Father, son co-authors share their new book on influential Black musicians with Boys and Girls Club

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    LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia (Gwinnett Daily Post) — Some families who were looking for something to do while they sheltered-in-place during the COVID-19 pandemic might have tried something like a home improvement project.

But, Michael Carson and his 11-year-old son, Matthew, decided to write a book instead.

The pair wrote “African-American Musicians That Changed Music Forever,” a collection of profiles of 100 influential Black musicians up through the 1990s, after a vacation their family had planned ended up being canceled because of the pandemic.

“I felt bad because he’s an only child and he doesn’t have any brothers or sisters so we decided to work on a project together,” the elder Carson said. “It was a fun process. I mean I learned a lot and we both kind of bounced ideas off of one another about these different people, and it was a ton of research and it was an overall fun project.”

The father and son co-authors shared their book with the children at the Lawrenceville Boys and Girls Club on Thursday, talking to the kids about the artists who influenced modern day African-American musicians, such as Beyonce and Chris Brown.

It includes biographies of artists well known from the last 50 years of music, such as Michael Jackson, Prince, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, George Clinton, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, James Brown and Marvin Gaye, but it goes beyond that as well.

It includes some artists who may not be as well known, such as Nina Simone, as well as artists from farther back in history, such as Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker, Bo Diddley, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie.

“I wanted to cover some pretty iconic people who did some incredible things, but (are) not really well-known by those kids today,” Carson said. “And, with them starting a music program here (at the Boys and Girls Club), I wanted them to learn about the pioneers of music who did some incredible things.”

Matthew Carson said he discovered several new artists whose names he wasn’t familiar with, even if he had heard their music, or heard someone do a cover of their music before.

“It was a good experience,” he said. “There were a lot of (artists he wasn’t familiar with). There was Steve Wonder. I’d never heard of Marvin Gaye before. I didn’t know who Whitney Houston was either.”

The younger Carson said his favorite musical group that he discovered through doing research for the book is Earth, Wind and Fire.

The earliest musician in the book is someone Michael Carson said his son actually brought to his attention: Elizabeth Greenfield, an early-to-mid-19th century concert singer who was called “The Black Swan.” The elder Carson said said Greenfield was his favorite of all of the musicians his son brought to his attention.

“Not many people have every heard of her,” he said. “She’s from the early 1800s and she was the nation’s first African-American concert singer. In many ways, she was the first pop star in the United States. She toured the United States, Canada and Europe extensively during her career and she was the best-known African-American performer of the 19th century.

“In 1853, she became the first African-American woman to give a command performance before royalty when she appeared before Queen Victoria.”

Carson’s State Farm agent Natacha Jocelyn sponsors the presentation at the Boys and Girls Club, paying to provide every chid at the club with a copy of the book. The presentation was a way to help the club celebrate Black History Month and to also tie into the new music program, which is in the process of starting up at the club.

Carson said his family sees value in what the Boys and Girls Club does for children, and that is why they wanted to partner with the club in Lawrenceville.

“I’m just so proud of the work they do here in the community,” Carson said. “They have been excellent at getting our young people to be future leaders of tomorrow and we just wanted to help them in any way we can.”

And, the club made a big experience out of the presentation. Classes came out one at a time, and kids were kept socially distanced because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But Carson got to talk to the kids about how modern day big names in music, such as Beyonce, were inspired by musicians such as Whitney Houston and Diana Ross.

And, first- and second-graders who attend the club did a performance as The Supremes, to their song “Can’t Hurry Love,” for classmates during one of the presentations.

Lawrenceville Boys and Girls Club Executive Director Rory Johnson said the new music program at the club is designed to teach kids about the music industry, including how to write and produce music.

The club has a history of turning out musicians. EJ Day, one of the Top 10 finalists during the first season of American Idol nearly 20 years ago, was a member of the Lawrenceville Boys and Girls Club when he was a kid, according to Johnson.

“We’re looking to get that (program) kicked off next month,” Johnson said. “We’re in the process of interviewing and screening for that position. We’re one of, I think, only five clubs throughout the whole organization that will be running this specific program, so that’s huge.

“Since we have that opportunity for some of our kids who came through and done some awesome things with music beforehand, we’re going right back there again.”

With that program in mind, Johnson said it and the fact that February is Black History Month made Carson’s program timely.

“The program went well,” he said. “I’m glad we had beautiful weather to have our kids not only have the weather, but to also give a performance themselves and then Mr. Michael talked about the history of music. It was funny that some of our kids did recognize a few but then didn’t (recognize others).”

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