host: what do you do for a living? guest: i am a ghost writer. host: what is a ghost writer? guest: a ghost writer is an author who writes in the first person of another person. host: how did you get into that business? guest: it s a long story. the short end of the story is i was an advertising guy after college and after graduate school and i made up my mind i was going to go meet ray charles and talking into letting me do an authorized biography of the because wanted to win the pulitzer prize and nobel prize advantage of a think about ghostwriting. so i had hard time introducing myself to him, sort of getting to the i was able to do it through my tenacity. and when i did this agent i had told me you want to do his autobiography. and i said no i don t. and he said yesterday. i said i don t know how to do that. i don t know what a ghost writer does. he says, well you will earn a lot more money if you do it, if you do a ghost written book because it s a much large
i m enjoying this graphic book that i m doing. i m enjoying pouring with this novel, but the idea as a lyricist to sit down and write with musicians and to be in the room when these courts are being created and melodies are being created, i find most enjoyable of all the activities. host: david ritz, we appreciate you sitting down with booktv. guest: my pleasure. you are watching 40,000 nonfiction authors and books on c. and twos booktv television for serious readers. up next brent schlender who covered steve jobs for the wall street journal and fortune for 25 years and in to executive editor of fast company magazine talk about the life and career of the apple cofounder. this event was hosted by the computer history museum in mountain view, california. steve jobs grew up went to high school, built the company and changed the world less than eight miles away from where we are tonight. less than eight miles away yet in another sense a million miles away. for the ess
running away. the officer then handcuff scott as he was lessft face down, and the officer then shows the officer planting a taser . then to ferguson missouri, which hold its first municipal election since the shooting of michael brown. for the first time in ferguson s 20-year history, the six-member city council will have three african-americans. and to chicago where mayor rahm emanuel has survived a runoff against progressive challenger chuy garcia. mayor emanuel: to all the people of chicago who have given me the privilege to serve as your mayor for another four years, thank you, god bless you, and god bless chicago. amy: and we will speak with broadcaster tavis smiley about his new book, my journey with maya. maya angelou: you may try todod me in the very dark, but still like dust, i rise. amy: all that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i m amy goodman. a white south carolina police officer has been charged with mu
police officer is charged with first-degree murder after a cell phone video showed him shooting eight times into the back of a 50-year-old african-american man named walter scott who was running away. the officer then handcuff scott as he was lessft face down, and the officer then shows the officer planting a taser . then to ferguson missouri, which hold its first municipal election since the shooting of michael brown. for the first time in ferguson s 20-year history, the six-member city council will have three african-americans. and to chicago where mayor rahm emanuel has survived a runoff against progressive challenger chuy garcia. mayor emanuel: to all the people of chicago who have given me the privilege to serve as your mayor for another four years, thank you, god bless you, and god bless chicago. amy: and we will speak with broadcaster tavis smiley about his new book, my journey with maya. maya angelou: you may try todod me in the very dark, but still like dust, i ris
and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. david ritz has been called the ultra reader emperor of collaborations in the as-told-to world. he s written more than 53 book including biographies, novels, and what he calls collaborative autobiographies. he s written with some of music s greatest artists including ray charles, smokey robinson, etta james, b.b. king, buddy guy. the list goes on and. on this year alone he has four collaborations out working with the now new york time best selling joe perry new york times best selling so perry and tavis smiley with his book death of a kwing king about the last year in the life of dr. martin luther king jr. his fifth book is a biography titled respect: the life of aretha franklin, which earned rave reviews from the prestigious kirkus review. one of many rave reviews for all the work he s done, calling it, and i quote, an honest and genuinely respectful portrait of a true diva by a writer