The Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award is an honor reserved for biographers who have demonstrated leadership, excellence and longevity within their respective industries and professions.
Besides Riordan, other 2019 honorees include former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Associate Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Marquis Who’s Who has remained the standard for reliable and comprehensive biographical data since 1899. The Who’s Who Lifetime Achievement recognizes individuals who have achieved excellence in the industry. These individuals have excelled in their field for at least 20 years.
Riordan is the author of 45 published books, including the New York Times Bestseller “Break on Through: The Life & Death of Jim Morrison,’’ upon which filmmaker Oliver Stone based his movie “The Doors.’’
“Break on Through” has not only been called “the most objective, thorough and professional Morrison biography” by the Times Book Review but also was named as one of the 10 all-time best rock biographies by amazon.com.
Riordan also wrote Stone’s biography.
Published by Hyperion in December 1995, Entertainment Weekly called the book “an unflinching biography … enough spectacle to fill a month of daytime-TV talk shows.”
The New York Post said reading the book was like “the sensory overload of watching all of Oliver Stone’s movies back to back.”
Riordan’s first book was “The Platinum Rainbow” (written with Bob Monaco).
It was called “one of the best how-to books ever written” by the Los Angeles Daily News and “The ultimate career book on the music industry” by Recording, Engineer & Producer.
Critics described Riordan’s “The Bishop of Rwanda’’ as “one of the most important books you’ll ever read.” And “The Coming of the Walrus,’’ Riordan’s novel about the 1960s as “the definitive book on the era” and “a hilarious tale of a harrowing search for the greatest truth of all.”
Riordan’s career began in the music industry where as a songwriter, manager, producer and concert promoter he worked with several well-known artists.
In 1976, he began writing a newspaper column on popular music, Rock-Pop, which he later syndicated.
Riordan became one of America’s premier rock journalists with articles reaching millions of readers, including those of Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy, Circus, Musician and newspapers such as The Chicago Daily News, The Kansas City Star and others.
On April 9, 2000, Riordan’s 16-year-old son, Jeremiah, was killed as a passenger in an accident that involved three drunk drivers.
Shortly after this, Riordan founded Make it Stick, which works to warn teens of the dangers of substance abuse and publishes a magazine distributed to high school students.
Since 2012, Riordan, through Make it Stick, had produced the Kankakee Area Music Awards, which recognizes talent within a 25-mile radius of Kankakee.
In April 2019, the eighth annual awards were presented in front of a capacity crowd at the Majestic Theater in Kankakee.