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Rollaresque: The Rakish Progress of The Rolling Stones
By Simon Goddard. 2015
London 1962. Five young hooligans have formed a band and are on a collision course with the austere and intolerant…
values of post-war Britain. From their beginning in a scummy flat off the Kings Road to the notorious Redlands scandal, this is the anarchic rollercoaster ride of the Stones’ first five years.We follow our heroes in a rags-to-riches romp of sex, scandal, mischief and uproarious behaviour as they challenge the establishment, invent the archetype of the rebellious, parent-scaring rock star lothario and, eventually, receive their comeuppance from the powers that be. Presented with the audacious wit and bawdy humour of a vintage novel, complete with Dickensian illustrations, Rollaresque celebrates the young Stones in the grand English literary tradition of lovable rogues. This is the music biography reinvented as a ripping yarn.Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E. Smith
By Mark E. Smith. 2008
The only way to appreciate the legendary musician Mark E. Smith is to encounter the man in his own words.'May…
be the funniest music book ever written' ObserverThe Fall are one of the most distinctive British bands, their music - odd,spare, cranky and repetitious - an acknowledged influence on The Smiths, The Happy Mondays, Nirvana and Franz Ferdinand. And Mark E. Smith IS The Fall.47 members have come and gone over the years yet he remains its charismatic leader, a professional outsider and all-round enemy of compromise, a true enigma. There have been a number of biographies of the legendary Smith, but this is the first time he has opened up in a full autobiography. For the first time we get to hear his full, candid take on the ups and downs of a band as notorious for its in-house fighting as for its great music; and on a life that has endured prison in America, drugs, bankruptcy, divorce, and the often bleak results of a legendary thirst.'A riot' Independent on Sunday 'Unbeatable' Time Out'Vicious' Daily Telegraph'Hilarious' Scotland on SundayReally Saying Something: Sara & Keren – Our Bananarama Story
By Sara Dallin, Keren Woodward. 2020
______________________________________'Engaging, entertaining, brilliantly recounted' Mirror 'Captivating . . . an incredible story' i paper__________________________________MUSIC, FAME AND A LIFELONG FRIENDSHIPSara Dallin…
and Keren Woodward met in the school playground when they were four. They went on to become international stars and inspired a generation with their music, DIY-style and trailblazing attitudes.Told with humour and authenticity, and filled with never-before-seen photos, Really Saying Something takes us behind the scenes of their early days, the world tours, party games with George Michael, a close friendship with Prodigy's Keith Flint, and hanging out with Andy Warhol in New York.This is a celebration of a life-affirming friendship, with an unbeatable soundtrack.__________________________________'Like something from a movie' Dermot O'Leary'A brilliant autobiography' Martin Kemp'A blast' Metro'What a nostalgia-fest' Kate ThorntonRapthology: Lessons in Life and Lyrics
By Jermaine Scott 32. 2019
'Groundbreaking... Part memoir, part guide, this is a must-have.' Independent'A worthwhile tutorial.' Evening Standard"Poetry and rap come from the same…
family. They're brothers. Just because you're good at one doesn't necessarily mean you'll be good at the other, but if you master both you'll be unparalleled."Rapthology is a masterclass in lyric writing. A spotlight into the craft and skill of what it takes to be an incredible artist by pioneering musician and artist, Wretch 32. Taking us through the songs which have shaped his career over the last two decades step by step, explaining what each song means to him, his own creative process, from the first flashes of inspiration to final edits and improvisation, right through to how popular and powerful his lyrics are.Part autobiography, part guide to creativity and part cultural history Rapthology is a blueprint to the music that matters.Pet Shop Boys versus America
By Chris Heath. 1993
No other pop group in recent history has faced fame with such intelligence, humour and shrewdness as the Pet Shop…
Boys. In 1991, the band toured North America for the first time shadowed by journalist Chris Heath and legendary rock photographer Pennie Smith. They visited fourteen cities in one month, confronting the American music industry and colliding with the likes of Liza Minnelli, Steven Spielberg and Axl Rose. This is more than a documentary of a tour; it is an unusually intimate portrait of two maverick British musicians always reluctant to compromise.‘There was a time when the Pet Shop Boys seemed to exist entirely on radio, television and in magazines. This is the other world of the Pet Shop Boys in concert, travel and backstage, as they bring their art and glamour to America. It’s funny too.’ Johnny Marr‘A brilliant book, to be read over and over again. How could anyone not love these men?’ NMEPet Shop Boys, Literally
By Chris Heath. 1990
The Pet Shop Boys are one of the most successful and unusual bands of the last five decades. They are…
the pop duo that proves pop music can be modern, ecstatic and playful as well as serious and intelligent, winning them legions of devoted fans throughout the world.In 1989, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe invited journalist Chris Heath and photographer Lawrence Watson to shadow them around Hong Kong, Japan and the UK as they embarked on their first-ever tour. This book is the result: an immersive portrait giving access into the duo’s inner sanctum, showing them in brilliantly observed detail as they work, relax, gossip, argue and occasionally try to make sense of what they do.‘As clear a picture as could be wished for of the seething mass of elegant contradictions that is the Pet Shop Boys’ on-the-road experience.’ Independent on Sunday‘This superbly reported book transcends tired rock journalism cliché. It’s about what it means to be a pop star, what it means to be a Pet Shop Boy… how to love pop, hold it to a higher standard and subvert its expectations.’ Laura SnapesOverpaid, Oversexed and Over There: How a Few Skinny Brits with Bad Teeth Rocked America
By David Hepworth. 2020
The Beatles landing in New York in February 1964 was the opening shot in a cultural revolution nobody predicted. Suddenly…
the youth of the richest, most powerful nation on earth was trying to emulate the music, manners and the modes of a rainy island that had recently fallen on hard times.The resulting fusion of American can-do and British fuck-you didn’t just lead to rock and roll’s most resonant music. It ushered in a golden era when a generation of kids born in ration card Britain, who had grown up with their nose pressed against the window of America’s plenty, were invited to wallow in their big neighbour’s largesse.It deals with a time when everything that was being done - from the Beatles playing Shea Stadium to the Rolling Stones at Altamont, from the Who performing their rock opera at the Metropolitan Opera House to David Bowie touching down in the USA for the first time with a couple of gowns in his luggage - was being done for the very first time.Rock and roll would never be quite so exciting again.Our World: Our OFFICIAL autobiography
By Little Mix. 2016
Celebrate Little Mix's first UK number-one album - Glory Days - by reading the full story of the girls' astonishing…
rise to pop super stardom. Our World is full of exclusive photos and inspirational stories about Jade, Perrie, Jesy and Leigh-Anne's unique friendship.Little Mix are the UK's most successful girl band. They first found fame - and each other - on The X Factor in 2011. Five years later they have gone from strength to strength, achieving huge global success. With three platinum-selling albums in the UK and over 14 million record sales worldwide, the band are both adored by their fans and critically acclaimed for their brilliant music. In this book the girls share the real behind-the-scenes story of both their personal lives and their success. They reveal the many highs - what it feels like to perform in front of thousands of people; the excitement of seeing your music soar to Number One around the world - but also the lows. Through it all the girls have had each other, and their incredibly close friendship has grown stronger and stronger as the years have gone by. Now the girls are like sisters, and in this book they share their journeys and how it feels for your dreams to come true.Brimming with exclusive photos, this book shares with us the girls' innermost secrets - their hopes and dreams for the future, their families, their relationships, their style advice and above all their friendship. This book is Little Mix's story in their own words and tells you everything you need to know about their lives both in and out of the spotlight.A shout-out to all fans of Rak-Su - this is their story, from where it all began to where they…
are now, full of exclusive stories and pictures. Make it a special day. Make it a Rak-Su day! __________Rak-Pack! Are you ready for our official story?As long as we've been friends, we've been creating our unique sound of soul, R'n'B, Hip-Hop, Latin and Caribbean music.Keeping the momentum going from our X-Factor journey, we are now performing at sold-out arenas, making more music and having fun!So why not join us on the adventure? Unrivalled access to never-before-seen photos, intimate stories, and behind-the-scenes info - in our first and only memoir!_________Ashley, Jamaal, Myles and Mustafa shot to stardom in 2017 as the first ever male group to win the X-Factor. Since then, the soulful boys have been topping the charts with their eclectic sound, performing at sold-out arenas, touring with global sensation Little Mix, recording their first album and most recently dropping their brand new hit single, Pyro Ting.Join Rak-Su on their journey from ordinary North-West London lads, to victors of one of the world's biggest talent shows in their one and ONLY! OFFICIAL memoir, Our Journey.My Side of Life: The Autobiography
By Shane Filan. 2014
As a lead singer of Westlife, one of the most successful pop acts of all time, Shane Filan was on…
top of the world. Together with the band, he achieved an incredible 14 No.1 singles (a record beaten only by the Beatles) sold 44 million records and was adored by fans the world over.Everything he touched turned to gold, or so it seemed. Like many others, he had piled his fortunes into the Irish property boom and when the bubble burst, Shane struggled with mounting debt. Just ten days after Westlife’s final farewell concert, in front of a sold-out crowd of 80,000 fans, Shane was declared bankrupt with debts of £18 million – losing everything.But this wasn’t the end for Shane Filan – a devoted singer and family man, Shane circled back to his roots and a year later he launched his solo career. In My Side of Life Shane shares his story for the first time – his early years growing up as part of a large Irish family in Co. Sligo, the phenomenal success of Westlife and the ups and downs of their time together, the breakup of the band, his financial devastation, and finally going it alone as a solo artist.This is Shane’s side of the story.I Am Charlie Wilson
By Charlie Wilson. 2015
The long-awaited New York Times bestselling memoir of seven-time Grammy-nominated artist Charlie Wilson, the iconic R&B and Funk singer-songwriter-producer and…
former lead singer of The Gap Band—interwoven with his recollections of collaborating with fellow artists such as Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, and Snoop Dogg.Recognized the world over for his distinct voice and timeless hits spanning a career of nearly half a century, Charlie Wilson is one of the most celebrated musicians of his generation. So it took friends and family by surprise when he checked into rehab and revealed that he had been not only homeless, but also helpless.Here is the riveting story of how love and faith carried him through not only his addiction, but also prostate cancer. Here, too, is the story of his work in the music business, including a career resurgence that saw collaborations with some of the most sought-after artists of today, including Pharrell and Justin Timberlake.Now over twenty years sober, Wilson recounts a life filled with vertiginous highs and heartbreaking lows. His is a story of triumph over adversity, courage in the face of extreme hardship, and love when all else is lost. It is a tale of the last sixty years in social and pop culture history, and one that will stay with you for years to come.Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger
By Christopher Andersen. 2012
“He’s a smart little mother******,I’ll give him that.” —KEITH RICHARDS on MICK JAGGER IS he Jumpin’ Jack Flash? A Street Fighting…
Man? A Man of Wealth and Taste? All this, it turns out, and far more. By any definition, Mick Jagger is a force of nature, a complete original—and undeniably one of the dominant cultural figures of our time. Swaggering, strutting, sometimes elusive, always spellbinding, he grabbed us by our collective throat a half-century ago and—unlike so many of his gifted peers—never let go. For decades, Mick has jealously guarded his many shocking secrets—until now. As the Rolling Stones mark their 50th anniversary, journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author Christopher Andersen tears the mask from rock’s most complex and enigmatic icon in a no-holds-barred biography as impossible to ignore as Jagger himself. Based on interviews with friends, family members, fellow music legends, and industry insiders—as well as wives and legions of lovers—MICK sheds new light on a man whose very name defines an era and candidly reveals: —New details about Jagger’s jaw-dropping sexual exploits with more than four thousand women (including Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Uma Thurman, and France’s First Lady Carla Bruni)—as well as his encounters with several of rock’s biggest male stars. Also, the day Mick’s wife Jerry Hall and Keith Richards pleaded with Jagger to seek treatment for sex addiction. —The backstage drama surrounding Mick’s knighthood, and Jagger’s little-known ties to Britain’s Royal Family, including Prince William and Kate Middleton. —What he really thinks of today’s superstars—including Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, and Justin Bieber. —Never-before-revealed, behind-the-scenes accounts of his often turbulent relationships—from his band-mates, ravenous groupies, and rabid fans to such intimates as Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Jackie Onassis, Bill Clinton, and others. —Cocaine, LSD, hashish, and speed—the flabbergasting truth about the extent of Jagger’s substance abuse, and how long it really went on. —A rare glimpse into Mick’s business dealings and the killer instinct that has enabled him to amass a personal fortune well in excess of $400 million. —The stormy “marriage” between Mick and Keith that nearly ran aground over Keith’s searing comments—and all the scandal, mayhem, excess, madness, and genius that went into making the Rolling Stones “the world’s greatest rock-and-roll band.” Like its subject, this book is explosive and riveting—the definitive biography of a living legend who has kept us thrilled, confounded, and astounded. THIS IS MICK.Stories to Tell: A Memoir
By Richard Marx. 2021
*National Bestseller* Legendary musician Richard Marx offers an enlightening, entertaining look at his life and career.Richard Marx is one of…
the most accomplished singer-songwriters in the history of popular music. His self-titled 1987 album went triple platinum and made him the first male solo artist (and second solo artist overall after Whitney Houston) to have four singles from their debut crack the top three on the Billboard Hot 100. His follow-up, 1989&’s Repeat Offender, was an even bigger smash, going quadruple platinum and landing two singles at number one. He has written fourteen number one songs in total, shared a Song of the Year Grammy with Luther Vandross, and collaborated with a variety of artists including NSYNC, Josh Groban, Natalie Cole, and Keith Urban. Lately, he&’s also become a Twitter celebrity thanks to his outspokenness on social issues and his ability to out-troll his trolls.In Stories to Tell, Marx uses this same engaging, straight-talking style to look back on his life and career. He writes of how Kenny Rogers changed a single line of a song he&’d written for him then asked for a 50% cut—which inspired Marx to write one of his biggest hits. He tells the uncanny story of how he wound up curled up on the couch of Olivia Newton-John, his childhood crush, watching Xanadu. He shares the tribulations of working with the all-female hair metal band Vixen and appearing in their video. Yet amid these entertaining celebrity encounters, Marx offers a more sobering assessment of the music business as he&’s experienced it over four decades—the challenges of navigating greedy executives and grueling tour schedules, and the rewards of connecting with thousands of fans at sold-out shows that make all the drama worthwhile. He also provides an illuminating look at his songwriting process and talks honestly about how his personal life has inspired his work, including finding love with wife Daisy Fuentes and the mystery illness that recently struck him—and that doctors haven&’t been able to solve.Stories to Tell is a remarkably candid, wildly entertaining memoir about the art and business of music.They're Playing Our Song: A Memoir
By Carole Bayer Sager. 2002
A New York Times bestseller from Grammy and Academy Award–winning songwriter Carole Bayer Sager shares &“a delightful and funny tell-all…
crammed with famous names and famous songs&” (Steve Martin), from her fascinating (and sometimes calamitous) relationships to her collaborations with the greatest composers and musical artists of our time.For five decades, Carole Bayer Sager has been among the most admired and successful songwriters at work, responsible for her lyrical contributions to some of the most popular songs in the English language, including &“Nobody Does It Better,&” &“A Groovy Kind of Love,&” &“Don&’t Cry Out Loud,&” and the theme from the movie Arthur, &“The Best That You Can Do&” (about getting caught between the moon and New York City).She has collaborated with (and written for) a dizzying number of stars, including Peter Allen, Ray Charles, Celine Dion, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Clint Eastwood, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Carole King, Melissa Manchester, Reba McEntire, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Carly Simon, Frank Sinatra, and Barbra Streisand.But while her professional life was filled with success and fascinating people, her personal life was far more difficult and dramatic. In this memoir that &“reads like a candid conversation over a bottle of Mersault on a breezy Bel Air night&” (Vanity Fair), Carole Bayer Sager tells the surprisingly frank and darkly humorous story of a woman whose sometimes crippling fears and devastating relationships inspired many of the songs she would ultimately write.&“This exceptionally candid memoir&” (Los Angeles Times) will fascinate anyone interested in the craft of songwriting and the joy of collaboration, but They&’re Playing Our Song is also a deeply personal account of how love and heartbreak made her the woman, and the writer, she is. &“Carole Bayer Sager is simply the finest….and this book is one of the best, most lasting songs she has ever written&” (Carly Simon).Bruce: Reflections On Bruce Springsteen
By Peter Ames Carlin. 2012
Peter Ames Carlin’s New York Times bestselling biography of one America’s greatest musicians is the first in twenty-five years to…
be written with the cooperation of Bruce Springsteen himself; “Carlin gets across why Mr. Springsteen has meant so much, for so long, to so many people” (The New York Times).In Bruce, acclaimed music writer Peter Ames Carlin presents a startlingly intimate and vivid portrait of a rock icon. For more than four decades, Bruce Springsteen has reflected the heart and soul of America with a career that includes twenty Grammy Awards, more than 120 million albums sold, two Golden Globes, and an Academy Award. Peter Ames Carlin masterfully encompasses the breadth of Springsteen’s astonishing career and explores the inner workings of a man who managed to redefine generations of music.A must read for fans, Bruce is a meticulously researched, compulsively readable biography of a man laden with family tragedy, a tremendous dedication to his artistry, and an all-consuming passion for fame and influence.Adrenalized: Life, Def Leppard, and Beyond
By Phil Collen, Chris Epting. 2015
A revelatory, redemptive, and “wild...juicy” (Rolling Stone) memoir from the lead guitarist of the legendary hard rock band Def Leppard—the…
first ever written by one of its members—chronicling the band’s extraordinary rise to superstardom and how they maintained it for three decades.Meet Phil Collen. You may know him as the lead guitarist in Def Leppard, whose signature song “Pour Some Sugar on Me” is still as widely enjoyed as when it debuted in 1988. Maybe you’ve heard of him as the rock star that gave up alcohol and meat more than twenty-five years ago. Most likely you’ve seen him shirtless—in photos or in real life—flaunting his impeccably toned body to appreciative female fans.But it wasn’t always like this. Collen worked his way up from nothing, teaching himself guitar from scratch and slogging it out in London-based pub bands for years; that is, until Def Leppard formed and transformed from unknowns to icons, from playing openers in near-empty arenas to headlining in those same stadiums and selling them out every night. But as Collen discovered, true overnight success is a myth. Like the other band members, he had to struggle and fight his way to the top; in the end, he says, “our work ethic saved us.” Just as it still does.Adrenalized is an amazing underdog tale featuring a bunch of ordinary working-class lads who rose to mega-stardom, overcoming incredible obstacles—such as drummer Rick Allen losing an arm in a car crash and the tragic death of guitarist Steve Clark, Phil’s musical soul mate. Featuring personal, never-before-seen photos of Collen and his band mates on stage and off, Adrenalized is a fascinating account of the failures, triumphs, challenges, and rock-solid dedication it takes to make dreams come true.Pepsi & Shirlie - It's All in Black and White: Wham! Life and Friendship
By Pepsi Demacque-Crockett, Shirlie Kemp. 2021
London. Wham! Pop, glitz and glamour. And two girls with stars in their eyes.Our friendship began one windy day in…
1982, outside Finsbury Park tube. It was an instant like at first sight. We were on our way to a Wham! rehearsal. Pepsi was the new girl in the band and over a car stereo, a cassette tape and that journey to Bushey we bonded. We had no idea that we were on the first of many journeys together and that soon we'd be travelling all over Europe, Australia, America, China and Japan. Or that no matter where we went, together, we'd find a way to make every exotic destination feel like home.We'd both been teenagers during the seventies – a dreary and difficult decade, especially if you were young in London and you didn't have much money.So, in 1982, anything was possible for us – a pair of twentysomethings who hadn't been to university, who didn't have any money, who dreamt of singing and dancing, but ultimately lived for fun. Everything felt new and life was a question mark. We had no idea what was lying ahead, but we wanted to say yes.What we didn't know was that we were saying yes to a lifetime of connection that has endured whatever we've done, wherever we've been. From the side of the stage to its centre – we have many stories to tell.And it's all here, it's all in black and white.Driven: Rush in the '90s and "in the end" (Rush Across the Decades #3)
By Martin Popoff. 2021
The conclusion to the definitive biography of the rock 'n' roll kings of the North. In this conclusion to his…
trilogy of authoritative books on Canada's most beloved and successful rock band, Martin Popoff takes us through three decades of "life at the top" for Rush's Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. Though this era begins with the brisk-selling Roll the Bones and sees throngs of fans sell out international tours, there is also unimaginable tragedy, with Peart losing his daughter and his wife within the space of ten months and, two decades later, succumbing to cancer himself. In between, however, there is a gorgeous and heartbreaking album of reflection and bereavement, as well as a triumphant trip to Brazil, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and-some say surprisingly-the band's first full-blown concept album to close an immense career marked by integrity and idealismMuse of Fire: World War I as Seen Through the Lives of the Soldier Poets
By Michael Korda. 2024
The First World War comes to harrowing life through the intertwined lives of the soldier poets in Michael Korda’s epic…
Muse of Fire. Michael Korda, the best-selling author of Hero and Alone, tells the story of the First World War not in any conventional way but through the intertwined lives of the soldier poets who came to describe it best, and indeed to symbolize the war’s tragic arc and lethal fury. His epic narrative begins with Rupert Brooke, “the handsomest young man in England” and perhaps its most famous young poet in the halcyon days of the Edwardian Age, and ends five years later with Wilfred Owen, killed in action at twenty-five, only one week before the armistice. With bitter irony, Owen’s mother received the telegram informing her of his death on November 11, just as church bells tolled to celebrate the war’s end. Korda’s dramatic account, which includes anecdotes from his own family history, not only brings to life the soldier poets but paints an unforgettable picture of life and death in the trenches, and the sacrifice of an entire generation. His cast of characters includes the young American poet Alan Seeger, who was killed in action as a private in the French Foreign Legion; Isaac Rosenberg, whose parents had fled czarist anti-Semitic persecution and who was killed in action at the age of twenty-eight before his fame as a poet and a painter was recognized; Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon, whose friendship and friendly rivalry endured through long, complicated private lives; and, finally, Owen, whose fame came only posthumously and whose poetry remains some of the most savage and heartbreaking to emerge from the cataclysmic war. As Korda demonstrates, the poets of the First World War were soldiers, heroes, martyrs, victims, their lives and loves endlessly fascinating—that of Rupert Brooke alone reads like a novel, with his journey to Polynesia in pursuit of a life like Gauguin’s and some of his finest poetry written only a year before his tragic death. Muse of Fire is at once a portrait of their lives and a narrative of a civilization destroying itself, among the rubble, shadows, and the unresolved problems of which we still live, from the revival of brutal trench warfare in Ukraine and in the Middle East.Pepsi & Shirlie - It's All in Black and White: Wham! Life and Friendship
By Pepsi Demacque-Crockett, Shirlie Kemp. 2021
London. Wham! Pop, glitz and glamour. And two girls with stars in their eyes.Our friendship began one windy day in…
1982, outside Finsbury Park tube. It was an instant like at first sight. We were on our way to a Wham! rehearsal. Pepsi was the new girl in the band and over a car stereo, a cassette tape and that journey to Bushey we bonded. We had no idea that we were on the first of many journeys together and that soon we'd be travelling all over Europe, Australia, America, China and Japan. Or that no matter where we went, together, we'd find a way to make every exotic destination feel like home.We'd both been teenagers during the seventies – a dreary and difficult decade, especially if you were young in London and you didn't have much money.So, in 1982, anything was possible for us – a pair of twentysomethings who hadn't been to university, who didn't have any money, who dreamt of singing and dancing, but ultimately lived for fun. Everything felt new and life was a question mark. We had no idea what was lying ahead, but we wanted to say yes.What we didn't know was that we were saying yes to a lifetime of connection that has endured whatever we've done, wherever we've been. From the side of the stage to its centre – we have many stories to tell.And it's all here, it's all in black and white.