Nelson George (born September 1, 1957) is an
African American author, columnist,
music and
culture critic,
journalist, and
filmmaker. He has been nominated twice for
the
National Book
Critics Circle Award.
He
attended St. John's University
, after which he served as a music editor for Billboard
magazine from 1982 to 1989. While there, George
published two books;
Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall
of the Motown Sound in 1986, and
The
Death of Rhythm & Blues
in 1988. Nelson also wrote a column, entitled "Native Son," for the
Village Voice from 1988 to 1992. He
first got involved in film when, in 1986, he helped to finance
director
Spike Lee's debut feature
She's Gotta Have
It.
He has
been a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, New York
.
Literary work
George has authored fifteen
non-fiction
books, including the bestseller
The Michael Jackson Story
in 1984,
Blackface: Reflections on African-Americans and the
Movies in 1994,
Elevating the Game: Black Men and
basketball in 1992 and
Hip Hop America in 1998. With
Alan Leeds he co-authored The James Brown Reader, a collection of
articles about the Godfather of Soul in 2008. in 1991 he co-wrote
the Halle Berry vehicle
Strictly
Business and in 1993 Nelson was co-creator of the movie
CB4 starring
comedian Chris
Rock.
Film and television work
In 2004, he made a short film called
To Be a Black Man,
starring
Samuel L. Jackson, and a documentary called
A
Great Day in Hip hop.
Both titles have been
aired in festivals in New York
, London
, and
Amsterdam
. In 2004 He executive produced the
HBO film
Everyday People that debuted at the
Sundance Film Festival in
2004.
Currently he is serving as co-
executive producer of
VH1's
Hip Hop Honors television show and
executive producer of Black Entertainment Television's
American
Gangster series, which was the highest rated series in the
history of BET in 2006. His directorial debut,
Life Support, starring
Queen Latifah, aired on HBO on
March 10,
2007. Latifah won
several awards for her performance as Ana Wallace, including a
Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild award, and the NAACP Image award.
Life Support was also named best TV film of the year by the NAACP.
He also currently hosting the
VH-1 series "Soul
Cities", which examines the music and culture of six prominent
cities in the U.S..
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search