News Stories - Top Stories |
||
|
||
Who's Dated Who? Archive |
||
January 2010 ::
2009 Archive ::
2008 Archive
December 20091 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 :: 11 :: 12 :: 13 :: 14 :: 15 :: 16 :: 17 :: 18November 20091 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 :: 11 :: 12 :: 13 :: 14 :: 15 :: 16 :: 17 :: 18 :: 19 :: 20 :: 21 :: 22 :: 23 :: 24 :: 25 :: 26 :: 27 :: 28 :: 29 :: 30 |
||
Phyllis Hyman ( The Book) By Jason A. Mich... |
||
Phyllis Hyman ( The Book) By Jason A. Michael
Category:
Celebrity Death
Posted 2 years ago by
Ladyree
Credit:
http://EURweb.com
 Publishing the book still wasn’t that easy. Michael presented his idea of a Hyman biography to several prominent New York publishers, but was told emphatically that no one remembered her and that there was no market for a book. many others, he became a big fan of Hyman’s as soon as she heard her voice, but that the time – the disco era – wasn’t right for her kind of music, that disco funk didn’t do her voice any justice. But it wasn’t the genre that drew fans to the powerful songstress. Like many others. Michael was drawn to her emotion. As Michael covers in the book, mental illness was prevalent in her family. Her mother suffered from chronic depression; her father was alcoholic. Two of her siblings also battled bipolar disorder, and another suffered from chronic depression, and yet another struggles with schizophrenia. “You see the deck was really stacked against her. This was her start. This was her childhood. This is how she grew up. The issues continued into adulthood. She turned to alcohol and to drugs as to sort of self-medicate. The substance abuse only further complicated mental health issues. She tried twice to clean up and go to rehab, but she couldn’t maintain sobriety. I think the depth of her issues were too great for her.” Hyman was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1985 and was prescribed Lithium to treat it. Considered a newly diagnosed diseaseback then, medications and treatment options were limited at that time. “A lot folks, Phyllis included, thought that a very creative individual would take these meds and would miss some of the highs that bipolar brings about, which they thought was somehow connected to their creativity. They didn’t like being leveled out, which is what Lithium and other mood stabilizers do. So [Hyman] thought the meds were not for her and that she could somehow handle this on her own, but I think bipolar disorder was bigger.” In 1989, Hyman failed at her first suicide attempt. She tried again in 1990 before succeeding in 1995 at the age of 45. Friends, fans, industry execs, as well as music journalists also got a taste of Hyman’s tumultuous personality. Bailey, himself, called her “candid,” to say the least. “It depended on where she was in her emotional spectrum when you encountered her,” Michael said of how others saw Hyman. “Phyllis was an extremely generous person, an extremely giving person, and at the right time, a hilarious person. It just depended on where she was in her struggle emotionally as to which Phyllis you would meet. She could be very difficult, but she could be incredibly sweet. She was all of those things in one body and you could see a great deal of them all in one day.” “Strength of a Woman” candidly explores the singer’s torment and her successes, and includes revelations on how she lost the role of Shug Avery in the movie adaptation of “The Color Purple”; her clashes with record industry legend Clive Davis; and her assessments of female singers of her time including Jody Watley, Vanity, and Paula Abdul. For more on the book, the author, and the star herself, check out www.phyllishymanstory.com. 
Tags: No tags found
+13
Rate this story
|
||
Comments |
||
