Society's Child
My Autobiography
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Narrated by:
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Janis Ian
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By:
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Janis Ian
About this listen
Audie Award, Narration by the Author or Authors, 2013
Grammy Award Winner, Best Spoken Word Album, 2013
Booklist Top 10 Biography Audiobooks
The inspiration for the film Janis Ian: Breaking Silence
Janis Ian was catapulted into the spotlight in 1966 at the age of 15, when her soul-wrenching song "Society's Child" became a hit. An intimate portrait of an interracial relationship, "Society's Child" climbed the charts despite the fact that many radio stations across the country refused to play it because of its controversial subject matter. But this was only the beginning of a long and illustrious career.
In this fascinating memoir of her more than 40 years in the music business, Ian chronicles how she did drugs with Jimi Hendrix, went shopping for Grammy clothes with Janis Joplin, and sang with Mel Tormé, all the while never ceasing to create unforgettable music.
In 1975, Ian's legendary "At Seventeen" earned two Grammy awards and five nominations. Her next two albums brought her worldwide platinum hits. But after seven albums in as many years, she made a conscious decision to walk away from the often grueling music business. During this period, she struggled through a difficult marriage, which ended with her then husband's attempt to destroy her, and a sudden illness that very nearly cost her her life. The hiatus from music lasted for close to a decade until, in 1993, Ian returned with the release of the Grammy-nominated Breaking Silence. Now, as she moves gracefully into her fifth decade as a recording artist and writer, Ian continues to draw large audiences around the globe.
In Society's Child, Janis Ian provides a relentlessly honest account of the successes and failures - and the hopes and dreams - of an extraordinary life.
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The best celebrity memoir audiobooks are in a league of their own—there is no greater listening experience than a memoir performed by the celebrity behind the title. Their charisma and authenticity greatly enhance the experience, making it all the more engaging. Many listeners who would never think to read a celebrity memoir in print gravitate to the genre in audio. There’s something magical about hearing, in their own voice, the nitty-gritty of a star’s path.
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The ultimate front-row seat to the rise, fall, and rebirth of a band that was - for a time - the biggest in the world, Hootie & the Blowfish, and Jim Sonefeld’s shattering and redeeming spiritual path from addiction to recovery and a more fruitful life.
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An Honest Reflection
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- Narrated by: Shep Gordon
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- Unabridged
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In the course of his legendary career as a manager, an agent, and a producer, Shep Gordon has worked with and befriended some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, from Alice Cooper to Bette Davis, Raquel Welch to Groucho Marx, Blondie to Jimi Hendrix, Sylvester Stallone to Salvador Dali, Luther Vandross to Teddy Pendergrass. He is also credited with inventing the "celebrity chef" and has worked with Nobu Matsuhisa, Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Roger Vergé, and many others.
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It's like he's never seen the words before
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Beauty in the Breakdown
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- Narrated by: Julie Roberts
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Singer Julie Roberts is no stranger to overcoming hard times through determination, hard work, and strength. Having escaped the emotional residue of her alcoholic father’s actions and insults, Julie moved from South Carolina to Nashville to attend school and work at Mercury Records - all while secretly pursuing her dream of becoming a singer. Julie’s lyrics resonated with country music fans, and her emotion-soaked debut album was an instant success. Journey with Julie as she walks through the highs and lows of her career, the personal struggles she’s endured, and more.
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So Inspiring!
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Adrienne Barbeau never set out to be a sex symbol, and she never planned on giving birth to twins when she was 51, but both those stories and a lot more are detailed in this witty, revealing memoir. With humor and fearlessness, she shares her romance with a superstar, her marriage to a famous film director, her marriage to a much younger man and her successful battle with infertility.
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Excellent book
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Dorothy Carvello knows all about the music biz. She was the first female A&R executive at Atlantic Records and one of the few in the room at RCA and Columbia. Featuring never-before-heard stories about artists like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Steven Tyler, Bon Jovi, INXS, Marc Anthony, Phil Collins, and many more, this audiobook is a must-hear for anyone who has ever wondered what it's really like to be a woman in a male-dominated industry.
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A MUST READ (listen) for all females
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Liner Notes
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- Unabridged
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A memoir by the influential Grammy Award-winning singer and actor - son of journalist Loudon Wainwright, former husband of Kate McGarrigle and Suzzy Roche, and father of Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and Lexie Kelly Wainwright - a captivating meditation on relationships and creativity from the patriarch of one of America's great musical families. With a career spanning more than four decades, Loudon Wainwright III has established himself as one of the most enduring singer-songwriters who emerged from the late '60s.
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Best ever book for listening
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- Unabridged
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Two sisters. Two voices. One Heart.
The mystery of "Magic Man." The wicked riff of "Barracuda." The sadness and beauty of "Alone." The raw energy of "Crazy On You." These songs, and so many more, are part of the fabric of American music. Heart, fronted by Ann and Nancy Wilson, has given fans everywhere classic, raw, and pure badass rock and roll for more than three decades. As the only sisters in rock who write their own music and play their own instruments, Ann and Nancy have always stood apart - certainly from their male counterparts but also from their female peers.
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Good Behind-The-Scenes Look At "Heart"
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The oldest daughter of revered composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein offers a rare look at her father on the centennial of his birth in a deeply intimate and broadly evocative memoir. The composer of On the Town and West Side Story, chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic, television star, humanitarian, friend of the powerful and influential, and the life of every party, Leonard Bernstein was an enormous celebrity during one of the headiest periods of American cultural life, as well as the most protean musician in 20th-century America.
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Can't say enough good things
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From Graham Nash - the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies - comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan.
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The Best of the Recent Rock Biographies
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Me, the Mob, and the Music
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Everyone knows the hits: "Mony Mony," "I Think We're Alone Now," "Crimson and Clover," "Crystal Blue Persuasion." They are nuggets of rock and pop history. However, few know the unlikely story of how these hits came to be. Tommy James had been performing in rock bands in the Michigan area since the age of 12. Prompted to record a few songs by a local disc jockey in 1964, Tommy chose an obscurity titled "Hanky Panky," which became a minor local hit that came and went.
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What a ride - excellent story, well told
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Toni Tennille
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- Unabridged
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Since bursting onto the scene in the mid '70s, the pop duo Captain and Tennille have long defined the sparkling, optimistic idea of everlasting love, both in their music and through their image as a happy and, seemingly, unbreakable couple. They were an irresistible pair to millions of fans all over the world, further underscored by the rousing "yes, we can!" gospel of their biggest hit, "Love Will Keep Us Together". But underneath the image was an entirely different story that the fans never saw.
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Loved it for several reasons
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32 Candles
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Davie—an ugly duckling growing up in small-town Mississippi—is positive her life couldn’t be any worse. She has the meanest mother in the South, possibly the world, and on top of that, she’s pretty sure she’s ugly. Just when she’s resigned herself to her fate, she sees a movie that will change her life— Sixteen Candles. But in her case, life doesn’t imitate art.
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2 High Fives - for Monkey Night
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Who I Am
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- Unabridged
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From the voice of a generation: the most highly anticipated autobiography of the year, and the story of a man who wanted The Who to be called The Hair; wanted to be a sculptor, a journalist, a dancer and a graphic designer; became a musician, composer, librettist, fiction writer, literary editor, sailor; drank too much and nearly died; detached from his body in an airplane, on LSD, and nearly died; planned to write his memoir when he was 21; and published this book at 67.
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Glad To Meet You
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What listeners say about Society's Child
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Stevon
- 03-06-18
she won me over
first time author for me. I can't say I was a Janis Ian fan before I listened to this book but I am now.
Janis was always about her music, this come clear in the book. What comes clear in the book is how the underbelly of the industry comes to the fore.
All she ever wanted to do was produce music. She trusted those around her to her fault. Most everybody she knew let her down, big time. In the end they were all leaches.
It's amazing she survived as well as she did.
This is an excellent book.
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- Stittsville Shopper
- 11-09-15
Loved it
What an amazing and unexpected life! The book is a slow starter but stick with it because what follows is a story worth hearing.
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- Lisa H.
- 02-13-18
A Poignant Autobiography
Society’s Child
My Autobiography
Janis Ian
MY RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️▫️
PUBLISHER Audible
PUBLISHED June 7, 2012
NARRATOR Janis Ian
A poignant book, written from the heart of a creatively brilliant woman with amazing perseverance.
SUMMARY
Janis Ian wrote her first song at twelve and was launched into the spotlight in 1966, at 15 when her song Society’s Child became a hit. This was only the beginning of a long and illustrious career for the young genius. Ian chronicles her 40 years in the music business and how she did drugs with Jimi Hendrix, and went shopping for Grammy clothes with Janice Joplin all the while never ceasing to create resonating music.
In 1975, Ian‘s song At Seventeen earned two Grammy awards and five nominations. Her next two albums brought her worldwide platinum hits. But after seven albums in seven years, she walked away from the music business. During this period, she struggled through a difficult marriage and a sudden illness that very nearly cost her life. The break from music lasted for close to a decade until in 1993, Janice returned with the release of the Grammy nominated Breaking Silence. In SOCIETY’S CHILD, JANIS IAN provides a deeply honest account of the successes and failures and hopes and dreams of her life.
REVIEW
JANIS IAN is revealed as an amazing woman with tremendous inner strength, who was not afraid to show us her weaknesses in this emotionally powerful book. All her creative and lyrical storyteller skills evident in her music, are apparent in SOCIETY’S CHILD. IAN reveals an uncanny amount of turmoil; molestation, abuse, theft, illness, and the IRS. It is inspiring that after all the bad, that she was willing and able to get back on her feet, and find joy in her life again. Not only did she persevere, but that she chose to honestly share her life story with us, is a gift. It’s an expertly delivered self-portrait of an amazing artist.
The audiobook includes IAN singing a portion of a song in the introduction to each chapter, and detailing the song’s inspiration. Music and biography lovers will delight in Society’s Child. The audiobook won three awards: Audi Award, Narration by Author, 2013; Grammy Award Winner, Best Spoken Word Album, 2013; and Booklist Top 10 Biography Audiobooks.
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-03-17
WONDERFUL
Love this bio!
Every time I stopped listening, I couldn’t wait to start again.
Janis’s voice and songs pulled me into her story and made feel as if I was right there. What a amazing strong woman!
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- Gerald
- 11-19-17
A true artist, captures a time its people and there effect on a real person brought to life
Eager to start Society'sChild and fed up with 1984's revolving dogmas. I it down 1984. Only to realize Ian would cover the time period. I Being born in late 1961 was not aware of the time that the book starts in but easily recognized it's effects to come.
I hungered for each new chapter and cried "say it ain't so" in the mists or each.
Being self read and adding bits of her own songs brings life, our lives to each chapter, time and Character.
I give it 5of5 in every Category.
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- Elyssa
- 01-29-14
Fantastic!
What did you love best about Society's Child?
I loved the parts where Janis played her own songs and filled in the story with music.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Janis
What does Janis Ian bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
You cannot read the book, it is specifically a audio book because there are musical sections incorporated with her story.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
If I could, I would have. I was listening to it in the car... at some points I did not want to get out of my car.
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- donna andino
- 01-22-22
Enchanting!! Ian's story much more than expected!
Loved this so much that I listened twice. What a journey and Janis is gifted with the pen and love that she narrated her own story!
Highly recommend, she's a beautiful soulful artist. Plus, she played with the best of them on tour, right during the musical renaissance of 60s and 70s music movement.
You will love it, very personal and her voice easy on the ears. She even sings on the narrative which enriches the storytelling ten fold!
five of five stars!
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- GraceR
- 12-09-17
100% recommend.
This book is probably the best I’ve ever listened to. I laughed, I cried, I got angry. Janis Ian is truly the only person who could have possibly narrated this. The way she tells her story — written and read — is phenomenal. I’ll definitely be listening to it again.
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- Kindle Customer
- 04-09-22
Inspirational, emotionally engaging, LGBTQ friendly
Loved being engaged with Janis throughout her life story. At times tears or goose bumps flowed over me. The spirt of Janis comes through in each and every chapter.
Thanks Janis
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- Shannon F
- 06-17-22
outstanding
It was a pleasure to listen to her voice and feel the power of her soul as she shared her story
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