Soul Picnic: The Music and Passion of Laura Nyro
By Michele Kort
Published by Thomas Dunne
Review by David Chiu
List Price: $25.95

It's quite remarkable and almost blasphemous that the late Laura Nyro is neither in the Rock and Roll nor the Songwriters Hall of Fame. With her amazing body of work and continuing influence on generations of singer/songwriters, you'd think those would be enough to warrant wider recognition. Then again, it's further evidence of the quiet, unassuming life that Nyro led, and the ignorance of some music listeners and critics. Predating both Carole King and Joni Mitchell by a few years, Nyro was a late '60s hitmaker who wrote stunning pop songs that touched on imagination and later feminist issues. But there is a backstory here too, and that forms the basis of the first biography of the artist by writer Michele Kort.

Nyro, who died of ovarian cancer in 1997 at the age of 49, was part of the New York City '60s songwriting generation that included Goffin and King and Neil Diamond. She wrote songs that later became hits for artists such as Blood Sweat and Tears, Three Dog Night, and Barbra Streisand. On her own, Nyro became a star in her right recording landmark songs that captured perfectly her wide-eyed enthusiasm and intimate experiences: "Stoned Soul Picnic," "Save the Country," "Emmie," and "Eli's Coming" are just a few of those examples. She was also an devoted enthusiast of soul music as her covers of Motown on the Gonna Take a Miracle album (with vocal assists from LaBelle indicated). The book covers the arc of her career from her early successes, her declining popularity in the late '70s and most of the '80s as she chose to settle down and become a mother, through her "comeback" in the early '90s, and to finally recording the last songs before she died.

Drawing from interviews and reminisces from Nyro's family, relatives, her ex-husband and son Gil, as well as from her peers (including Phoebe Snow, Patti LaBelle and her former agent/music mogul David Geffen), Kort paints an in-depth and absorbing portrait of Nyro the artist and person. There are some things about Nyro one might be curious and surprised to learn that even casual fans might not know, such as her turbulent relationships with men, including one with a then young Jackson Browne, and her gradual foray into lesbianism. Other interesting moments in her life included the horrible reception she received from the audience during her performance at the Monterey Pop festival that was later filmed. Nyro was also a loving parent to her son Gil whom she raised alone after her divorce from David Bianchini, and she was also a person of integrity-she would turn down lucrative commissions for movie songwriting work if a film depicted violence, at a time when she didn't have enough money late in her life. It was also compelling to learn about how she put all her energy into writing and recording more songs even after learning she was in the later stages of ovarian cancer.

This is the first book by writer Kort and she does a magnificent job of investigating Nyro's life from the most obvious to the minutely subtle details. She writes in the point of view of a journalist and of a fan. Some of the individual chapters are titled from Nyro's albums and offer insight to the recording process of her works and songwriting method ( a detailed discography is included here). Soul Picnic is a nice portrait though even the author would admit that to gain the full picture of Nyro, one should buy her albums. That way, you could hear how she still continues to influence many a singer and songwriter.

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