The Record Men: The Chess Brothers and the Birth of Rock & Roll (Enterprise)

by Rich Cohen

Overview

"Brilliant; the best book I have ever read about the recording industry; a classic."--Larry King

On the south side of Chicago in the late 1940s, two immigrants; one a Jew born in Russia, the other a black blues singer from Mississippi; met and changed the course of musical history. Muddy Waters electrified the blues, and Leonard Chess recorded it. Soon Bo Diddly and Chuck Berry added a dose of pulsating rhythm, and Chess Records captured that, too. Rock & roll had arrived, and an industry was born. In a book as vibrantly and exuberantly written as the music and people it portrays, Rich Cohen tells the engrossing story of how Leonard Chess, with the other record men, made this new sound into a multi-billion-dollar business; aggressively acquiring artists, hard-selling distributors, riding the crest of a wave that would crash over a whole generation. Originally published in hardcover as Machers and Rockers. About the series: Enterprise pairs distinguished writers with stories of the economic forces that have shaped the modern worlds; the institutions, the entrepreneurs, the ideas. Enterprise introduces a new genre; the business book as literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393352504
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	05/25/2015
Series:	Enterprise
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	393,578
File size:	386 KB

About the Author

Rich Cohen is the author of Tough Jews, The Avengers, and Lake Effect. He lives in New York City.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

July 30, 1968

Place of Birth:

Lake Forest, Illinois

Education:

B.A., Tulane University, 1990