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5 X 1: Pearl Jam Through the Eye of Lance Mercer by Lance Mercer
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A Genesis in My Bed: The Autobiography
Steve Hackett - 2020
As with his music, Steve has written a highly detailed, entertaining and embracing tome that charts his life in full, but with a firm emphasis on his years with Genesis that saw the band’s meteoric rise to become one of the most successful British bands of all time.Steve talks candidly about his early life, his time with Genesis, and his personal relationships with the other four band members, with great insight into the daily goings on of this major rock band.Naturally A Genesis In My Bed also regales stories of Steve’s career since leaving Genesis and the many different journeys that it has taken him on. With his flair for the creative, and a great deal of levity, A Genesis In My Bed is a riveting read. Indispensable for Genesis fans but also essential for general music lovers and avid readers of autobiographies full of heartfelt and emotive tales.
Eva Cassidy: Songbird: Her Story by Those Who Knew Her
Rob Burley - 2001
Eva Cassidy's albums "Songbird, Live at Blues Alley, Eva By Heart, Time After Time," and "Imagine" have sold over a million and a half copies in the U.S. and millions more worldwide. Her songs have been heard on many television shows and film soundtracks, and the video of her classic performance of "Over the Rainbow" is the most requested in BBC history. Yet she lived to see only one of her solo albums released, a CD she underwrote herself and sold from the trunk of her car before her tragic death. Capturing Eva's essence and tender life story, "Eva Cassidy: Songbird" collects the intimate memories of relatives, close friends, and the musicians who collaborated with her. The book tells the story of her too-brief life and enduring music. Featuring candid full-color photos and reproductions of Eva's original artwork, a vivid portrait emerges of a woman who devoted her energies to the things she truly loved-giving encouragement to those around her, tending to plants at the nursery where she worked, and performing her music at clubs in Washington, D.C. She succumbed to cancer at age thirty-three just as the world was starting to notice her arresting voice. Eva Cassidy's music continues to grow in recognition from critics and legions of fans throughout the world. The rock icon Sting has said her voice possesses "a magical quality. People respond to its purity. It suggests something ethereal-something unattainable." This American edition contains two new chapters about her influences and her posthumous success in her native country. With the publication of "Eva Cassidy: Songbird," the woman behind the unforgettable voice will at last be known.
Life Commemorative: Michael Jackson
LIFE - 2009
To live in Neverland. To be idolized-to be loved-by millions around the world. "These seem completely unreasonable dreams. But from a boy from Gary, Indiana, who was special from the first, they became more than dreams. They became fundamental needs. And they were achieved during a lifetime that was stunning in its highs and lows, and that was, ultimately, far, far too short. "Far too short and, more sadly still, perhaps poised for a triumphant next chapter. We will never know." While that is true-we will never know-we can revisit and celebrate that extraordinary life, and we do so in words and pictures in this special commemorative book. Although Michael Jackson lived just 50 years, he spent the great majority of that time in the public eye. We loved his as a boy, radiating joy and dancing up a storm in the Jackson 5, his falsetto tenor pouring forth from car radios coast to coast. We were subsequently thrilled by his reinvention as the biggest pop star on the planet, with "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" blasting from boom boxes around the world. The best pictures from each era are here. As you would expect, LIFE magazine, then the country's preeminent photo journal, was onto the Jackson 5 story early-in fact, we put the family on our cover when Michael was still a lad. He made the cover several more times, and he allowed LIFE exclusive access to his private California sanctum called Neverland. We have combed through our archives and found all the famous shots as well as several surprises, including never-before-seen pictures that show the boy and then the man in an unguarded, personal way. Also, we have taken the best from the portfolios of the world's top rock 'n' roll photographers and created, we think, a complete picture of this endlessly compelling entertainer. Michael Jackson was, like Sinatra, Elvis, the Beatles and few others, a celebrity who not only made us smile but changed the culture-who altered the way that we looked and behaved. In this book, we relive his thrilling life and times, which were our time too.
Adele: To Make You Feel Her Love
Neil Simpson - 2012
Her album 21 is the biggest selling record of the century so far clocking up an incredible 24 million sales globally. From a cramped flat in London to the Grammys in Los Angeles, Adele's golden voice, her catchy hits, and her irrepressible personality have taken the world by storm. But who is the woman behind the songs? What struggles and heartbreaks inspired the music that moved the world to tears - and bought it to its feet? And now that she seems to have finally found happiness with her new partner, and with the baby boy she gave birth to in October 2012, can she still find the passion that made her the artist who conquered the entertainment industry?In this brilliant, insightful biography Neil Simpson takes the reader inside Adele's world. He details her childhood, her early attempts to break into the music business, the tempestuous relationships that inspired some of her greatest songs and the months of painstaking work that went into the albums the defined her. This is the real Adele - unvarnished and close-up. And the book has been updated to include the birth of her baby boy - and to examine what kind of mother Adele will be, and what impact it will have on her incredible creativity. 'Adele: To Make You Feel Her Love' is the one book every Adele fan will want to read. 'I adore Adele’s voice and I adored this book. Neil Simpson’s account of Adele’s amazing career, from her childhood days to mega-stardom, captivated me right from the start.' - Emma Lee-Potter, best-selling author of 'School Ties'. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.
The Sanest Guy in the Room: A Life in Lyrics
Don Black - 2020
. . a compelling memoir. Breezy and unpretentious, The Sanest Guy in the Room is a delightful collection of memories, insider information and after-dinner anecdotes' The Times'Brilliant stories and wonderful behind-the-scenes glimpses of a life and career in show-business . . . It's bloody brilliant . . . Read it!' Michael BallDon Black is the songwriter's songwriter, a composer's dream collaborator, and the man behind some of the twentieth century's greatest musical numbers.Black made his first foray into the glittering world of showbiz as a stand-up, before realising his error and focusing on his lifelong passion instead - music. Shirley Bassey, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini and Barbra Streisand are just some of the artists Black has worked with over the years - not to mention his frequent collaborator, West End legend Andrew Lloyd Webber - in what can only be described as a remarkable musical career. Yet, never one to court fame, Black has always remained what Mark Steyn coined as 'the sanest guy in the room'.Interwoven with the stories behind songs such as 'Diamonds are Forever' and 'Born Free' are vignettes of Black's life with his beloved wife Shirley, who died in March 2018, after almost sixty years of marriage. Black writes movingly about how the enormity of his grief changed his life, and how the dark days are slowly turning into dark moments.The Sanest Guy in the Room is a rich and delightful paean to a life lived through song. It reveals the essence of Black's craft, looks at those who have inspired him and allows us to understand what made those icons tick. It is also a poignant tribute to Shirley, his biggest inspiration. Told with wit, warmth and great humour, this is Don Black's astonishing musical journey and an insight into a life behind the lyrics.
Piano Girl: A Memoir: Lessons in Life, Music, and the Perfect Blue Hawaiian
Robin Meloy Goldsby - 2005
Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, this is the story of a young woman's accidental career as a cocktail lounge piano player, and the adventures and encounters that follow.
Bob Dylan
Daniel Kramer - 1967
In this photographic tour of Dylan’s breakthrough years, 1964 to 1965, Daniel Kramer shows the human side of this legendary figure — playing chess, making coffee, and in one whimsical moment, sitting in a tree — and also in the studio and onstage. An essay by the photographer sheds further light on the man and his music.
Elvis: Still Taking Care of Business: Memories and Insights About Elvis Presley from His Friend and Bodyguard
Sonny West - 2007
This will become a treasured addition to the collections of Elvis fans everywhere.
Slash
Paul Stenning - 2007
This work tells the story of this one-off guitarist who came to prominence through the debauchery and stellar chart success of the American west coast's Guns N' Roses. Full description
Misery Obscura: The Photography of Eerie Von (1981-2009)
Eerie Von - 2009
Beginning as the unofficial photographer for punk legends The Misfits and later taking charge of the bass guitar as a founding member of underground pioneers Samhain and metal gods Danzig, the evil eye of Eerie Von's camera captured the dark heart of rock's most vital and bleeding-edge period, a time when rock and roll was not only dangerous, but downright menacing. Eerie Von's lens has documented everything from The Misfits' humble beginnings in Lodi, New Jersey, to the heights of Danzig's stadium-rock glory alongside metal superstars Metallica. As well as an essential visual document of music history, Eerie's road stories of triumph and damnation bring to life an era the likes of which will never again be seen.
Scatterling of Africa: My Early Years
Johnny Clegg - 2021
Suspended for a few seconds, they float in their own space and time with their own hidden prospects. For want of a better term, we call these moments “magical” and when we remember them they are cloaked in a halo of special meaning.’For 14-year-old Johnny Clegg, hearing Zulu street music as plucked on the strings of a guitar by Charlie Mzila one evening outside a corner café in Bellevue, Johannesburg, was one such ‘magical’ moment. The success story of Juluka and later Savuka, and the cross-cultural celebration of music, language, story, dance and song that stirred the hearts of millions across the world, is well documented. Their music was the soundtrack to many South Africans’ lives during the turbulent 70s and 80s as the country moved from legislated oppression to democratic freedom. It crossed borders, boundaries and generations, resonating around the world and back again. Less known is the story of how it all began and developed. Scatterling of Africa is that origin story, as Johnny Clegg wrote it and wanted it told. It is the story of how the son of an unconventional mother, grandson of Jewish immigrants, came to realise that identity can be a choice, and home is a place you leave and return to as surely as the seasons change.
No Holding Back: The Autobiography
Michael Holding - 2010
Despite having not laced his bowling boots since 1989, it remains a fitting sobriquet. As a commentator and administrator, Holding has delivered his views on cricket in the same manner that he played the game: he speaks softly with a rich Jamaican rhythm and is calculated in either criticism or compliment. This book charts his effortless transition from one of the great players to one of the great pundits. Holding graphically describes his days as a player, looking back at how he tried to deliberately hurt batsmen on the wastelands of Kingston and his first match for Jamaica when he almost collapsed from exhaustionafter only four overs!He alsodivulges what it was like to tour with West Indies, and sharesunmissable insights about sharing a dressing room with other legends of the game like Sir Clive Lloyd, Sir Viv Richards, and Malcolm Marshall.Holding does not shirk the bigissuesheexplores why West Indies have slipped following their halcyon days, openly assesses Brian Lara, and laments the hypocrisy over the state of the game in the region. The controversy surrounding the Allen Stanford $20m spectacle, the ICC's handling of the abandoned England vs. Pakistan match, player power, illegal bowling actions, and the threat of Twenty20 to the Test game are all subjects which Holding tackles with knowledge and class."
Lady Gaga: Critical Mass Fashion
Lizzy Goodman - 2010
In less than one year, she transformed herself from pop singer to pop icon, thanks to her talent, drive, and oh yes--her fashion. She's reached a new level of "living the fame" with her collection of extreme, often controversial couture. Lady Gaga: Critical Mass Fashion takes an in-depth look at Gaga's litany of eye-popping leotard, asymmetrical dresses, and fashionably impractical heels.Top designers love the Lady--everyone from Armani to Hussein Chalayan to the late lamented Alexander McQueen has taken her under their wings. On message twenty-four hours a day, Lady Gaga never stops. From the fake eyelashes to the faux nails down to her toes, she's living out her ideas of celebrity to the last detail.Visual explosion on screen, on stage, and on the page: that's Gaga's goal. All the of the 120+ images in this book showcase the gorgeous insanity of her vision.
Metallica
Ross Halfin - 1996
Packed from cover to cover with stunning color photographs.
In My Life: A Music Memoir
Alan Johnson - 2018
In fact music hasn't just accompanied his life, it's been an integral part of it.In the bestselling and award-winning tradition of This Boy, In My Life vividly transports us to a world that is no longer with us - a world of Dansettes and jukeboxes, of heartfelt love songs and heart-broken ballads, of smoky coffee shops and dingy dance halls. From Bob Dylan to David Bowie, from Lonnie Donnegan to Bruce Springsteen, all of Alan's favourites are here. As are, of course, his beloved Beatles, whom he has worshipped with undying admiration since 1963.But this isn't just a book about music. In My Life adds a fourth dimension to the story of Alan Johnson the man.