My Life in the Sunshine
Searching for My Father and Discovering My Family
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Narrated by:
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Nabil Ayers
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By:
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Nabil Ayers
About this listen
“Nabil traces the image of his father through song. With growing fascination and heartbreak, he draws out meaning from the shadow of absence, and ultimately redefines what it means to be a family.”—Michelle Zauner, New York Times bestselling author of Crying in H Mart and Grammy nominated musician Japanese Breakfast
A memoir about one man's journey to connect with his musician father, ultimately re-drawing the lines that define family and race.
Throughout his adult life, whether he was opening a Seattle record store in the '90s or touring the world as the only non-White band member in alternative rock bands, Nabil Ayers felt the shadow and legacy of his father's musical genius, and his race, everywhere.
In 1971, a White, Jewish, former ballerina, chose to have a child with the famous Black jazz musician Roy Ayers, fully expecting and agreeing that he would not be involved in the child's life. In this highly original memoir, their son, Nabil Ayers, recounts a life spent living with the aftermath of that decision, and his journey to build an identity of his own despite and in spite of his father’s absence.
Growing up, Nabil only meets his father a handful of times. But Roy’s influence is strong, showing itself in Nabil’s instinctual love of music, and later, in the music industry—Nabil’s chosen career path. By turns hopeful—wanting to connect with the man who passed down his genetic predisposition for musical talent—and frustrated with Roy’s continued emotional distance, Nabil struggles with how much DNA can define a family…and a person.
Unable to fully connect with Roy, Nabil ultimately discovers the existence of several half-siblings as well as a paternal ancestor who was enslaved. Following these connections, Nabil meets and befriends the descendant of the plantation owner, which, strangely, paves the way for him to make meaningful connections with extended family he never knew existed.
Undeterred by his father's absence, Nabil, through sheer will and a drive to understand his roots, re-draws the lines that define family and race.
©2022 Nabil Ayers (P)2022 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“You’d think it would be enough that Nabil has this first hand and vital perspective on family, music, and race to offer, but he also had to go ahead and be an amazing writer to boot—thoughtful, generous, wise, and essential." (John Hodgman, New York Times best-selling writer, comedian, and actor)
“Among his many other talents, Nabil is a really thoughtful, evocative writer whose well-formed sentences conjure a whole lot not just within their lines but between them. He knows how to tell a story and this book is a great one.” (Michael Azerrad, award-winning music journalist, author, and musician)
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Story
No longer dismissed as relics of the hippie era, a new generation has lionized the Dead for creating a culture that paved the way for social networking, free music swapping, and the uncompromising anticorporate attitude of indie rock. Now, fifty years after the band first began changing rock 'n' roll both sonically and psychically, So Many Roads paints the most vivid portrait yet of the Grateful Dead, one of the most enduring institutions in American music and culture.
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Great first book on the Dead
- By robert on 10-30-15
By: David Browne
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Toni Tennille
- A Memoir
- By: Toni Tennille, Caroline Tennille St. Clair
- Narrated by: Toni Tennille
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Since bursting onto the scene in the mid '70s, the pop duo Captain and Tennille have long defined the sparkling, optimistic idea of everlasting love, both in their music and through their image as a happy and, seemingly, unbreakable couple. They were an irresistible pair to millions of fans all over the world, further underscored by the rousing "yes, we can!" gospel of their biggest hit, "Love Will Keep Us Together". But underneath the image was an entirely different story that the fans never saw.
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Loved it for several reasons
- By Jennifer on 05-28-16
By: Toni Tennille, and others
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Thelonious Monk
- The Life and Times of an American Original
- By: Robin DG Kelley
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
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The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
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Luck or Something Like It
- A Memoir
- By: Kenny Rogers
- Narrated by: Taber Burns
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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A remarkable story of a boy who couldn't stop singing, and a man who knew how to hold 'em. For more than half a century, Kenny Rogers has been recording some of the most revered and beloved music in America and around the world. In that time, he has become a living legend by combining everything from R&B to country and gospel to folk in his unique voice to create a sound that's both wholly original and instantly recognizable.
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Fun to listen to.
- By b.sea on 07-25-19
By: Kenny Rogers
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Shine Bright
- A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop
- By: Danyel Smith
- Narrated by: Danyel Smith
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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A weave of biography, criticism, and memoir, Shine Bright is Danyel Smith’s intimate history of Black women’s music as the foundational story of American pop. Smith has been writing this history for more than five years. But as a music fan, and then as an essayist, editor (Vibe, Billboard), and podcast host (Black Girl Songbook), she has been living this history since she was a latchkey kid listening to “Midnight Train to Georgia” on the family stereo.
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Ok might have been better reading the hard copy
- By cde on 06-18-22
By: Danyel Smith
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Famous Father Girl
- A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein
- By: Jamie Bernstein
- Narrated by: Jamie Bernstein
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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The oldest daughter of revered composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein offers a rare look at her father on the centennial of his birth in a deeply intimate and broadly evocative memoir. The composer of On the Town and West Side Story, chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic, television star, humanitarian, friend of the powerful and influential, and the life of every party, Leonard Bernstein was an enormous celebrity during one of the headiest periods of American cultural life, as well as the most protean musician in 20th-century America.
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Can't say enough good things
- By barbara on 10-10-18
By: Jamie Bernstein
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They Call Me Supermensch
- A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food, and Rock'n'Roll
- By: Shep Gordon
- Narrated by: Shep Gordon
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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In the course of his legendary career as a manager, an agent, and a producer, Shep Gordon has worked with and befriended some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, from Alice Cooper to Bette Davis, Raquel Welch to Groucho Marx, Blondie to Jimi Hendrix, Sylvester Stallone to Salvador Dali, Luther Vandross to Teddy Pendergrass. He is also credited with inventing the "celebrity chef" and has worked with Nobu Matsuhisa, Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Roger Vergé, and many others.
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It's like he's never seen the words before
- By Joe F. on 11-01-17
By: Shep Gordon
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Liner Notes
- On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things
- By: Loudon Wainwright III
- Narrated by: Loudon Wainwright III
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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A memoir by the influential Grammy Award-winning singer and actor - son of journalist Loudon Wainwright, former husband of Kate McGarrigle and Suzzy Roche, and father of Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and Lexie Kelly Wainwright - a captivating meditation on relationships and creativity from the patriarch of one of America's great musical families. With a career spanning more than four decades, Loudon Wainwright III has established himself as one of the most enduring singer-songwriters who emerged from the late '60s.
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Best ever book for listening
- By Jeff Bernhardt on 10-29-17
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Separated @ Birth
- A True Love Story of Twin Sisters Reunited
- By: Anais Bordier, Samantha Futerman
- Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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It all began when design student Anaïs Bordier viewed a YouTube video and saw her own face staring back. After some research, Anaïs found that the Los Angeles actress Samantha Futerman was born in a South Korean port city called Busan on November 19, 1987 - the exact same location and day that Anaïs was born. This propelled her to make contact - via Facebook. One message later, both girls wondered: Could they be twins?
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Touching, heartwarming
- By Kelvin L. Reed on 11-01-22
By: Anais Bordier, and others
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Me and a Guy Named Elvis
- My Lifelong Friendship With Elvis Presley
- By: Jerry Schilling, Chuck Crisafulli
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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On a lazy Sunday in 1954, 12-year-old Jerry Schilling wandered into a Memphis touch-football game, only to discover that his team was quarterbacked by a 19-year-old Elvis Presley, the local teen whose first record, That's All Right, had just debuted on Memphis radio. The two became fast friends, even as Elvis turned into the world's biggest star.
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Great Easy Read
- By Elliot on 03-10-08
By: Jerry Schilling, and others
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Here's the Story
- Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice
- By: Maureen McCormick
- Narrated by: Maureen McCormick
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
- Abridged
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Marcia Brady, eldest daughter on television's The Brady Bunch, had it all. But what viewers didn't know about the always sunny, perfect Marcia was that offscreen, her real-life counterpart, Maureen McCormick was living a very different - and not so wonderful - life. Maureen tells the shocking and inspirational true story of the beloved teen and the woman she became.
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Gripping
- By Chris on 08-12-14
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My Friend Michael
- An Ordinary Friendship with an Extraordinary Man
- By: Frank Cascio
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone knows Michael Jackson - the myth. This is the revealing true story of Michael Jackson - the man. To Frank Cascio, Michael Jackson was many things - second father, big brother, boss, mentor, and teacher, but most of all he was a friend. Though Cascio was just a few years old when he first met Jackson in 1984, at the peak of the pop star’s career, Jackson was at the center of his life for the next twenty-five years.
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A Love Story
- By Kathleen on 02-14-18
By: Frank Cascio
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Sing to Me
- My Story of Making Music, Finding Magic, and Searching for Who's Next
- By: LA Reid
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Legendary music producer LA Reid - the man behind artists such as Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, Kanye West, Rihanna, TLC, Outkast, Pink, Justin Bieber, and Usher - changed the music business forever. Now he tells his story, taking fans on an intimate tour of his life. Sing to Me is a fascinating journey from Reid's small-town R&B roots in Cincinnati, Ohio, and his work as a drummer to his fame as a Grammy Award-winning music producer and his gig as a judge on the hit reality show The X Factor.
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Wow!! What a journey!!!
- By Marty Cohn on 02-06-16
By: LA Reid
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Coming Home to Myself
- A Memoir
- By: Wynonna Judd, Patsi Bale Cox
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Coming Home to Myself is the result of that emotional journey, a song of personal discovery that taught Wynonna Judd to love not just what she does, but who she is. From a truly exceptional woman comes an unexpected memoir of survival, strength, hope, and forgiveness, filled with an exultant and empowering message certain to resonate with those who have dreamed of finding themselves, and who only needed the courage and inspiration to begin their own journey.
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Not an Interesting Memoir
- By Marcos on 03-14-09
By: Wynonna Judd, and others
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The Improv
- An Oral History of the Comedy Club That Revolutionized Stand-Up
- By: Budd Friedman, Tripp Whetsell, Jay Leno - foreword
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1963, 30-year-old Friedman - who had recently quit his job as a Boston advertising executive and returned to his hometown of New York to become a theatrical producer - opened a coffee house for Broadway performers called the Improvisation. His goal? Simply to make a living, and if all went according to plan, to also make enough professional contacts to be able to mount his first Broadway show within a year's time. Later shortened to the Improv, its first West 44th Street location was in a seedy section of Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen.
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Shockingly tone deaf
- By JenniferW on 06-28-23
By: Budd Friedman, and others
What listeners say about My Life in the Sunshine
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kelly Williams
- 06-18-22
Outstanding, powerful, funny, and thought-provoking.
A truly beautiful story about what family means and an incredibly accessible and multi-dimensional examination of race, class, and culture.
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-05-22
Inspiring Journey through life
Nabil has led an amazing life never distracted by his past. Nabil is celebrating the amazing people in the world that have shaped his life and inspired his insightful journey.
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- Brad
- 06-12-22
An amazing biography on family and race
Nabil’s biography is a heartfelt telling of his life journey so far and how race and “family” were ever present.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-25-22
Everyone said it was so good and it’s SO GOOD!!!
I loved this book, an incredible story and an incredible journey to take. I cried so much. It was a privilege to hear nabil describe what life was like and the perspective of his many experiences. I really loved it. I’ll be glad to share it with my son when he’s older.
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- Ski Hound
- 08-07-22
Brilliant book
Mr. Ayers is an encyclopedia of music knowledge and documents the evolution of music and our favorite bands over the last 30 years in a humorous and complicated story sharing his life accomplishments and struggles. We done.
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