"A behind-the-scenes look at the Chitlin' Circuit during American's most vital period of soul music -- from the eyes and ears of a young, Jewish kid from Queens who joined the team of the hardest working man in show business and learned the art of the music business at the hand of the performer who mastered it. In the mid-'60s, Alan Leeds was a young DJ looking for his way into the music business. An interview with James Brown to promote a local show...

Over the last three decades, one music producer and record man has transformed the business, discovering and producing some of the greatest acts in pop music history, including Toni Braxton, Kanye West, Rihanna, TLC, Outkast, Mariah Carey, Pink, Justin Bieber, and Usher. At the helm of four celebrated and innovative music labels--LaFace, Arista, Island Def Jam, and Epic--LA Reid set his sights on finding one star after the next, and then worked behind...

Like no other music history, It Came From Memphis dishes its tuneful tale with a full context of social issues. From institutional racism to cowboy movies, from manic disc jockeys to Quaalude motorcycle gangs, this story is as unvarnished a history of rock and roll as ever has been written. The Memphis aesthetic is to invert expectations: artists seek imperfection, embracing mistakes and doing it all wrong by forging their own paths to get it exactly...