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Summary: Heart of gold
Review: Call it charm,wit or simply gift,but the fact is that Rosemary Clooney have a extremely likeable personality.I was not even born when she had her golden-period on pop charts,but I understand clearly why she was so popular - with her girl-next-door looks and fresh voice she must appear like somebody you would love to hang out with.The voice that speaks from this pages is friendly,funny,honest and warm - with her sense of humour she describes ups and downs of career in ever-changing pop music.Her stories about Billie Holiday,Frank Sinatra,Bing Crosby et all are priceless.Perhaps the best thing about this book is her clear perspective about tragedies in her past - now she can face them with humour and make them sound actually funny. Which gives me some hope that one day I can do the same :))
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Summary: A great book!
Review: I highly recommend this auto-biography by Rosemary Clooney. It is really interesting to read about her life and career. I really enjoyed it.
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Summary: If You Read Nothing Else
Review: I just finished Rosie's Girl Singer, an autobiography, and found it probably one of the best I have read. I have always been a fan of hers, but didn't realize what a super entertainer she was, given the load she was given to carry. If you haven't read it yet, don't miss it.
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Summary: Sunday in the park with George's Aunt
Review: Rosemary Clooney's life wasn't all a picnic in the Park. Her autobiography is straightforward - like herself, it is not grandiose, but it is no shrinking violet, either. While reading this book, I also got "Songs from the Girl Singer: a musical autobiography " a 2 CD set. Like Girranimals, the similarly titled companion pieces have the same picture on the front so that the purchaser will know that they go together. Buy `em both, they won't disappoint!Her life and music are all here - without gloss or pretension. And from her debut with sister Betty, with a local Cincinnati big band, to her meteoric rise to solo national celebrity for "Come On-a My House," a song she never really liked, to sing with Bing in "White Christmas," to the ascension of Rock & Roll (which, she said at the time "wiped out music as we know it,") to her resultant (?) breakdown and triumphant "comeback," to her introduction to a new TV viewing generation as the Coronet Paper Towel lady, to her appearance with nephew George Clooney on ER, Rosemary never learned to read music! More pictures (including one of the Great Dane, Cuddles,) would have been nice, but the set is a treat. Get it! God Bless You, Rosemary. 5/23/28 - 6/30/2002
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Summary: 5+ stars for this autobiography!
Review: So few books have I ever come across and finished left me with a feeling of elation such as this one. Before I started the book, I read the customer reviews on Amazon. I decided that this celebrity autobiography would be just like any other childishly-written, self-indulgent and certainly embellished account of a human being who just happened to have their picture taken a lot and distributed to a lot of people in the world. It would be another book where yet another plain 'ol human being rambles on about how incredibly gifted they are, obviously placing themselves on a pedestal far above the rest of the abilities of the world. Even considering all of these prejudices, I read it anyway. Boy, was I ever surprised. There have been so few stories that I have ever read that managed to rate among "the very best" of my experiences. I am not sure what it takes to gain such a place of honor among my literary opinions. It just seems that some unidentified combination of elements, be it subject, mood, writing style, beginning, ending or theme somehow mix in just the right proportions. The cumulative effect seems to capture my attention and my praise. Rosemary's Clooney's "Girl Singer" is one of those stories. Rosemary's singing career made a big, loud splash in the industry. As time passed, she was brushed aside for newer and younger attractions in the business. We were all acquainted with those highly publicized downfalls in her career. Although she admits that these things really did happen, she also tells us a little more about the things that counter-acted those pitfalls... the triumphs and pleasures that don't find their way into the media. Dear reader gets the sense that one particular triumph that occurred in recent years seems to have completely counter-acted all that may have ever caused her grief in the past. According to Rosemary, sometimes fantasies do come true, and she is living proof of it. She surprises dear reader with this news, so I won't spoil it for you. I'm not exactly sure who did the writing for the story. Was it Joan Barthel, the "co-author" or Rosemary herself? Whoever that person may be, I must congratulate them on their ability to carry significant phrases throughout the story that together, would comprise the life and times of Rosemary. To attempt to describe this writing style would be futile and would give away one of the most enjoyable aspects of the book. I'll let you see for yourself! Come on' a my house, my house a come on... So go down to the bookstore and find out for yourself. Listen for the invitation that she sings: Come on' a my house, my house a come on... In the den, pull up that big, old chair across from her and let her tell you her story... it's enough to make you smile.
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Summary: Girl Singer
Review: The most amazing thing about this book is its utterly non-judgmental tone---one feels that Ms. Clooney is truly at peace with the events and people in her past, and delighted to be in the present. Though it's obvious that her biological parents neglected her and her siblings (and her half-siblings as well), her life nevertheless unfolds as an engrossing story, peopled sometimes with family and friends who were perhaps not without their faults, but were utterly human. I must admit I did not always agree with her viewpoint; I would have preferred that she refrain from commenting on how her children felt about her apparently drug-related psychosis and its fallout,rather than stating that it didn't affect most of them very much. This, for me, was the one tear in the fabric of the book's complete credibility; it's not that I want to know about this, I just don't believe it could be true of any child. But the rest of it, particularly the childhood vignettes involving her, her sister Betty, and her brother Nicky, were compelling in their drama, tenderness, and especially their humor. I couldn't stop giggling at the pictures some of them presented. The whole book was a series of colorful mind-pictures, making the photographs almost unnecessary. And the details concerning the history of pop music in her time were woven in seamlessly, providing interesting tidbits without derailing the book's purpose.I've been a fan since childhood, but I think even non-fans would like this book for its candor, humor, and sense of the strength ( and challenges) a family can give.
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Summary: And she can write, too!
Review: We lost a tremendous talent and treasure this past summer with the death of Rosemary Clooney. I am so glad that I read this book before her death, because I felt as if I got to know her. Ms. Clooney told her story, from her tulmultous childhood, to her heyday as a "girl singer" and recording star, and to her breakdown in the late 1960s. In the last 10 years, she was known more as George's aunt than her own talent. This book solidified for me that she was a great talent, and a very interesting person. Nothing is glossed over.
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Summary: And she can write, too!
Review: We lost a tremendous talent and treasure this past summer with the death of Rosemary Clooney. I am so glad that I read this book before her death, because I felt as if I got to know her. Ms. Clooney told her story, from her tulmultous childhood, to her heyday as a "girl singer" and recording star, and to her breakdown in the late 1960s. In the last 10 years, she was known more as George's aunt than her own talent. This book solidified for me that she was a great talent, and a very interesting person. Nothing is glossed over.
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Summary: Rosie Clooney Leaves Today's Divas In The Dust!
Review: What a life this wonderful woman has led and what a great story to tell! As a lifelong fan I've collected several of her albums & have followed her career. Rosie tells it all, about growing up in Kentucky, starting a singing career with younger sister Betty & hitting the big time in New York. Years ago I had the pleasure of seeing her perform in a radio sponsored concert in the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center. She knows how to please the crowd, chatting them up with little anecdotes and doing several of her big hits(not just a medley of them either). Rosie Clooney is one of the most down to earth performers on earth and a major talent. Read this book and get the Girl Singer 2 cd set. Both are very highly recommended. Thanks Rosie, for bringing so much pleasure to so many people over the years.
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Summary: Rosie Clooney Leaves Today's Divas In The Dust!
Review: What a life this wonderful woman has led and what a great story to tell! As a lifelong fan I've collected several of her albums & have followed her career. Rosie tells it all, about growing up in Kentucky, starting a singing career with younger sister Betty & hitting the big time in New York. Years ago I had the pleasure of seeing her perform in a radio sponsored concert in the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center. She knows how to please the crowd, chatting them up with little anecdotes and doing several of her big hits(not just a medley of them either). Rosie Clooney is one of the most down to earth performers on earth and a major talent. Read this book and get the Girl Singer 2 cd set. Both are very highly recommended. Thanks Rosie, for bringing so much pleasure to so many people over the years.
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