by Questlove
First published 2022
Mark Brown stocks shelves at a 7-Eleven during the summer of 1981, jamming with his high school band Phantasy between shifts. By fall, he stands onstage as BrownMark at the Los Angeles Coliseum, playing bass for Prince before 90,000 Rolling Stones fans. The nineteen-year-old musician must navigate the strange world of Paisley Park while touring globally with The Revolution and performing in Purple Rain. BrownMark faces the emotional complexities of working alongside one of music's most demanding visionaries. He struggles to maintain his identity while breaking racial barriers in Minneapolis and building his own reputation in the industry. The bassist eventually secures his own Motown contract, but the path from that cold call from Prince to independent success tests him in ways his teenage self never anticipated. This story captures a young artist learning his craft in extraordinary circumstances.
Genres: 20th-century, african-american, autobiography, biography-memoir, music, 21st-century, musicians
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Los Angeles Coliseum, Minneapolis, Paisley Park
Period: 1981, Summer 1981
173 pages · Kindle Edition · Univ Of Minnesota Press