ICONS

One of the benefits of being an author is that you get to create the “rules” for your books. And so it is that as I finished conducting interviews for my latest book “Icons. Growing Up in The Shadow of Greatness, I was unexpectantly introduced to an amazing woman who is an ascending singing star with a rich family background. Her name is Madonna Carew and you can learn about her at madonnacarew.com.
In “Icons”, I’m profiling sons and daughters of well-known people and discussing their upbringing. I’ve been chatting with folks like Rod Roddenberry (son of the Star Trek creator); Celine Peterson (daughter of the late piano genius Oscar Peterson); Ken Ross (whose mother Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, wrote the famous book that introduced readers to the "five stages of grief"); Hoagy Bix Carmichael (son of the famed song writer); Karen Davidson (4th generation family member working for the Harley Davidson company); Tom Sandler (whose mom, Ruth Lowe, wrote the song that launched Frank Sinatra’s career into the stratosphere, “I’ll Never Smile Again”.); and many others.
            Now, here’s why I chose to expand the concept of the book with one chapter that profiles Madonna Carew. A performing star in her own right, Madonna is the youngest child of a family of 15 kids (yup, that’s right: 15!) She grew up in Newfoundland and eventually in Goose Bay Labrador (“It was a place of great trepidation, a place of great immorality”). She fought extreme poverty and lack of parental oversight, eventually breaking the rules to launch her singing career. She sang on air force bases at age 12, in nightclubs at 13. As I got to know her, I realized this was a reversal of the other individuals in my book: she is the star, her parents being the support team. Only, they really were not able to add the support she needed growing up, as they fought poverty and her father’s drinking. Her story is quite amazing, and surely speaks of perseverance (she is currently fast-tracked to hit the U.S. market.), and I felt it warranted exposure in the book.
            “Icons” will be published later this year. News of the publishing date will be available here: iconsbook.life.

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