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This does not tell his entire life story.
He also cared for his disabled wife who had cancer until she died and he also was SCREWED by his Manager...Bob Dylna's own Albert Grossman, who locked him into a horrible contract, Pena recorded a great album I forget the name, somthing that had ''Train'' in the title, in the late 1960's or early 1970's...
...and Grossman REFUSED to allow the record company to release it for like
20 YEARS!!!!!! AHole.
Pena was penniless all his life and when the 1999 documentary film this article talks about, ''Genghis Blues'' came out in 1999,
THEN....Grossman released it to crtitical and public acclaim. I followed everything as it happened.
Pena was dirt poor and penniless his whole life while being blind, sick, taking care of his sick wife and being SCREWED by Grossman and forever locked into a slave management deal.
Let's say what Grossman did to Pena, makes the Sheffield Brothers and what they did to Queen (aka Death On 2 Legs) seem like Boy Scouts.
Pena led a very heartbreaking life and was SO talented.
the_hero wrote: to be honest, I have no idea who it is.
Did you read the article from Billboard.
Ok...Paul Pena was a very talented BLIND, singer/songwriter/musician, who wrote the 1970's classic rock hit song ''Jet Airliner'' that Steve Miller covered and it became Steve's signature song and biggest hit.
Paul was so talented, that Bob Dylan's Manager, Albert Grossman, signed him in I think the late 1960's, early 1970's, because Grossman had hear how amazingly talented Paul was.
Pena recorded a great rock & blues album called something with the word Train in it I forget.
Anyways, Grossman was FAR worse than Queen's 1st manager the Sheffield Brothers. Grossman thought the record didn't have a top 40 single in it and refused to allow the record company to release it, but...refused to let Paul out of his management contract.
Pena went into like a nervous breakdown because he could not make any money, he always had bad health too, plus his wife had an ongoing terminal cancer and he had to take care of her and all her medical bills.
Paul wound up I think on the steet or close to it.
Meanwhile, Steve Miller recorded ''Jet Airliner'' which made buckets of money, and THANK goodness, Paul at least hot his songwriting royalties from that as well as several other songs he wrote that other classic rock artists recorded.
Then, in 1995-6 about then, Paul for fun, took up Tuvan throat singing after hearing it on a Ham radio from the mid east country where that is a revered way of singing.
As a sort of fun and therapy, Paul entered a Tuvan throat singing comeptition which was filmed in a documentary called ''Genghis Blues''.
The film played across the USA in 1999 to great acclaim. YES it palyed here in Maryland at the Charles Theater. ''Genghis Blues'' brought TONS of great press...
...and TONS of NEW light/awareness shed on the misfortunes over Paul's life.
The press..which CAN do GOOD things, brought leverage on dumb ass Grossman who had the rights to Paul's record from the 1970's that Grossman refused to release then.
Because of the leverage of the press, portarying Grossman as the ass he is, and, the NEW and RENEWED interest in Paul, the record was released, FINALLY in 1999. (Damn I wish I could remember the name).
It did quite well, and turned out to be the only real success and money Paul FINALLY achieved, but he was already so ill, and his wife had just died from cancer...it was too late...and so he got sicker...and just died now.