A Biography Of Donald Lyles

May Of 2020

"I started writing at an early age," recalls Donald Lyles, now a widely-published poet, article writer and author of two books so far. "At first I wrote lyrics. I was prompted to write lyrics when I saw an ad in a comic book that said if you write lyrics and don't write music, send in your lyrics and if selected by the company, then a composer will write the music and a singer would be selected to record it. One of my lyrics, Trust In Me Baby,  was selected. I signed a contract to be paid 1 cent per record sold. One penny per record? That doesn't sould like much. But, as an example, if a song sell a million copies in a month, that is $10,000 for you. I learned later that a song can be recorded by other singers (called a cover version) and the 1 cent (known as royalties) add up. A cover version may sell 2 or 3 million copies or more. As an example, Dolly Parton, who wrote "I Will Always Love You" in 1973. It sold hundreds of thousands of copies. It was overshadowed by 1972 cover by  Whitney Houston cover, which sold over 20 million copies, certified triple-platinum by the RIAA. Due to retaining the publishing rights, Parton earned over $10 million in royalties from Houston's version in the 1990s alone. Since my first recorded song in the early 1960s, I have had another song recorded,, "Be Considerate," in the 1970s. I have written several other songs with composer-music teacher Will Hadley, now deceased.

Then I started writing poetry. My first published poem was published in a weekly newspaper, The Journal And Guide, in Richmond, Virginia in 1964. Since then my poems have been published in anthologies, weekly newspapers  on internet subdomains, including The Clover Collection of Verse, American Poetry  League Bulletin, The Prairie Poet Collection, Summertime:Man When Born Of Fire, The Strand Book of Modern Verse (England), American Poet, United Poets,  From Sea To Sea In Song, The Los Angeles Sentinel, The Michigan Chronicle, Wave Newspapers's Southside Journal, The International Who's Who In Poetry Anthology (England), The Harlo's Anthology Of Modern Day Poets And Authors, to name 13.

As a newpaper and magazine columnist, my columns have appeared in The Los Angeles Herald Dispatch, Bronze Thrills Magazine, The National Afro-American, The (Houston) Informer And Texas Freeman, Fontier News Bimonthly and The Lyric Writer (Ireland).

As a freelance writer, my celebrity interviews and feature articles have appeared in Black Stars, Modern People, Los Angeles Southwest College Explorer, California State University at Los Angeles's Brimstone Magazine, Soul Confessions Magazine. Hep Magazine, The National Tattler, The National Insider, The St. Louis (Missouri) Argus, to name nine.

As Steven Pressfield has said and I paraphased: "Start (writing) before you're ready." I am always aware what Jodi Picoult has opined; "You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page." Having met and photographed Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-Winning Laureate Toni Morrison, I try to use in my article and feature writing her quote:"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."