The Torment of Buddy Rich

About the Book

Few of us will ever know the satisfaction of becoming number one in our professions; in music, the odds are astronomical. Musicologists tell us that in the ideal--or abstract--situation, an individual is genetically predisposed with a special gift, works at it from infancy, isolated from distractions, and denied any choice in the matter, until the discipline develops into an almost monomaniacal drive for perfection.

Buddy Rich achieved that perfection. The cost was very high.

This book was written in the form of a diary, researched by the author as he traveled with Buddy Rich to various cities in the US, Canada, England, and Scotland. It was not intended to be an authorative analysis of an eminent contemporary musician or a detailed biographical treatment. It is a selective account of representative events in the life of a musical genius, an attempt to reflect aspects of his complex personality and the role played by his family, friends, and enemies--real and imagined.

About the Author

John Minahan is the author of 20 books, including the Doubleday Award-winning novel, A Sudden Silence, the million-copy best seller, Jeremy, produced as a major motion picture by United Artists, and The Great Diamond Robbery, produced as a two-hour television special on CBS. An alumnus of Cornell, Harvard, and Columbia, he is a former writing instructor on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. Mr. Minahan and his wife Verity now live in Palm Springs, California, where he is writing his autobiography, The Music of Time.