Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

The most beautiful : my life with Prince / Mayte Garcia.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Hachette Books, 2017Edition: First editionDescription: 294 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780316468978
  • 0316468975
  • 9780316555999
  • 0316555991
Subject(s): Genre/Form: DDC classification:
  • 781.66092 B 23
LOC classification:
  • ML420.P974 G37 2017
Summary: A candid assessment of the iconic musician's personal and professional life by his first wife traces their long-distance courtship, marriage, and creative partnership as well as the challenges that compromised their romance.
Fiction notes: Click to open in new window
Star ratings
    Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Book Book Bedford Public Library Biography Biography BIO PRINCE GAR Available 32500001722686
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

At the one-year anniversary of his death, legendary musician Prince's first wife shares a uniquely intimate, candid, and revelatory look inside the personal and professional life of one of the world's most beloved icons.

In The Most Beautiful , a title inspired by the hit song Prince wrote about their legendary love story, Mayte Garcia for the first time shares the deeply personal story of their relationship and offers a singular perspective on the music icon and their world together: from their unconventional meeting backstage at a concert (and the long-distance romance that followed), to their fairy-tale wedding (and their groundbreaking artistic partnership), to the devastating losses that ultimately dissolved their romantic relationship for good. Throughout it all, they shared a bond more intimate than any other in Prince's life. No one else can tell this story or can provide a deeper, more nuanced portrait of Prince -- both the famously private man and the pioneering, beloved artist -- than Mayte, his partner during some of the most pivotal personal and professional years of his career. The Most Beautiful is a book that will be returned to for decades, as Prince's music lives on with generations to come.

A candid assessment of the iconic musician's personal and professional life by his first wife traces their long-distance courtship, marriage, and creative partnership as well as the challenges that compromised their romance.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Actress, dancer, and choreographer Garcia takes great pains to bring sensitivity to the audio edition of her memoir recounting the tumultuous events surrounding her courtship with, marriage to, and divorce from pop superstar Prince, who died in 2016. Garcia's narrative tackles the late musician's conversion to the Jehovah's Witness faith and dependence on painkillers, and their tortured experience with tabloid rumors and speculation surrounding the death of their infant son. Gracia tastefully balances candor with a sense of boundaries and propriety related to the most intimate personal details. She offers explanations and insights, but this is not a tell-all celebrity biography. Garcia reads the audiobook in a conversational, but deliberately hushed manner. The pain of Prince's death is apparent throughout, even as she recounts fond memories. The audiobook includes photos from Garcia's and Prince's life together (found on disk seven, in a homage to Prince's hit song devoted to his lucky number). A Hachette hardcover. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Book Review

Prince's ex-wife recalls the joys and heartbreaks of life with the late superstar. When Garcia met Prince, she was a 16-year-old military brat living with her family in Germany and making a healthy living as popular belly dancer. With the encouragement of her hard-charging mother, she got a videotape of her moves into Prince's hands, launching a friendship that, once she was of age, blossomed into a romance. Garcia recalls her early enchantment with the funk-pop-rock virtuoso, from his hotel rooms dolled up by a "foo foo master" assigned to make them homier to his conversational charm to his scent ("like the most expensive shelf in the Sephora perfume aisle") to notes revealing his vulnerable side ("U're so pretty. It cheers me up if someone tries 2 ruin my day. Many do"). Prince became her employer (she danced on his tours in the 1990s), first lover, and, in 1996, husband. Garcia's memoir is mostly a warmhearted remembrance of life with Prince, but she also recalls chafing at life in the gilded cage of Paisley Park and, late in their brief marriage (they divorced in 2000), his alienating obsession with Jehovah's Witness doctrine. The deepest wound, however, was the 1996 death of their week-old infant son, who was born severely deformed; a later miscarriage all but ended their relationship: "If fighting was an exercise,' the last year of our marriage was a spin class from hell." Prince could be callous, she recalls: he put her to work less than a month after their son died, was unfaithful, and left her saddled with an expensive property after the divorce. But little bitterness fills these pages. Garcia closes with assertions that she's moved on (Hollywood Exes, an adopted daughter, an animal rescue) and expressions of regret that Prince's life was cut short. A genial, candid portrait of Prince's ill-fated turn as a family man. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Mayte Garcia is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and author. She worked as a backup singer for Prince from 1992-1996. During that time, she appeared in music videos, performed on tours, award shows, and television shows. She also began to direct some of Princes tours and videos. Later she directed the Around the World in a Day tour with the NPG dance company. She contributed as a songwriter and singer to some of Princes albums. Her debut album was Child of the Sun. It played on MTV Europe and VH1 in the United States. She is the author of a memoir entitled The Most Beautiful: My Life with Prince.

(Bowker Author Biography)

    Bedford Public Library
    2424 Forest Ridge DR
    Bedford, TX 76021
    817-952-2350

    Mon. Wed. Thu.: 10am-8pm
    Tue. Fri.: 9am-5pm
    Sat. 10am-5pm
    Sun. 1pm-5pm

Powered by Koha