Mark “Money” Green is a seasoned pro who has pretty much done it all in the music business from being a roadie, promoter, producer, writer, publisher, manager, agent, marketer, and more. He was even involved in what is known as the first mainstream hip hop song: “Rapper’s Delight,” and has worked with countless notables in entertainment from Prince, Aretha Franklin, Will Smith, Eddie Murphy, and Melba Moore to Usher, the late Angie Stone, and more.
The executive also inked a book deal for Grandmaster Flash before writing his own book, the compelling debut autobiography, The Show Must Go On, with collaborator Erika Williams.
“The book starts with God and it ends with God,” the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts Associate Director and General Manager tells So Booking Cool. “In the beginning of the book, I talk about being paralyzed from my waist down and how I had seven specialists. Everybody said I would never walk again. And it wasn’t until my mother, who was a very faithful woman, continued to tell me to have faith in God and continue to pray and ask God for healing.
Now, I was 11 years old, so it was not really meaning a lot to me. But after weeks and weeks of being in the wheelchair, I had that desire and passion. I wanted to walk again. So, I started doing what she said. I would pray daily and ask God for healing. And, eventually, he answered my prayers. Not only did he answer me and allow me to walk again, but he also made me a track star, breaking several records in high school.”
Green, who had a love for music early on–also influenced by his mother–would even be told by his music teacher that his body had become too bulky. From that point, Green had to make a choice: music or sports.
“As you look into my book at the end, you’re gonna see all the different things in my life that made it like a roller coaster, and all the different things that happened throughout my life to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do the next best thing: turn my life back over to God. And once that happened, everything turned good again,” Green says.
Check out the full conversation to learn more about Green, why he wrote The Show Must Go On and whether he omitted anything from the book, the hardest and easiest parts to write about, working and speaking with Angie Stone before her death, his thoughts on the current state of hip hop, and more! For more information, visit Green’s official website.