Maurice White (1941–2016)

Maurice White: My Life with Earth, Wind and Fire is a 2016 Amistad publication.

To be completely honest, I have no recollection of checking this book out of the library. I got a notification from my Overdrive library letting me know a book I had on hold was ready to be downloaded. To my surprise, this book, along with the one I had been expecting, was sitting in my queue.

I almost returned it, but then decided it might be a good choice for my ‘Monday Musical Moments’ feature on my blog. ( http://www.the-bookreview.com)

I’m very glad I decided to go ahead with this book, even if I had to work it into my tight reading schedule.

In the beginning, the writing was a little rough, mainly because I felt like things were moving along at a breakneck speed, which left little room for an intimate look at Maurice, his music, his relationships, and so on.

However, as the book progressed, the frenetic pacing did slow down a little and a rhythm developed. The more I discovered about Maurice, the more I started to like him.

He was a smart, well read man, very spiritual, with an open mind, and was refreshingly honest about the way he lived his life.

Despite his having glossed over large chunks of time, I could relate to White’s introverted nature, and could understand his mindset, and picked up on how uncomfortable he felt about divulging personal aspects his life.

I always liked EW&F, but was more of a casual fan. While Maurice may have been the founder of the group, the person I always associated it with was Phillip Bailey.

However, this book did remind me of just how many hits the group had, how influential they were, and what a huge impact they had on fans during some very turbulent times.

Earth, Wind & Fire has been around for many years, and even today, they made an appearance on the 2018 Rose Bowl Parade, and I’ve had ‘September' in my head ever since.

But, while the band is still out there doing their thing, sadly Maurice is no longer with us. His death, from Parkinson’s Disease in 2016, gives this book, which is a memoir/autobiography, a haunting tone.

Overall, it is too bad the book wasn’t fleshed out just a bit more, but I still found it enlightening, interesting, and of course poignant.

4 stars… (mehr)