Faith in Time

"The voice of Jimmy Scott is high-pitched and androgynous, transcending gender and age, penetrating the listener with pure heartbreak. It made him a jazz star in the 1950s, influenced legends from Marvin Gaye to Nancy Wilson in the 1960s, and in the 1990s thrust him back into the limelight. But the beauty of Scott's voice is hard-earned.". "Faith in Time captures the texture of Jimmy Scott's voice like no one ever has - honest, spirited, angry, laconic, cool - and in its pages he recounts his jazz life for the first time: touring as Lionel Hampton's star vocalist; playing with Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and Stan Getz; club-hopping with Billie Holiday - whose voice parallels his own. But Faith in Time is also a rare look at a music industry that cheated, strung out, and preyed on the weak. In 1960, Scott was on top of his game. Three years later, contract disputes had forced his masterpiece, produced by Ray Charles, off the shelves. Out of money and plagued by anguished relationships with women and a deep mistrust of agents and managers, he returned home to Cleveland. There, for nearly three decades, he worked quietly as a nurse's aide and a shipping clerk, wrestling with poverty and drink. Fans assumed he had died.". "Then, in 1991, Jimmy Scott's star began rising again. After singing at the funeral of his old friend, songwriter Doc Pomus, and reducing a roomful of music executives to tears, he suddenly had a new record deal. He has been recording and touring ever since, and at 77 years of age counts among his devoted fans Madonna, Lou Reed, David Lynch, and Ethan Hawke, making cameo appearances in their videos, concerts, series, and films.". "With full cooperation from Scott, his siblings, his ex-wives, and colleagues from Ray Charles to Ruth Brown, Faith in Time is at once an intimate biography, an invaluable history of the years spanning big band to bebop to pop, and the poignant story of a man whose ethereal voice refuses to fade away with time."--BOOK JACKET.