Can you imagine spending 10 years of your life traveling the world to locate the final resting places of famous musicians and entertainers, taking pictures of their grave sites and publishing their locations in a book? Sounds a bit morbid, but Scott Stanton has done an outstanding job of turning a simple concept of honoring a few legendary entertainers into a well-documented 427-page guide to the graves, shrines and memorabilia of departed rock, jazz, blues, country and R&B legends.
Not only does Stanton give exact directions to grave sites and shrines, including country, city, cemetery name and street address, he goes as far as how many rows and spaces to count to put you right in front of your favorite artists final resting place. Stanton includes interesting, entertaining and educational biographical information on each artist, focusing on little known facts about the artist, their birth name, official cause of death, and the sometimes shocking and descriptive events that led to their death.
Stanton’s writing is simple, light hearted, at times tongue-in-cheek, at times very direct and painfully matter-of-fact. You’re bound to find something interesting and unexpected surrounding the life and times of most of these legendary performers. I found this book drawing me in much the same way Behind the Music would. Many jazz legends are featured from as early as King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke and Billie Holiday to Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Jaco Pastorius.
Originally Published
