Central Skagit Library District

Created in partnership with Ebony Jr., this captivating Little Golden Book biography celebrates Beyoncé's rise from a shy little girl to a world-famous superstar. Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Beyoncé performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling...

"Meet the Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz-once just a girl from Havana, Cuba, who loved to sing. Her soulful voice, compelling charm, and unstoppable determination led to her meteoric rise to fame, opening the door for Latinx performers everywhere. Her booming career took her from the Sonora Matancera to the Fania All-Stars, with the rising popularity of salsa, a genre born of Afro-Cuban musical stylings. Six decades and more than seventy albums later,...

A memoir by the Mexican-American singer who died in a December 2012 plane crash recounts the private battles that challenged her successes, discussing her endurance of domestic abuse, struggles to raise five children, and resolve to connect with fans.

Googoosh was Iran's most famous and beloved pop diva, until she was silenced following the 1979 Islamic revolution when female singers were labeled “temptresses” and forbidden to release records or perform publicly in the presence of men. In this award-winning documentary from First Run Features, Googoosh: Iran's Daughter, Iranian-American filmmaker Farhad Zamani provides a thoughtful examination of the phenomenon of Googoosh. Made during the...

"A candid exploration of the genius, shame, and celebrity of Whitney Houston a decade after her passing. On February 11, 2012, Whitney Houston was found submerged in the bathtub of her suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. In the decade since, the world has mourned her death amid new revelations about her relationship to her Blackness, her sexuality, and her addictions. Didn't We Almost Have It All is author Gerrick Kennedy's exploration of the duality...

"A pioneering biography re-evaluating the life and legacy of trans cendent musician Karen Carpenter. When the Carpenters first toured Japan, a journalist mistakenly referred to Karen as the 'lead sister' of the band. This designation stuck and Karen liked it so much that she had a T-shirt custom-made with the slogan, which she wore while drumming on the band's 1976 world tour. The term also sums up the approach of this biography: a celebratory re-evaluation...