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.