Anthony Heilbut

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Anthony Heilbut (born November 22, 1940) is an American writer, and a Grammy Award winning record producer of gospel music. He is noted for his biography of Thomas Mann, and is also a two-time recipient of the Grand Prix du Disque.

Contents

Life

Anthony Heilbut, the son of German Jewish refugees Bertha and Otto Heilbut, was born in New York. He received his Ph.D. in English from Harvard University when he was 25. For the next ten years he taught, first at New York University and then at Hunter College. Since 1976 he has been a full-time writer and record producer. [1]

Heilbut’s first book, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times, was published in 1971 and has been updated several times since then; a “25th Anniversary Edition” appeared in 1997. [2]

Exiled in Paradise: German Refugee Artists and Intellectuals in America from the 1930s to the Present was published in 1983 and updated in 1997.

Heilbut's Thomas Mann: Eros and Literature was published in 1996. The New York Times called the book "brilliant" and "astonishing". [3] [4] Colm Toibin in The London Review of Books called it "brilliantly perceptive", and The Independent called it "endlessly illuminating". [5] In 1997, it received the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Non-Fiction from the Publishing Triangle.[ citation needed ]

He has written reviews and articles for, among others, Harper's Magazine , The New York Times Book Review , The Nation , Truthdig , The New Yorker , Dimensions , The Village Voice , The Daily Beast , The Believer , Los Angeles Times Book Review, Black Women in America, and The Encyclopedia of New York City .

Heilbut's The Fan Who Knew Too Much, a collection of cultural essays published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2012, [6] ranges from Thomas Mann to the gay and lesbian influence on gospel music. [7] The book won the Deems Taylor ASCAP Award, and was chosen by Lorin Stein, editor of the Paris Review, as one of his seven recommended books of 2012. [8] The book was released in paperback by Soft Skull Press in fall 2013.

He has appeared in several documentaries including Rejoice and Shout (2011) and Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock and Roll (2011).

Producer

Anthony Heilbut is a record producer. [9] He has produced anthologies of jazz, country music, white gospel and opera, but his specialty is black gospel music. Among his productions, How I Got Over (Columbia) by Mahalia Jackson won both a Grammy Award and a Grand Prix du Disque; Prayer Changes Things (Atlantic) by Marion Williams won a Grand Prix du Disque; and Precious Lord: The Great Gospel Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey (Sony) was the first gospel album to be included in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

Heilbut has produced albums for many labels. Since 1987 he has been the president, sole producer, literary editor, and janitor of Spirit Feel Records, which is distributed by Shanachie Records.

Other gospel acts Heilbut has produced include The Dixie Hummingbirds, Professor Alex Bradford, Dorothy Love Coates, Bessie Griffin, Reverend Claude Jeter, R. H. Harris, [10] [11] Inez Andrews, The Roberta Martin Singers, Sallie Martin, J. Robert Bradley, Robert Anderson, Willie Mae Ford Smith, [12] The Stars of Faith, and Delois Barrett Campbell.

He has also produced reissues and career overviews of Edna Gallmon Cooke, The Fairfield Four, and his friend Sister Rosetta Tharpe. In 2010, he produced a combination CD/DVD, How Sweet It Was: The Sights and Sounds of Traditional Gospel. In 2011, he annotated and co-produced the Aretha Franklin compilation The Great American Songbook.

Heilbut is an atheist. [13]

Works

Awards

Movie Appearances

Source: [17]

References

  1. ↑ Doug Boltson. "Anthony Heilbut". Anthony Heilbut. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Articles, interviews and reviews from Anthony Heilbut: Rock's Backpages". Rocksbackpages.com. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  3. ↑ Jefferson, Margo (June 30, 2002). "THEATER; Rebirth in Venice And Two Lethal Queens of Hearts (Published 2002)". The New York Times.
  4. ↑ Lehmann-Haupt, Christopher (March 21, 1996). "BOOKS OF THE TIMES;Of Homoerotic Elements in Mann's Work and Life (Published 1996)". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ "Anthony Heilbut". anthonyheilbut.com.
  6. ↑ Doug Boltson. "Anthony Heilbut". Anthony Heilbut. Retrieved August 13, 2012.
  7. ↑ "Review of Anthony Heilbut's 'The Fan Who Knew Too Much'". The Washington Post. August 3, 2012. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Holiday Gift Guide: What do you give a book lover?". news.yahoo.com. December 15, 2012. Retrieved February 20, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Anthony Heilbut". Discogs.
  10. ↑ Hinckley, David (September 6, 2000). "R.H. Harris, Gospel Great". New York Daily News . Retrieved December 18, 2015.
  11. ↑ Published: September 13, 2000 (September 13, 2000). "Corrections - New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ JON PARELESPublished: February 3, 1994 (February 3, 1994). "Willie Mae Ford Smith, 89, Singer Who Joined the Blues and Gospel - New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ↑ “People are amazed that a German Jewish atheist would be supposedly the world’s expert on gospel music.” Anthony Heilbut interviewed by Barney Hoskyns, “The gospel according to Anthony,” The Independent (London), June 24, 1996, Arts; Pg. 26.
  14. ↑ "45th ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor Awards Announced".
  15. ↑ "The Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction".
  16. ↑ Pareles, Jon (July 4, 1994). "Marion Williams is Dead at 66; Influential Pioneer of Gospel". The New York Times.
  17. ↑ "Anthony Heilbut". imdb.com. Retrieved October 14, 2024.


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