One can hardly turn on the news these days without witnessing a celebrity scandal involving drugs, alcohol or criminal charges. As a formerly successful music business entrepreneur, who served a jail sentence for cocaine possession in the early '80s, Marty Angelo feels a particular empathy for celebrities who find themselves in crises. Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan, Tom Sizemore and Paris Hilton are a few who recently received free copies of his new book, "Once Life Matters: A New Beginning." Angelo hopes his book will inspire them to turn their lives around.

Once Life Matters: A New Beginning

Marty Angelo
Impact Publishing (2006)
ISBN 0961895446
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (5/07)


While on a roller-coaster ride of self-destruction, Marty Angelo experienced the thrills and pinnacles of success and the despair and depression of the pits of personal failure.  For fifteen years he pursued a career as a music business entrepreneur.

“Once Life Matters: A New Beginning” is his life-changing memoir. Such well-known celebrities from the music industry as Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, John Lennon, Janis Joplin, and Rob Grill all had a part in Marty’s rise to success as a manager and promoter.
 
Although outwardly successful, Angelo was searching for more, for meaning. During this fifteen-year journey he experienced the powerful hold of drugs, alcohol, and rock/disco music on his life.

In March of 1981 Angelo had reached rock bottom.  It was at this point that Marty experienced a dramatic and powerful life-changing conversion to Christianity. Since that time, he has become a strong witness of God’s saving grace, mercy, and forgiveness. 

In Marty’s own words, “It took me thirty-five years, but I finally found peace through Jesus Christ. The decades of the wild life I led, along with the few times when I was close to finding the right path, weave an amazing story. I'm not proud of the many problems I created for myself--the incredibly stupid things I did--but I'm not running from them or trying to cover them up either. In fact, by telling my story here, I hope you, dear reader, can learn the lessons I learned without going through the trials and dangers I faced.”

Since his conversion in 1981, Marty has served significant roles in full-time ministry with Chuck Colson’s Prison Fellowship, as a counselor with Teen Challenge, and as director of evangelism and court liaison with the Faith Farm Ministries.

Angelo’s writing is engaging, entertaining, informational, and inspiring. He made himself vulnerable, exposing his weaknesses as well as his strengths.  I appreciated the no-holds-barred approach in telling his story, balancing the message of his newfound life as a follower of Christ with his experiences in the music industry and well as a glimpse into his life while serving time in the Federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky.

Marty views this book as a ministry. It is his prayer that readers will discover the truth of God’s Word and be motivated and encouraged to take a stand for God.  This is a book that will challenge hearts, offer hope, and I believe it will change lives, which is, I am sure, exactly what Marty intended it to do. I feel confident that “Once Life Matters” has that kind of potential.