P.P. Arnold - Soul Survivor - The Autobiography

 

Of course, I've been a fan of P.P. Arnold's talents ever since I first heard her, whether it was her smash solo hit, "The First Cut Is the Deepest" or her work with the likes of the Small Faces. I never knew much about her, other than that she was ravishingly lovely with a huge voice, so when I saw that she had released an autobiography, I had to pick it up.

She begins as a 17 year old mother of two (!) in an extremely abusive relationship who was just asked to audition as an Ikette! She leaves the house under false pretenses, gets the gig, goes to an Ike and Tina show and, predictably, gets beaten by her husband, which simply sets her resolve to leave and start her musical career.

From there she gets into her familial history, a necessary but ultimately slightly dull portion of any musician's bio, although without it you wouldn’t understand their motivations. The chapters alternate between her life in the road with Ike and Tina (unsurprisingly, Ike is physically and sexually abusive) and her family life, growing up in LA. She did not have it easy in either scenario.

Both tales turn out to be fascinating, if not a bit heartbreaking - she becomes pregnant at 15 via (essentially) rape by an abusive boyfriend, while her troubles with Ike and Tina give her the opportunity to travel to England, have an affair with Mick Jagger, and get offered a solo career with Andrew Loog Oldham - but only after spending weeks with virtual strangers in a country that she knew next to nothing about. She gets settled, gets a hit ("First Cut Is the Deepest"), has affairs with various stars (Hendrix, Marriott, of course, among others), travels, and works'n'sings with the likes of the Small Faces along with her own career.

Arnold is a fine writer, and she conjures sights'n'sounds'n'emotions of the times and, of course, the early days are exciting, even though challenging, but being part of the swingin' 60's British scene means that she met practically everyone of note. She has been friends with some of the biggest names in the biz and mostly has good things to say about them, but she is honest when she did have issues with certain folks. Of course, none of this guarantees long term success and a string of bad luck, bad decisions and lack of support means that, after her initial success, she did not have an easy life. In fact, there is a lot of sadness and frustration throughout, causing me to need to take occasional breaks from the story, despite continuing to be drawn into the tale.

Lovely and talented and intelligent, it's a strong book by a strong woman. Glad that she has made it through and seems to have a reasonably good life now, with more well-deserved recognition. This is a fine read!