Holden On To Family Roots

About the Book

This book is about HOLDEN on to your family history. It is not a typical type of book. It begins with the Great-grandfather and works it way down thru the children. This is a family history from the perspective of a granddaughter. Since 1992, I have been working on my family genealogy and talked about publishing my manuscript. I procrastinated and over the years I saw several books published that mentioned my family in them. Finally I decided to have my manuscript published so that those who were already familiar with my family could actually read short stories and some history about my family and not just focus on music as well as share the uniqueness of my family with anyone. Briefly, I come from a family of musicians: 1. Granddaughter of Oscar Holden - Patriarch of Seattle - http://www.amazon.com/Jackson-Street-After-Hours-Seattle/dp/0912365927/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242151327&sr=8-1 2. Daughter of Dave L. Holden, Sr. - Musician around Seattle - http://historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=2562 3. Sister of David L. Holden, Jr. - Musician around Seattle (currently play in the band GruvBox) - http://www.gruvbox.com 4. Niece of Ron Holden - Hit song in 1960 called: ´Love you so´ - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Holden 5. Niece of Jimmy Holden - Musician around Seattle - http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=450105699 6. Sister of Darrelle Holden – Background singer for Tom Jones - http://tomjonesinternational.com/toms-music/behind-the-scenes/backup-singers 7. Cousin of MarJean Holden - http://marjeanholden.com There have been several books that have mentioned my family in them and on the front cover of ‘Jackson Street After Hours’ is my grandfather because he has been called: ´The Patriarch of Seattle´, the one that brought jazz to Seattle. The following are a few named books that mention my grandfather, father and uncle: 1. The Fortunes of Jelly Roll Morton, New Orleans Creole and ‘Inventor of jazz’, Alan Lomax 2. Dead Man Blues Jelly Roll Morton Way out West, Phil Pastras 3. The Lost History of Jazz in Canada (1914-1949) Such Melodious Racket, Mark Miller 4. The Roots of Jazz in Seattle - Jackson Street After Hours, Paul de Barros (grandfather on cover of book)

About the Author

Linda Holden Givens was born in Seattle Washington November 20, 1956 to David L. Holden, Sr. and Sandra Louise Holden. She grew up in West Seattle attending Highland Park Elementary then later moved back to Seattle. Her mother moved the family to Los Angeles, California in 1968 and lived there until her grandmother passed away in 1970 then moved back to live with her grandfather who was grieving over her death. She graduated from Franklin High School in 1974 and long the way at the ages between 15 – 18 years old, she danced in group called ‘The Ogundas’. An African Dance Assemble throughout Washington State, ran for Miss Black America for Washington State, had a child, graduated from City University with two degrees; BA in Computer Information Systems and MBA Business Administration w/Information Systems Emphasis. She is married to Milton Givens and has 1 daughter, 1 step-daughter, 1 step-son and 3 step-grandchildren that live in Oakland, California. She is the granddaughter of Oscar William Holden a professional musician who led the Oscar Holden Quintet and opened local gigs by touring with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and many others. Her grandfather is considered to be the ‘Father of Seattle Jazz’ and was a talented Southern multi-instrumentalist who was first brought to town in the 1920s by Ferdinand ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton. She is the daughter of David L. Holden, Sr. musician and niece of Ron Holden who had the hit song ‘Love You So’ in the early 1960s.