Donald Milton Clarke (born 1940) is an American writer on music.

Career

Clarke was born in 1940 and raised in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Wisconsin, fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 99,986 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. S ...

. From 1959 through 1969, he worked at a car factory in Kenosha

American Motors Corporation American Motors Corporation (AMC; commonly referred to as American Motors) was an American automobile manufacturing company formed by the mergers and acquisitions, merger of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and Hudson Motor Car Company on May 1, 19 ...

. In 1973, he graduated from the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

with a Bachelor of Science in education with honors. He lived in England from 1973 to 1998, during which time, from 1974 to 1979, he worked for Marshall Cavendish Publications. From 1998, Clarke lived in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, moving in 2003 to West Des Moines, Iowa, where he worked for a time on the music e-zines ''BluesWax'' and ''FolkWax''. He then moved to

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in eastern Pennsylvania, United States. The county seat of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, it is the List o ...

in 2009 and to Colorado Springs in 2014. Clarke was the author/editor of the ''Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' (1989, 1998), which is now available free on website. His other books include ''Wishing on the Moon: The Life and Times of Billie Holiday'' (1994), ''The Rise and Fall of Popular Music'' (1995), and ''All or Nothing at All: A Life of Frank Sinatra'' (1997). The

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

biography was reprinted by Da Capo Press in 2000 under the title ''Billie Holiday: Wishing on the Moon''.

Selected work

Books * ; (hardback), (paperback). * ; * . * ; ; ; . Articles * (2nd ed; 2002); ; .

References

External links

* Schwartz, Steve (2000)
''The Rise and Fall of Popular Music''
(review), ''Classical Net''. * Schwartz, Steve (2001)
''All or Nothing at All: A Life of Frank Sinatra"
(review), ''Classical Net''. 1940 births Living people American expatriates in England American music critics University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni American writers about music {{US-journalist-1940s-stub