Arts & Entertainment

Local Author's Biography 'Fever' Named Notable Book for 2012

Susan Whitall's book about Detroit R&B singer Little Willie John has been named a Michigan Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.

Local author and journalist Susan Whitall's new biography of Little Willie John has been named a Michigan Notable Book for 2012.

The biography Fever: Little Willie John — A Fast Life, Mysterious Death and the Birth of Soul was published in June.

Whitall, who grew up in Birmingham and attended , is a staff writer for The Detroit News. She also is author of the book, Women of Motown: An Oral History, which was published in 1998.

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"It's nice being acknowledged by the Library of Michigan," Whitall said on Sunday. "I did practically grow up in Birmingham's ."

Whitall's Fever was also named by the New Orleans Times-Picayune as one of the best music books published in 2011. The Times-Picayune's Alison Fensterstock writes of Whitall's biography of the 1950s Detroit R&B singer: "Whitall deftly explores the mystery and tragedy of his life and death while championing the vast reach of his small but powerful body of work."

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In July, shortly after the book was published, she interviewed the singer's widow, family friends, running buddies, fellow performers and seemingly everyone involved in John's career. She gained access to family archives and photos, as well as to materials from King Records, his Cincinnati label.

She worked especially closely with the singer's son, Kevin John.

"Kevin wanted the complete story to be told for a more dimensional portrait of his dad," the writer explained. "Willie was a complicated little guy."

About the book

With extensive interviews and archival excavating at the Detroit Public Library, Whitall reintroduces an artist whose fame has faded somewhat. She traces a path from Pershing High in Detroit to national prominence and back to Detroit for his celebrity-turnout funeral in 1968 at New Bethel Baptist Church, where Aretha Franklin's father officiated.

Readers learn that James Brown was the opening act when John played New York's legendary Apollo Theater, and that Elvis Presley and the Beatles covered songs after hearing John's versions.    

During six years of intermittent research and writing, squeezed in between working at The Detroit News, Whitall occasionally dreamed about the bygone era.

"I imagined calling out, 'Willie, Willie,' " she said. "To become an authority, "you overreport."

On Whitall's website, Allan Slutsky, author of Standing in the Shadows of Motown, is quoted in his comments about the book: "Once again reminds us why she is one of the most passionate and knowledgeable curators of Detroit music."

Patch freelancer contributed to this report.


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