From the decline of the Big Band sound to the emergence of Black Pride, Sly, Superfly and the Funk, Heart & Soul celebrates the nearly half-century of vibrant, flamboyant and extravagant flowering in African American culture that enriched the entire world.

Here is a musical history told in legends, facts and rumors every bit as colorful as the images that illustrate the book. The story is filled with characters such as O.V.

Wright, a singer deemed "too ugly to tour"; Frankie Lymon, who received a hot dog as full payment for some of the greatest R&B songs of all time; LaVern Baker, a.k.a. "Little Miss Sharecropper"; Billie Holiday shooting dice with the boys on the bus; Solomon Burke, R&B immortal and Doctor of Mortuary Sciences; soul ghoul Screamin' Jan Hawkins locked in his coffin by the Drifters; and many other talented and unique entertainers.

Illustrated with more than 400 original photographs, publicity shots, posters, programs, advertisements, program covers, magazine covers, album covers and sleeves, sheet music, and record labels in full color, this is a story of hot music and high style, of people who made history by being themselves and made the world a richer, wilder and definitely cooler place for the rest of us.