Nelson George

Nelson George
George at the 2014 MontClair Film Festival
Born	(1957-09-01) September 1, 1957 (age 59) Brooklyn, New York, USA
Education	St. John's University
Occupation	journalist author columnist music & culture critic filmmaker
Years active	1979–present

Nelson George (born September 1, 1957) is an African-American author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He has been nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

George attended St. John's University. He was an intern at the New York Amsterdam News before being hired as black music editor for Record World. He later served as a music editor for Billboard magazine from 1982 to 1989. While there, George published two books; Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound in 1986, and The Death of Rhythm & Blues in 1988. He also wrote a column, entitled "Native Son," for the Village Voice from 1988 to 1992. He first got involved in film when, in 1986, he helped to finance director Spike Lee's debut feature She's Gotta Have It.

A lifelong resident of Brooklyn, New York, George currently lives in Fort Greene.

George has authored 15 non-fiction books, including the bestseller The Michael Jackson Story in 1984, Blackface: Reflections on African-Americans and the Movies in 1994, Elevating the Game: Black Men and basketball in 1992, and Hip Hop America in 1998. With Alan Leeds he co-authored The James Brown Reader, a collection of articles about the Godfather of Soul in 2008. In 1991 George co-wrote the Halle Berry vehicle Strictly Business and in 1993 he was co-creator of the movie CB4 starring comedian Chris Rock.