Shout, Sister, Shout!: Ten Girl Singers Who Shaped A Century [Hardcover]

Roxane Orgill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2001

Dip into this collective biography of ten outstanding female singers of popular music in the twentieth century and meet some of the most remarkable women who've ever lived!

Through intimate personal details and numerous photographs, interviews, and tidbits of little-known information, music critic Roxane Orgill brings to life ten "girl singers" and the decades in which they did their best work. Readers of Shout, Sister, Shout! will learn about the lives, the loves, and the music of

SOPHIE TUCKER (1900s)
MA RAINEY (1910s)
BESSIE SMITH (1920s)
ETHEL MERMAN (1930s)
JUDY GARLAND (1940s)
ANITA O'DAY (1950s)
JOAN BAEZ (1960s)
BETTE MIDLER (1970s)
MADONNA (1980s)
LUCINDA WILLIAMS (1990s)

Writing in a friendly, readable style, Roxane Orgill has created a book of great distinction that will fascinate and inspire readers of all ages.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Judy Garland wrings our hearts with her wistful "Over the Rainbow;" Madonna inspires a dancing frenzy with "Everybody;" Ethel Merman blows us away with her brassy "Everything's Coming Up Roses;" Bette Midler makes us laugh with her schlocky "Chapel of Love;" and Joan Baez looks back on an era of social protest with her hauntingly beautiful "Diamonds and Rust." In this richly illustrated collection of biographies, music critic Roxane Orgill recreates those magic moments and paints vivid word pictures of the lives of 10 women vocalists who span the century, from Sophie Tucker, Last of the Red Hot Mamas, to country singer Lucinda Williams. "This book tells the stories of ten women who went about their own business, regardless of what other people said or did. These women took charge of their lives and their singing careers," Orgill declares. Each artist epitomizes her decade, often by resisting the social currents of the time. They come from 10 different genres of popular music and entertainment--cabaret, vaudeville, movie musicals, Broadway shows, music videos, country, rock, blues, folk, and jazz--and the author characterizes those musical styles and sets them in historical perspective, as the great blues singers Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith are shown against a backdrop of racial injustice, and Anita O'Day's intellectual jazz improvisations are explained in the context of the Beat era. Adding to the wealth of information are sidebars on the development of electronic media, intriguing glimpses into the public wardrobe of each singer, and a discography for some great listening. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

From Publishers Weekly

Ten Girl Singers Who Shaped a Century by Roxane Orgill selects one female singer per decade to characterize a musical era, beginning in vaudeville in the 1900s with Sophie Tucker and closing in the 1990s with Lucinda Williams. The volume includes such luminaries as Ma Rainey, Judy Garland, Joan Baez, Bette Midler and Madonna. Some of the author's choices may encourage lively debate among musicians ("What Anita did with her little voice was more interesting to me than what Sarah did with her magnificent one," writes Orgill of Anita O'Day and her peer, Sarah Vaughan), as she handily describes the progression of music and its different faces. "What's N ew?" and "What [she] wore" boxes put each singer's music and fashion in context.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry (March 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689819919
• ISBN-13: 978-0689819919
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #958,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You won't want to put it down ..., August 22, 2001

By 

Ellen Etc. (Northern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Shout, Sister, Shout!: Ten Girl Singers Who Shaped A Century (Hardcover)

Author Roxane Orgill picked a single woman to epitomize each decade of the 20th century, profiling women of different genres, each of whom has an interesting story and voice. Shout, Sister, Shout! is a great introduction to the performers and leaves one wanting to read more about each one of them, while artfully giving a sense of the developments of the 20th century. I read this fascinating, photographically illustrated book in two sittings and was sorry when it was over.

For the 1950s we get, not all-American girl Doris Day, but jazz singer and junkie Anita O'Day, and Orgill chooses outrageous Bette Midler for the 70s instead of Linda Rondstadt, for instance. Her choice for the 1990s was the most difficult ["How was I to know which of the top performers (of the 1990s) would still be considered exceptional ten, twenty, thirty years from now?"]; with keen insight, the author finally picked alt-country singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, though she includes long sidebars about Wynonna Judd and LeAnn Rimes as well.

Additional sidebars describe advances in music technology and each performer's fashions, and Orgill sneaks in advancements in women's and civil rights, without whitewashing each woman's difficulties, triumphs, love affairs, and addictions. Two of `em - Anita O'Day and Ethel Merman - never learned to cook, and O'Day didn't clean, either. (You go, girls!) Incidentally, O'Day chose her stage last name because, she said, "In pig Latin it meant `dough,' which was what I hoped to make."

Make sure the music-loving young women in your life see this book, and if you're a grrrl of ANY age or gender, you're sure to enjoy it yourself.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic Collection of Biographies, July 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Shout, Sister, Shout!: Ten Girl Singers Who Shaped A Century (Hardcover)

Roxane Orgill selected ten of the greatest female volcatist of the last century to highlight in these fascinating biographies in "Shout, Sister, Shout". As you take a musical journey through this book you will meet ten amazing women, including Bette Midler, Joan Baez, Judy Garland, Madonna, and Lucinda Williams. You will get a glimpse into how music changed their lives and how their music changed the world. Roxane Orgill includes descriptions of some of the clothes these women wore and discussions of how we experience music has changed through the decades. This a fabulous book with great pictures and interesting stories. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys music.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book about Awesome women, May 11, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Shout, Sister, Shout!: Ten Girl Singers Who Shaped A Century (Hardcover)

I just finished reading SIGHTS by Susanna Vance before I read this. Together, these are my favorite books. Both authors show girls at their strong best. I'm inspired!