Fever
Whitall, the first authorised biographer of Little Willie John, has found an ingenious way of, through researching the book with John’s son, collecting a foreword by Stevie Wonder, in whose band he plays. The foreword is a roots level monologue, written, seemingly, as the words left his mouth. He talks about John’s uniqueness as an artist and a big influence on aspiring singers, and the book continues to look at John’s life in this context. Whitall does a lot for the soul genre as she picks away at the singer’s existence, from his dreams and musical beginnings to the churches in which he and his contemporaries ‘proved’ themselves, finally exposing factors which could have resulted in his untimely death. Feverishly good reading!
