Street Player: My Chicago Story

by Danny Seraphine

Overview

The inside story of Chicago, one of the most successful and enduring rock bands ever

With their distinctive blending of soulful rock and horn-infused urban jazz, Chicago has thrilled music fans for more than forty years with their lyrical brilliance. In this no-holds-barred memoir, legendary rocker Danny Seraphine shares his dramatic—and often shocking—experiences as the popular supergroup's cofounder and longtime drummer. He reveals behind-the-scenes anecdotes about Chicago’s beginnings as the house band at Los Angeles's legendary Whisky A Go Go, where they were discovered by music icons Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, and personal insights about the group’s many comebacks and reinventions over the years.

• Offers a lively inside account of the music and history of the perennially popular band Chicago, one of the most successful American bands ever with over 122 million albums sold, by the band’s cofounder and longtime drummer Danny Seraphine
• Includes riveting tales and rare photographs from Seraphine's time on the road touring with performers including Dennis and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Bruce Springsteen
• Candidly tackles many rumors about Chicago, including Mafia ties, accounting and payola scandals, and major drug abuse
• Discusses the mysterious circumstances surrounding Seraphine's 1990 firing from the band as well as his comeback with his critically acclaimed new band, California Transit Authority

Whether you're a diehard Chicago fan or just love a well-told rock-and-roll memoir, Street Player will entertain and surprise you.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470416839
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	10/01/2010
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	525,431
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Danny Seraphine is a drummer and one of the founders of the hugely popular and enduring band Chicago.? He was with the band from their inception in the late 1960s to 1990. He currently records and tours with his new band,?the California Transit Authority.

Adam Mitchell has worked in television and film production in Los Angeles at 20th Century Fox and MTV Networks. As both a writer and researcher, he has contributed to fifteen books, including five New York Times bestsellers.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments.

Introduction.

Chapter One: Back To Chicago.

Chapter Two: The JPs.

Chapter Three: Jimmy Ford & the Executives.

Chapter Four: The Missing Links.

Chapter Five: The Big Thing.

Chapter Six: Hollywood Or Bust.

Chapter Seven: Making a Name.

Chapter Eight: CTA.

Chapter Nine: Chicago.

Chapter Ten: Caribou Ranch.

Chapter Eleven: New B. Ginnings.

Chapter Twelve: Lyrics and the Blonde.

Chapter Thirteen: Losing Terry.

Chapter Fourteen: Picking Up the Pieces.

Chapter Fifteen: Making Headlines.

Chapter Sixteen: Out of the 70s.

Chapter Seventeen: Into the 80s.

Chapter Eighteen: Peter Goes Solo.

Chapter Nineteen: Hairpiece That Saved My Life.

Chapter Twenty: The Beginning of the End.

Chapter Twenty-One: Bad Moves.

Chapter Twenty-Two: Evergreen Daze.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Full Circle.

Epilogue.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

Drummer Seraphine, a founding member of Chicago, claims the band "always let the music do the talking." But now it's Seraphine's turn to blab. In his brutally honest memoir (the first by any Chicago member), Seraphine gives a lively insider's account of the music and history of a band that has sold more than 122 million albums. His stories–from the controversial departure of Peter Cetera; the band's multiple comebacks; and the hairpiece that saved his life one night in Nebraska, to the 1978 Russian roulette death of founding guitarist Terry Kath and Seraphine's own sacking by the band in 1990–will satisfy longtime fans of the band, whose famous logo often revealed more personality than its members. Despite an overreliance on cliché, Seraphine is a natural storyteller, recalling the early support Chicago received from Jimi Hendrix, how he almost came to blows with Janis Joplin, and the serious cocaine problem that gripped the band ("I considered coke a ninth member of our group"). He also covers his tumultuous childhood in a street gang and a tenuous connection to the Chicago Mafia, often naming names, and it's obvious that the wounds inflicted by his former band mates have yet to completely heal. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly