Grand Bergen

    Rare is it that any author will have one of his books described as the definitive work on a particular subject, but such a distinction has been bestowed by critics on no less than four books written by James Riordan.  The New York Times Best-seller Break on Through, Riordan’s biography of Doors lead singer Jim Morrison, was called “the most objective, thorough and professional Morrison biography” by the Times Book Review and named as one of the Ten All Time Best Rock Biogra-phies by Amazon.com.  Riordan’s The Platinum Rainbow (written with Bob Monaco) was called “One of the best how-to books ever written” by the Los Angeles Daily News. Critics described Riordan’s The Bishop of Rwanda as “one of the most important books you’ll ever read” and The Coming of the Walrus, Riordan’s novel about the 60s has been called “the definetive book on the era” and “a hilarious tale of a harrowing search for the greatest truth of all”.

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    The author of 47 books, James Riordan’s career began in the music industry where as a songwriter, manager, producer and concert promoter he worked with several well known artists.  In 1976 he began writing a newspaper column on popular music, Rock-Pop, which he later syndicated.  Riordan soon became one of America’s premier rock journalists with articles reaching millions of readers including those of Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy, Circus, Musician, The Chicago Daily News, The Kansas City Star, and many others. His reputation for relating on a one-to-one level soon led to interviews with George Har-rison, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, Frank Zappa, Monty Python, The Doobie Brothers, Barbra Mandrell, CS&N and count-less others. His first book, The Platinum Rainbow (written with Bob Monaco in 1980) became the largest selling book ever written about the music business and was praised by Variety ,The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Las Vegas Sun, The Minneapolis Tribune, Billboard, Record World and many more.  The Platinum Rainbow became an industry wide phenomenon and interviews with James Riordan were aired on over 1200 radio stations and numerous television talk shows.  Next Riordan collaborated with Pulitzer Prize winner Jason Miller on a mini-series for network television (The Irish) and a movie of the week for CBS (Bless Me Father).   In June 1991, William Morrow published Break On Through to outstanding sales and reviews. Riordan was a consultant on Oliver Stone’s film, The Doors, which led to his writing Stone’s biography.  Published by Hyperion in December 1995, Entertainment Weekly called STONE “unflinching... enough spectacle to fill a month of daytime-TV talk shows.”  The New York Post said reading the book was like “the sensory overload of watching all of Oliver Stone’s movies back to back.” Riordan was interviewed by Inside Edition, People Magazine, Tom Snyder, and many others. With A Well Thought Out Scream and Madman in the Gate, Riordan pushed the boundaries again with poetry /song lyric books containing hundreds of stunning images from artists and photographers all over the world.  From 97 2000, Riordan created and co-starred in a local TV program, Kankakee Valley Prime Time, which won six Crystal Communica-tors, three Tellys, and a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Nomination for Writing.  In the summer of 1999, James Riordan wrote, directed and starred in Maddance, which won Crystal Communicators for Drama, Writing, Acting and Directing.  He has written several screenplays since including John Horse (Winner of Best Screenplay at the American Film Festival, the San Antonio Film Festival and a finalist at the Las Vegas Black Film Festival and the Lucky Strike Film Festival.

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    On April 9, 2000, James’ 16 year old son, Jeremiah, was killed as a passenger in an accident that involved three drunk drivers. Shortly after this, James founded Make it Stick which works to warn teens of the dangers of substance abuse and publishes a magazine distributed to high school students. In 2001, he founded  Jeremiah’s – A Place to be Yourself to give teens a place to hang out away from the dangers of drugs and alcohol.  Forced to close by its incredible growth, Jeremiah’s was recognized as one of the fastest growing and most successful teen centers in the United States.  In 2004, Toastmasters International named Riordan Communicator of the Year for Central Illinois, the YMCA gave him their Service to Youth Award and the United Way named him the Outstanding Volunteer of Kankakee County. Returning to writing, Riordan went to Africa to write The Bishop of Rwanda, (with an intro by Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren). In November of 2006, Harper Collins released a new edition of Break On Through followed by The Coming of the Walrus in December and The Bishop of Rwanda (Thomas Nelson).  In 2011, James Riordan won the Pledge For Life Harold Award for his work with area youth.  In 2012, Lee and Shane Stanley (Gridiron Gang) optioned Maddance and Apothecary Films optioned The Kill Switch for movie rights.  Longtime friend Creed Bratton (The Office) included a song he and Riordan had written together Pablo on his 2013 album Tell Me About It, Riordan joined the Mancow Syndicated Television and Radio show in 2014 and was seen and heard across America on a weekly basis. In 2018-2019 he developed three new books, two screenplays and a cable series. In 2020 he joined Grand Bergen with noted producer/arranger Mark Hebert (Montreux Jazz Festival) and the two began working on a new CD, You Never See Them Coming. Riordan has also written seven private biographies and is included in Who’s Who in Entertainment , Who’s Who in Poetry and Contemporary Authors of America and in 2019 he was selected for the Who’s Who Lifetime Achievement Award along with Colin Powell and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.