Music man: writer Christopher John Farley's biography of the late pop singer Aaliyah is one of the latest books to capitalize on the success of black music

Black Issues Book Review, May-June, 2002 by Brett Johnson

Christopher John Farley knows he has a plum gig. As the pop music critic for Time magazine, he has interviewed personalities including the "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin, rock legends Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell, and some of hip hop's most accomplished artists, such as Outkast and Dr. Dre. Hobnobbing with music icons and, inevitably, some one-hit wonders, 36-year-old Farley has emerged as one of the premiere black music writers in the country. In fact, Farley was one of the last journalists to talk to the late R&B songbird Aaliyah before a fatal plane crash off the coast of the Bahamas claimed the life of the 22-year-old singer and eight others last August.

An author of a moderately received novel, My Favorite War, about a Washington reporter's experiences covering the Gulf War, last year Farley wrote his second book, a full-length biography titled Aaliyah: More Than a Woman, based on his conversations with the young singer. The book capped Aaliyah's life and achievements in the wake of her tragic death, and the subsequent backlash surrounding the horse-and-carriage procession that accompanied the singer's funeral through the streets of New York City.

Nevertheless, Farley sees Aaliyah as more than just another pop star with a pretty smile and some catchy tunes. After conducting more than 50 interviews with her friends and relatives, he was able to portray a maturing young artist who was both protective of her personal life, yet highly motivated and determined in her professional aspirations.

A Harvard grad of Jamaican descent, in his latest project, Farley is returning to fiction; it's something he says allows him to flex his own imagination instead of mining the musings of others. He is busy putting the final touches on The Chocolate Gale, his next novel, which is set in the Caribbean during the 18th century.

Recently, Black Issue Book Review sat down with Farley to get his take on writing about music and fiction.

BIBR: Why was it important for you to write a biography about Aaliyah?

CJF: I interviewed Aaliyah not long before she died. I did a profile of her for Time magazine, and her album was my favorite R&B album of the year 2001. I'd been to a party that she'd thrown. I met her mom.... And then suddenly she was dead. So I thought, this is something I really have to write about.

I'd seen other artists come and go. I remember going to Curt Cobain's [MTV] "Unplugged" concert with Nirvana, and not long after that, he was dead. I hooked up an interview with Biggie Smalls [rapper Notorious B.I.G] to have lunch with him, and the day we were supposed to have lunch wound up being the day of his funeral. So this time around I really thought I had to write something.

Also, I'd been concerned about a trend I'd seen in publishing where black people were not getting a chance to write about black people, and black people were not written about at all. So I didn't want that trend to continue. I didn't want another talent to slip away without getting to weigh in on her--why she's significant, and why she needs to be remembered.

Although I feel that anyone should be able to write about anyone--black, white, Asian, whoever. You should also get to write about whomever you have insight into. I felt there was a lockout for black journalists to write about important figures going on in publishing. Oftentimes, you see major biographies come out about major black figures, and they are written by white writers --black writers get shut out. In this case, I said, `Ok, this is an important black figure in pop culture. Let me not shy away from the task.'

BIBR: Obviously there was a rush to get the book out, right?

CJF: Yes. I wanted to get the book out quickly. I turned the book around in a matter of weeks, not a matter of months. I'm used to writing both quickly and long-term.

My first book, My Favorite War, took me almost half a decade to complete. The book I'm working on now, The Chocolate Gale, which is set in the 18th century in the Caribbean, has taken me over six years to complete. Some books take time. They take research. They take a lot of legwork, even with the fiction you have to put in the work.

Well, with this particular book [Aaliyah], I did put in the work. I had just talked to her, so my notebook was full--plus I got comments from friends of hers, from relatives. I got a lot of information from a lot of sources that were able to tell me a lot of things, and I was able to write it quickly.

Also, I found that a lot of people in Aaliyah's life wanted to talk, and they got back to me quickly. Beyonce Knowles of Destiny's Child was on vacation, and she got back to me that day to talk about knowing Aaliyah, hanging out with Aaliyah, and loving Aaliyah. Alicia Keys never met Aaliyah, but because she respected her so much as a musician, she got back to me in a day's time to give her thoughts and ideas on Aaliyah and how Aaliyah influenced her. Missy Elliott, Timbaland, folks like that who played an intimate role in Aaliyah's career, all talked to me because they knew that this book would be important.