Nelson George facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nelson George
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Nelson George in New York City 2023
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| Born | September 1, 1957 |
| Education | St. John's University |
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| Years active | 1978–present |
| Spouse(s) | Malika Weeden |
| Awards | Grammy Award, Album Liner Notes, James Brown Star Time Box Set, 1991 |
Nelson George was born on September 1, 1957. He is an American author, writer, and filmmaker. He is well-known for writing about music, culture, and African-American history. He has also been nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award, which is a special award for writers.
Contents
Nelson George's Life and Career
His Early Career and Education
Nelson George went to St. John's University. He started his career as an intern at the New York Amsterdam News. Later, he became the black music editor for Record World magazine.
From 1982 to 1989, he worked as a music editor for Billboard magazine. While at Billboard, he wrote two books. These were Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound in 1986, and The Death of Rhythm & Blues in 1988. He also wrote a column called "Native Son" for the Village Voice newspaper.
Nelson George first got involved in movies in 1986. He helped to fund director Spike Lee's first movie, She's Gotta Have It. Nelson George has lived in Brooklyn, New York his whole life. He still lives in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn.
Writing Books
Nelson George has written many non-fiction books. Some of his famous books include The Michael Jackson Story from 1984. He also wrote Blackface: Reflections on African-Americans and the Movies in 1994. Other books are Elevating the Game: Black Men and Basketball (1992) and Hip Hop America (1998).
In 2005, he published Post-Soul Nation. This book talked more about his idea of "post-soul" black culture. He also wrote The James Brown Reader with Alan Leeds in 2008. This book was a collection of articles about the famous singer James Brown.
His book The Death of Rhythm and Blues looks at the history of R&B music. It talks about how the genre changed over time. He also writes about how some popular artists became very mainstream.
Nelson George has also written five detective novels. These books feature a character named D Hunter, who is a bodyguard turned private investigator. The rapper and actor Common has bought the rights to make movies from three of these novels. These books are The Accidental Hunter, The Plot Against Hip-Hop: A Novel, and The Lost Treasures of R&B.
Making Movies and TV Shows
Nelson George has worked on many films and television shows. In 1991, he helped write the movie Strictly Business, which starred Halle Berry. In 1993, he helped create the movie CB4 with comedian Chris Rock.
In 2004, he made a short film called To Be a Black Man. This film starred Samuel L. Jackson. He also made a documentary called A Great Day in Hip-Hop. Both of these films were shown at festivals in New York, London, and Amsterdam. He was an executive producer for the HBO film Everyday People, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004.
He was a co-executive producer for VH1's Hip Hop Honors TV show. He also executive produced Black Entertainment Television's American Gangster series. This series was very popular for BET in 2006.
His first movie as a director was Life Support. It starred Queen Latifah and aired on HBO in 2007. Queen Latifah won many awards for her role in the movie. These awards included a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award. Life Support was also named the best TV film of the year by the NAACP.
Nelson George also hosted the VH-1 series Soul Cities. This show explored the music and culture of six big cities in the U.S.
Documentaries and Recent Work
Nelson George has lived in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, for over 25 years. In 2012, he wrote, narrated, and co-directed a documentary called Brooklyn Boheme with Diane Paragas. This film showed the lively African-American artistic community in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill during the 1980s and 90s. Many famous artists were part of this community, like Spike Lee, Chris Rock, Erykah Badu, and Talib Kweli. The film premiered on Showtime Networks in February 2012.
In 2013, he released Finding The Funk. This documentary explored the history of funk music from the 1960s to today. It included interviews with musicians like D'Angelo and Sly Stone. It aired on VH1 in 2013.
In 2015, Nelson George released A Ballerina's Tale. This was a documentary about Misty Copeland. She is a famous ballet dancer for the American Ballet Theatre. In 2023, he was an executive producer for a new CBC docuseries called Black Life: Untold Stories. This series looked at the history and experiences of Black Canadians.
Filmography
- Def by Temptation, 1990, executive producer
- Strictly Business, 1991, associate producer
- Just Another Girl on the I.R.T., 1992, associate producer
- CB4, 1993, producer, writer
- Everyday People, 2004, executive producer
- The N-Word, 2004, producer
- Good Hair, 2009, producer
- Left Unsaid, 2010, director, producer
- Brooklyn Boheme, 2011, director, producer
- All Hail the Beat, 2012, director, producer
- Finding the Funk, 2013, director, producer
- Top Five, 2014, associate producer
- A Ballerina's Tale, 2015, director, producer
- The Get Down, 2017, writer, producer
- Tales from the Tour Bus, 2019, producer
- The Black Godfather, 2019, producer
- With Drawn Arms, 2020, co-executive producer
- A Grammy Salute to The Sounds of Change, 2021, writer
- Say Hey Willie Mays!, 2022, director
- Dear Mama, 2023, executive producer
- Thriller 40, 2023, director
