Motown's First A & R Man Presents The A & R Man

by William Mickey Stevenson, Ashley Stevenson (Assistant)

Sometimes gritty other times heartfelt, Mickey Stevenson keeps it rated Real. He doesn't sugar coat the rough edges of his real life stories; so the reader essentially rides shotgun, shoulder to shoulder with Stevenson, back in time to the beginnings before Berry Gordy dubbed him The First A&R Man of Motown Records. Mickey shines light on the love, hate and heartbreak embraced and endured by himself and other unsung heroes of Hitsville, USA during an era that spanned race wars and segregation all the way to the infamous Motown 25 and beyond. The straight truth, no chaser is this; The A&R Man is a behind-the-music page turner that will ignite the senses. Tears will fall, jaws will drop, laughter will escape in unexpected bursts. Not only that, mouths will water at his delectable descriptions of various southern fried cookin' along The Chitlin Circuit, all whilst The Motown Sound that Mickey helped create, floods the inner ear, heart and soul with music that simultaneously brings back his best and most devastating memories of the 50's, 60's 70's and 80's ... and yet, through all of this... the hits just kept on coming!

254 pages, Paperback

First published April 29, 2015

Reviews

[Harold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, but sanitzed and glitzy. A fan book. Nothing wrong with that, but I was hoping for something deeper.

[Peter Ganbarg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn't for everybody. You have to connect with Mickey's candid narrative and tonal choices. And you have to get past multiple copy-editing errors, misspellings and other mistakes that could have been corrected with stricter oversight. All that said, Mickey's role in A&R and defining what an 'A&R Man' had the potential to do is historic. Pretty damn good songwriter too.

[Antony Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book; a true page-turner.

Really helps tell the Motown story. Harmonizes so well with other books on the subject by other Motown insiders and stars. A good read; thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Jeremy Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic read! I urge everyone to grab a copy!