into a film. There is so much that could be gained by seeing and hearing this wonderful entertainer. Thanks Tony. Yours was indeed a labour of love.

Jackie Wilson was one of the most polished and dynamic performers ever to have graced a stage. I had the pleasure of seeing him on numerous occasions while growing up. His vocal range was astounding. Here was a singer who was a Class act.

Tony Douglas has done an admirable job. He writes as if he is a most devoted fan. There is a good deal of detail that he seeks to "shore up" through interviews with many who knew him, dealt with him and played with him.

Mr Douglas evidently, did not have someone really proof-read this, but made up for it through his revamped book, retitled, "Jackie Wilson-The Man, The Music and The Mob." (or something like that).

A fitting tribute to one of the best...

I didn't like this book. There was far too much speculation and heresay. The sources are vague and inconsistent. It seems like any time the author came close to making a point, every source was either a second or thrid hand perriferal person and leaves us with very little true knowledge of Jackie WIlson's career. However, it was very sad to learn that after Jackie fell ill in the mid seventies, Lynn Guidry (the woman who CLAIMS she was his last wife) vanished for 2 years with whatever money jewels,furs and cars that Jackie owned. It leaves the reader curious in what may have been her involement in Jackie's demise. This becomes particularly intruiging when one considers her method of coaxing Jackie to take her on the road while she was married to another man, with the lie that she was dying of cancer.