C. J. Farley, born in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised in Brockport, New York, graduated from Harvard University and served as an editor of the Harvard Lampoon. Farley's novel Around Harvard Square won an NAACP Image Award and the author's biography Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Farley co-wrote and co-edited the book The Blues with Martin Scorsese and was consulting producer on the Peabody-winning HBO documentary Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown. Farley, a former senior editor for the Wall Street Journal and a former music critic for Time magazine, has interviewed some of the greatest musical artists in the world, including Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Lauryn Hill, Adele, Beyoncé, Jay Z, Radiohead and Taylor Swift. Farley also worked as an Executive Editor at Amazon Inc.'s Audible.