Musicians, singers, bands and groups Books

A Grateful Dead concert, Ray Robertson argues, is life.Like life, it can be alternately compelling and lackluster; familiar and foreign; occasionally sublime and sometimes insipid. Although the Grateful Dead stopped the day Jerry Garcia's heart did, what...

John, Paul, George, and Ringo were more than great musicians: they were the quintessential fashion icons of one of the most exciting and memorable fashion eras of all time. From their starts in black leather through Sergeant Pepper to Nehru collars and...

'An ode to storytelling itself...A gorgeous and heart-rending story of survival.' - Melissa Febos, author of GirlhoodA moving and essential exploration of what it takes to find your voice as a woman, a survivor, an artist, and an icon...

Prince Rogers Nelson aka Prince was a complete artist, all at once author, composer, performer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. A real showman on stage, songs like " 1999" or " Purple Rain," made him an international star. With his tormented life,...

Crosby, Holiday, Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Garland, and Streisand were the major interpreters of the American songbook, and this is the interlocking story of their lives and careers. Here is the epic tale of how these artists dominated American popular music...

Rebel Music: Bob Marley & Roots Reggae is a tribute to the leading icon in music, Bob Marley. In 1975, after meeting Marley in London, photographer Kate Simon gained unique access to the Wailers, capturing intensely personal moments and momentous...

'Mark is one of the most indomitable yet gentle spirits I've ever met. He will always be one of my favorite artists I've ever worked with. And someday when I grow up, I want to be just like him.'Alice Cooper'This book is a puzzle. The outside frame...

An experimental account of one woman's quest to shed addictive substances and behaviors from her life-which dares to ask if we're really better off without them.In January 2021, Freda Love Smith, acclaimed rock musician and author of Red Velvet...

Donald Fagen will forever be associated with Steely Dan, the band he formed with Walter Becker and four other musicians in 1972.The smooth, radio-friendly veneer of the duo's songs made Steely Dan internationally popular and famous in the 1970s, but the...

Of the many Cold War radio DJs who broadcast to the USSR, Seva Novgorodsev must be near the top of the list. A masterful BBC presenter, Seva was considered a sage of rock 'n' roll. His programs introduced forbidden western popular music and culture into...

The Monkees represent a vital problem for rock and pop, and perhaps the major question: is it the music that matters or the personality and image of the performers? This book explores the system behind the Monkees, the controversial made-for-tv band that...

Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood is the definitive portrait of the condemned man of rock'n'roll, from the baptism of fire and tragedy that was the New York Dolls, through the junkie punk years of the Heartbreakers, to his sudden and mysterious death in...

Get inside the head of Rihanna: musician, fashion designer, and business mogul.This collection of quotes has been curated from Rihanna's numerous public statements - interviews, books, social media posts, television appearances, and more. It's a...

Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Freddie Mercury form one of the greatest rock bands in the world. Under the leadership of its charismatic singer, Queen is a planetary success for each hit with its decadent shows, inimitable aesthetics, and style...

From the depths of the '70s rock 'n' roll excesses through unimaginable personal losses to an inspiring late-life transformation, Cidny Bullens's story is an utterly compelling journey about living and singing with your authentic voice.An androgynous...

An essential, inspiring collection of quotations about creativity, social justice, and more from musician, producer, artist, and designer Pharrell WilliamsRising to global fame with his hit single 'Happy,' Pharrell Williams has...

**AVanity FairBest Book of 2022****Mosaic Magazine Best Book of 2022**The untold story of Leonard Cohen's concert tour to the front lines of the Yom Kippur War, including never-before-seen selections from an unfinished manuscript by Cohen and rare...

Pairing history's 100 greatest rock stars with recipes for their iconic drink of choice, How to Drink Like a Rock Star is the perfect guide to summoning the muse for music fans, rock and roll bartenders, and cocktail enthusiasts.Have you longed for a...

In (Low)life, Charles Farrell lets the public in on his gripping, harrowing, rich, and often amusing life that transverses his path from a teenage jazz prodigy, to mob-involved boxing fight-fixer, to his business partnership with the legendary Floyd...

On February 25, 1963, Columbia Records released The Barbra Streisand Album. The first song was "Cry Me a River," and with that a star was born. Barbra Joan Streisand had a zany personality backed by a talent that Stephen Sondheim once described as "one...

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST NPR "BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR" SELECTION NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE A virtuosic debut from a gifted violinist searching for a new mode of artistic becomingHow does time shape consciousness and consciousness, time? Do we...

Nightclub, theatre, creative hub, party place, and one of the most important venues in Scotland, Britain and Europe: for almost 25 years, The Arches was the beating heart of Glasgow.In 1991, former punk-turned-theatre director Andy Arnold walked into the...

Holy Ghost is the first extended study of free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler, who is seen today as one of the most important innovators in the history of jazz.Ayler synthesized children's songs, La Marseillaise, American march music, and gospel hymns,...

Part memoir, part social history, Revolutionary Spirit is the poignant, often hilarious story of a cult Liverpool musician's scenic route to fame and artistic validation. If Morrissey was the Oscar Wilde of the 1980s indie scene, Simpson was its William...

"With this book, the Zappa fan will get a glimpse into Frank that I don't believe any other book written by him or about him expresses. And us Zappa fans love that. Thank you, Co." Steve Vai"I think the best way to start when somebody says something...

Compiled from over one hundred interviews and years of in-depth research, KEEP MUSIC EVIL tells the full, unexpurgated tale of the infamous psych-rockers The Brian Jonestown Massacre.'They didn't know what to do with us. Anton was drinking, like, a...

'I'm no stranger to failure, and I'm aware it can arrive at any minute-as it often has. You have to keep things close to your chest and be aware of what's really important: the work, not everything around it. If you have faith in the work, then the...

"I have been seeking P.F. Sloan, but no one knows where he's gone"'P.F. Sloan' by Jimmy Webb"Absolutely none of 'em could beat ol' P.F."Lester Bangs, Rolling Stone magazineWhat's Exactly The Matter With Me? is a first-person account of an extraordinary...

Return Of The King tells the story of a tumultuous period in the life of Elvis Presley. By 1967, The King Of Rock'n'Roll was all but washed-up, thanks to a string of bland movie roles and lackluster records. But within a year he had roused himself,...

'I was raised with an artist's mentality; my first 25 years were spent as somebody who wanted to live among graphics and artwork and illustration, and then for the next 30 years it was all music. Recently, I've reverted into the arts, combining...

'I can be scratching around at home on an acoustic guitar, or singing a funny little idea into my phone, and all of a sudden, it becomes a beautifulfully fledged song. And I'm asking myself, how did we do that again? I still find that...

'Here on the shore, twenty years later, my message in a bottle has reached dry land. Words about our life, his death but mostly love and our journey to the end.' - Olivia HarrisonOlivia Harrison presents Came the Lightening a book of...

'These guitars have been really good tools; they're not just museum pieces. They all have a soul and they all come alive.' Eric Clapton'In his own words, Clapton tells his story through the history of his instruments.'Rolling StoneInSix-String...

'When I wrote and recorded these songs originally, I never would have expected the fantastic audience response all these years later; it's amazing.' Jeff LynneThe music of Jeff Lynne is beloved by fans all over the world and...

The Go-Betweens recorded six albums that are among the finest work of the 1980s, earning them a reputation as the ultimate cult band and the lasting esteem of their peers, from R.E.M. to Sleater-Kinney. In 2000 they returned to making records - and...

Dusty Springfield was one of the biggest musical stars of the twentieth century. From the launch of her solo career in 1963, and until her departure for Los Angeles a decade later, she was Britain's biggest female star, with a glamour and voice that...

In the 1950s and 1960s, Memphis, Tennessee, was the launch pad of musical pioneers such as Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Al Green and Isaac Hayes, and by 1968 was a city synonymous with soul music. It was a deeply segregated city, ill at...

Leeds, 1980. Amid the violence and decay, the city was home to an extraordinarily vibrant post-punk scene. Out of that swamp crawled the Sisters of Mercy. Over the next five years, they would rise from local heroes to leading alternative band, before...

The legendary music impresario (and producer of bands likeThe Yardbirds and Wham!)tells his life story in a series of mesmerisingly candid vignettes.Sour Mouth, Sweet Bottom: Lessons from a Dissolute Lifeis the book Simon Napier-Bell's fans have always...

'Bob Batchelor writes with great eloquence and insight about the Doors, the greatest hard-rock band we have ever had, and through this book, we plunge deeply into the mystery that surrounds Jim Morrison. It is Batchelor's warmth and...

'I always thought I would get into painting, but I got waylaid by rock 'n' roll...' - Chrissie HyndeFeaturing oil paintings by Chrissie Hynde, Adding The Blue presents nearly 200 original artworks for the very first...

I can't wait to read this book and figure out how he does it all! Keep going, David! Brian 'Head' Welch (KoRN)In this follow-up to his 2013 memoir My Life With Deth, Megadeth bassist and co-founder David Ellefson carries on where he left off, charting...

How have a group conceived as a shortlived commodity outlived so many of their contemporaries? Why are The Monkees still important, and what does this tell us about their music, their TV show, and our understanding of popular culture today?Despite being...

'The closest we'll ever get to a straight up Bowie autobiography - but who'd ever want anything straight-up from Bowie?' Rolling StoneIn 2002, David Bowie and Mick Rock created Moonage Daydream, the defining document of the life and times of Ziggy...

'This is a way of putting my life out there, because if I were to write a memoir, there'd be five volumes before I got to The Beatles. So I'm going at it this way, through photographs and quotes. And this is, I feel, a better way for me to do it.' -...

Little Girl Blue is an intimate profile of Karen Carpenter, a girl from a modest Connecticut upbringing who became a Southern California superstar. Karen was the instantly recognizable lead singer of the Carpenters. The top-selling American musical act...

'Songs That Saved Your Life - The Art of The Smiths 1982 -87' reveals the stories behind every track (including unreleased out-takes), catalogues all the group's UK television, radio and concert appearances and features interviews with original band...

Leonard Bernstein (19181990) was one of twentieth-century music's most successful and recognisable figures. In a career spanning five decades he conducted many of the world's leading orchestras, and composed scores for landmark musicals such as Candide...