Maria’s Scarf: A Memoir of a Mother’s Love, a Son’s Perseverance, and Dreaming Big

Drummer Zoro, who’s toured with acts including Bobby Brown and Frankie Valli, debuts with an upbeat account of his musical career and deep connection to his Mexican immigrant single mother. Zoro grew up in Compton, Calif., as Daniel Donnelly. He and his five siblings, each with different fathers, bounced between tenement houses and spells of homelessness under the loving eye of their mother, actor Maria Islas-Bravo. The daughter of a Mexican Supreme Court justice, Maria remained unflaggingly spirited and optimistic even as her romances fizzled and her family’s money dried up. She took her children to the beach, to see movies and live music (including a Frank Sinatra show that proved formative for the author), and—when they were low on food—to a county fair eating contest. She provided early support to Zoro when he built and played makeshift drums from coffee and Almond Roca cans, a hobby which soon blossomed into a full-fledged passion for music and performance. As a teenager, Zoro marched into Beverly Hills High School’s band classroom, despite not being enrolled in the school, and met Lenny Kravitz, who connected him to his first professional gigs with groups including New Edition. Without downplaying his hardships, Zoro composes a tremendously hopeful ode to music and family. This bewitching rags to riches tale keeps an infectious beat. Photos. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency. (Apr.)