Download Late Life Jazz: The Life and Career of Rosemary Clooney AudioBook Free
When people notice the name "Clooney," they automatically think of George Clooney, one of Hollywood's biggest personalities. Nonetheless it was his aunt Rosemary who first catapulted the name into shiny lights with a string of struck tracks in the 1950s and a starring role alongside Bing Crosby in the immortal White Xmas. Pulling on interviews with members of the family, professionals, promoters, and the jazz musicians who caused her, as well as modern day magazine articles and reviews, Late Life Jazz instructs the unsung story of one of America's finest performers, Rosemary Clooney. Ken Crossland and Malcolm Macfarlane track Rosemary's life from her hardscrabble origins in Maysville Kentucky, through her first shows singing with the Barney Rapp Band in Cincinnati, through her rise to pop stardom in the early 1950s when she topped the Reach Parade with tracks such as "Come On-a My House," "Tenderly," and "50 % JUST AS MUCH." By the time the 1960s showed up, however, personal turmoil, fueled by depression and an dependency to prescription medication, almost destroyed Clooney's career - and her life. She underwent many years of remedy and recuperation before she was able to perform again in the early 1970s. Few expected her to be any other thing more than a baroness of nostalgia, but Rosemary possessed other ideas. Rejuvenated by a series of concerts alongside her friend and coach, Bing Crosby, she found a fresh medium amid America's finest jazz musicians, building a second career and with it a reputation as one of the finest interpreters of the fantastic American Songbook. Vividly written and painstakingly researched, Late Life Jazz explores the rise, fall, and final triumph of Clooney the First, Aunt Rosemary, jazz singer par excellence.
