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The memoir of influential musician Gil Scott-Heron will be published on Jan. 16, 2012, The Wire reports.
The posthumous text is titled "The Last Holiday" and will be released by Canongate. The date, which coincides with Martin Luther King Day, is no accident, as the memoir chronicles the late singer's civil rights activism and his 1980-81 tour with Stevie Wonder to establish the national holiday.
The publisher has made an audio extract of the book available, featuring Heron reading the early version of a chapter about John Lennon's murder. The former Beatles' death fell during Heron's tour with Wonder, as the pair brought their "Hotter Than July" tour to the Oakland Coliseum.
Heron, widely viewed as forerunner of hip-hop thanks to spoken-word songs such as "The Revolution Will Not be Televised," died in May. He was 62. His final album, "I'm New Here," was released in 2010, with a remixed version in collaboration with the XX's Jamie Smith following in February of this year.
Click here to hear Heron read the Lennon chapter.
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