Jimmy Scott was born with Kallman's Syndrome, a rare deficiency that interferes with sexual maturation. So, when he entered New York's jazz scene in the 1950s, listeners heard a high-pitched, androgynous singing voice. At first, his unique vocals seemed out of place in an age when Nat King Cole and Billy Eckstine were hit-makers, but audiences soon caught on. In his book Faith in Time: The Life of Jimmy Scott (Da Capo), David Ritz weaves deeply moving interviews with Scott and those close to the singer into his own heartfelt prose.

Ritz became interested in writing the book after hearing Scott sing. "I thought that if I could write as beautifully as he sings, then I would have a good book," the author said. "That would mean writing with sensitivity, with heart, and with passion."

This maxim kept Ritz on course when he found himself stuck or depressed during the writing process. The singer's own vulnerability also inspired Ritz. "We pose and we have this and that attitude, but the people who move me the most are those who say, 'I'm afraid, I'm vulnerable, and I'm going to use my vulnerability and put it in my art and not hide behind it.'"

Scott made a name for himself while playing with jazz musicians Lionel Hampton, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and others. Quickly, he became a star in his own right, influencing such vocalists as Marvin Gaye and Nancy Wilson.

But his career and personal life weren't without struggle. When he was only 13, he and his nine siblings were orphaned when his mother was killed. By the mid-1960s, after enjoying considerable success as a jazz singer, Scott returned home to Cleveland. For the next three decades, he worked as a nurse's aide, a cook, and a shipping clerk, while struggling with financial and drinking problems.

In 1991, however, Scott made a remarkable comeback as a singer and has been performing ever since.

In his book, Ritz documents the various stages of Scott's life in a poignant and engrossing style. "His comeback wouldn't have been as beautiful and inspiring were it not for what happened beforehand," Ritz told BTW. "It's kind of like those Cuban musicians in the Buena Vista Social Club film. They had to go through what they went through under Castro until things changed, and, then, they had this beautiful story to tell. The happy ending is dependent upon everything that went before it."

Ritz certainly knows his stuff when it comes to writing about music artists. A four-time winner of the Gleason Award for best music book of the year, his works also include Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King (Spike), The Brothers: An Autobiography (Da Capo), and Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye (Da Capo), which are all "as told to"-style books. Ritz became intrigued with writing about musicians as a kid after reading Lady Sings the Blues, an autobiography of Billy Holiday as told to William Duffy.

"I asked my dad who Duffy was, and he said that he was the guy who wrote the book," Ritz recalled. "I said, 'But it's in her voice.' He said, 'She hires a guy who writes it for her.' I asked, 'Well, does he get to go over Billy Holiday's house?' 'Maybe.' 'Well, then that's the job I want.'"

Ritz has also written lyrics, including the words to Gaye's 1982 smash hit "Sexual Healing."

"I was working on Marvin's biography -- just kind of sitting there and interviewing him. He had a track but couldn't come up with any words, and I did," Ritz said.

Over time, Ritz's desire to hang out with stars has only gotten stronger. "When I hear an artist I love, I want to get to know who they are," he said. "With a lot of music biographies, you read about artists who the author never knew and who, in turn, never come alive. One thing I always wanted to avoid was getting in the way of the voice of the subject. That's the voice I want to hear and share. I'm privileged, for example, that I got to hang with Jimmy Scott. I feel I have to get out of the way and, if I talk too much, it's like, 'Why doesn't he shut up so I can hear Jimmy?'"

Faith in Time also differs from many recent music-related bios in its non-scholarly approach and brief length (270 pages). "What I tried to do is make it lean and mean and not write an exhaustive scholarly work. I believe in the entertaining biography and I'm just not a scholar by nature," Ritz said. While he did draw a good portrait of the times Scott has lived in, Ritz is more concerned with Scott's own evolution. "I could have gone off on, say, Charlie Parker because Jimmy knew Bird, but I instead went more towards what the essence of the story was."

Sometimes, the success of a biography depends on the accessibility of the person being celebrated. While reading Faith in Time, however, it's clear that Ritz had plenty of time with Scott. "Jimmy was like, 'Here I am. You can sit with me for hours and hours and ask me things again and again, and I won't get impatient because I know what you need.' He knew what was required of him as a performer in the context of having his biography written."

It's a good thing Scott was so available considering Ritz doesn't excel if a subject isn't into it. "I feel uncomfortable writing a book no one wants me to do," the author said. "I'm not against those other kinds of books -- cats out there will do books yet have falling-outs with their subjects. But I just can't do it." Instead, friendship and trust drive Ritz's work. "I gather candid information from my collaborators when there's goodwill between us," he added. "We're kind of cuddling up to one another. We're becoming pals." -- By Jeff Perlah [4]