Gil Scott-Heron Memoirs to Be Published Next Year

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Dec 15, 2011

The world suffered a massive blow when iconic musician/poet/author Gil Scott-Heron passed away last May, but the performer still has another gift to give his devoted in the form of his soon-to-be published memoirs.

Wire reports [via Pitchfork] that publishing house Canongate will deliver the book, titled The Last Holiday, on January 16.

The memoirs revolve around a 1980 tour that Stevie Wonder asked Scott-Heron to join that campaigned to have civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. honoured with a U.S. holiday. Fittingly, the book lands on 2012's Martin Luther King Day. The tour ended in 1981 and helped promote the creation of the federal holiday, which was first observed January 20, 1986.

Canongate has posted a clip of Scott-Heron recalling being on tour when John Lennon was murdered on December 8, 1980. You can check out the poignant reading, which was recorded in the '90s, over here.

The publishers released a book of Scott-Heron's poetry called Now and Then last June.

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