Gil Scott-Heron Memoir Set for January Release

Gil Scott-Heron performing at WOMAD, Charlton Park in Wiltshire, U.K.

David Corio/Getty

A memoir by Gil Scott-Heron, the influential soul-jazz and spoken-word songwriter who recorded "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised," will be published on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January 2012. The timing and title for the book, The Last Holiday, refer to Scott-Heron's involvement with the civil rights struggle and his effort with Stevie Wonder to establish a national holiday for Dr. King.

Scott-Heron, a socially conscious writer who is often credited as a major inspiration for rap lyricists – his voice can be heard on Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy – died in May at age 62. While working on an early draft of his autobiography, he recorded an audiobook chapter about the night of the murder of John Lennon, when Scott-Heron was playing the Oakland Coliseum with Wonder. The excerpt can be heard here.

• 
  MUSIC The Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments
• 
  MOVIES & TV 'Game of Thrones': The Show Vs. the Books
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Facebook IPO vs. Shareholders
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive: Garbage Rip Through 'I Think I'm Paranoid'

Song Stories

“Push It”

Salt-N-Pepa | 1987

Originating as a B side to their cover of the Stax classic “Tramp,” Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandi “Pepa” Denton and Dee Dee “DJ Spinderella” Roper came up with the goods on this career-making, Grammy-nominated platinum single about working it on the dancefloor. “Push It” has been sampled and spliced to death since it debuted in 1987, yet the original track is as fresh and fly as when SNP — among the few original women of hip-hop — debuted it. “Most men will never believe ‘Push It’ was never about sex,” said James. “And that’s why the record went to Number One,” said Denton. “Everybody thought it was about sex.”

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter