During his early years, Franz Liszt worked as a traveling piano virtuoso, his adventures highlighted by his entrée into the literary world as a correspondent for the most popular French journals of his time. In this second volume of Janita Hall-Swadley’s The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt, Liszt’s work as a music essayist and journalist is on full display.  In his essays, readers will see the influence of the revolutionary theories of Hugues-Felicité Robert de Lamennais, Victor Hugo, and François-René de Chateaubriand as Liszt boldly calls for social reforms on behalf of musicians and musical institutions, from demands for a repertoire of church music of divine praise to the timely publication of inexpensive music editions. In addition to Liszt’s scandalous review of Sigismond Thalberg and the fiery exchange that ensued, the essays include his testimonies to living composers Giacomo Meyerbeer and Robert Schumann and the recently deceased  Niccolò Paganini. Alongside the essay, this new translation of Liszt’s letters opens a window onto the composer’s immersion in the Italian countryside, where he paints a portrait of a rich musical landscape. Liszt regales his correspondents with amusing anecdotes at Sand’s Italian country estate in Nohant, describes the beautiful landscape and artistic treasures of Italy from his residence on Lake Como, defends himself from Heinrich Heine’s accusations of his “ill-seated� character, discusses the religious aesthetic of Raphael’s painting, and offers his thoughts on the interconnectedness of all the arts. Including two complete facsimile reproductions of the existing manuscripts for “De la situation des artistes� and “Sur Paganini à propos de sa mort,� Essays and Letters of a Traveling Bachelor of Music is a must-read for student and scholars of 19th-century classical music.

A curated collection of Enlightenment operas, paintings, and literary works that were all marked by the "Telemacomania" scandal, a furious cultural frenzy with dangerous political stakes. Imaginatively structured as a guided tour, Opera and the Politics of Tragedy captures the tumultuous impact of the so-called Telemacomania crisis through its key artifacts: literary pamphlets, spoken dramas, paintings, engravings, and opera librettos (drammi per musica). Prominently featured in the gallery are two operas with direct ties to this aesthetic and political war: Mozart and Cigna-Santi's Mitridate (1770) and Mozart and Varesco's Idomeneo (1781). Reading and listening across the Enlightenment's cultural spaces (its new public museums, its first encyclopedias, and its ever-controversial operatic theater), this book showcases the Enlightenment's disorderly historical revisionism alongside its progressive politics to expose the fertile creativity that can emerge out of the ambiguous space between what is "ancient" and what is "modern."

’You never knew what you were going to be confronted with when you went on Later…’ Nick Cave ‘Later… is a voyage of discovery for us as well as the viewers’ Dave Grohl Dave Grohl and Alicia Keys loved it, Björk treasured it, Ed Sheeran’s life was changed by it, Kano felt at home while Nick Cave was horrified but inspired, and they all kept coming back. This first-hand account of the BBC’s Later… with Jools Holland takes you behind the scenes of one of the world’s great musical meeting places. Legends including Sir Paul McCartney, Mary J. Blige and David Bowie found a regular welcome, alongside the next generation of superstars including Adele, Ed Sheeran and Amy Winehouse. Part of what has made the show so special is the format – all those bands, singers, stars and newbies brought together to listen as well as to perform in Jools’ circle of dreams. But there’s always been plenty of mayhem alongside the magic of convening a room full of musicians hosted by one of their own. Written by the show’s co-creator and 26-year showrunner, music journalist Mark Cooper, this is the story of how Later… grew into a musical and TV institution. It was Mark who had to explain to Jay-Z why he couldn’t just do his numbers and split, who told Seasick Steve why he had to play ‘Dog House Boogie’ on the Hootenanny and persuaded Johnny Cash that he simply had to come in, even when The Man in Black wasn’t feeling well. From Stormzy to Björk, from Smokey Robinson to Norah Jones, from Britpop to trip hop, here is the word on how Later… began, evolved and has endured, accompanied by exclusive interviews with some of the show’s regular stars as well as the unique pictorial record of Andre Csillag who photographed the show for over 20 years. A must-read for music fans everywhere, Later… with Jools Hollandpulls back the curtain on classic performances to reveal that the show is just as magical, if even more chaotic, than you imagined.

Rudolph Ganz (1877-1972) was an eminent musician and a champion of modern music. Throughout his long and prolific career as a pianist, conductor, composer, and educator, this Swiss/American musician represented an incomparable link between the old and new. Personal recollections included Liszt and Brahms and friendships with Busoni, Paderewski, Schweitzer, Toscanini, Theodore Thomas, Rachmaninoff, and Bartok. Ravel, Griffes, and Tcherepnin, among others, dedicated important compositions to him. His programs frequently offered first performances of contemporary music. As late as 1962, at age 85, Ganz continued to pioneer new music at the First International Webern Festival. This first biography of Rudolf Ganz not only fills an important and missing gap in the history of the "golden age" of pianism, but provides the first balanced appraisal of Ganz's tenure as conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (1921-27). The author also traces Ganz's role as one of America's most imaginative and influential music educators. As conductor of the children and young people's concerts in St. Louis (1922-27), New York (1939-48), San Francisco (1939-48), and Chicago (1944-46), Ganz was responsible for introducing American youth to classical music during the early decades of this century. He extended his influence in education as president of the Chicago Musical College (1934-54) and a member of its faculty (1900-05 and 1928-69). The biography is illustrated and includes extensive endnotes and appendixes.

Winner, Best History, 2012 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research. When Mississippi John Hurt (1892-1966) was ""rediscovered"" by blues revivalists in 1963, his musicianship and recordings transformed popular notions of prewar country blues. At seventy-one he moved to Washington, D.C., from Avalon, Mississippi, and became a live-wire connection to a powerful, authentic past. His intricate and lively style made him the most sought after musician among the many talents the revival brought to light. Mississippi John Hurt provides this legendary creator's life story for the first time. Biographer Philip Ratcliffe traces Hurt's roots to the moment his mother Mary Jane McCain and his father Isom Hurt were freed from slavery. Anecdotes from Hurt's childhood and teenage years include the destiny-making moment when his mother purchased his first guitar for $1.50 when he was only nine years old. Stories from his neighbors and friends, from both of his wives, and from his extended family round out the community picture of Avalon. US census records, Hurt's first marriage record in 1916, images of his first autographed LP record, and excerpts from personal letters written in his own hand provide treasures for fans. Ratcliffe details Hurt's musical influences and the origins of his style and repertoire. The author also relates numerous stories from the time of his success, drawing on published sources and many hours of interviews with people who knew Hurt well, including the late Jerry Ricks, Pat Sky, Stefan Grossman and Max Ochs, Dick Spottswood, and the late Mike Stewart. In addition, some of the last photographs taken of the legendary musician are featured for the first time in Mississippi John Hurt.

This book draws attention to the reception of Oskar Kolberg's folklorist's work outside of Poland. It also presents the work of other scholars active in Eastern Europe from the nineteenth century to the present day, many of them poorly known, despite their lofty achievements. The contributions by authors from Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Slovakia and Poland reflect on how Kolberg's work is being continued by scholars today and how the musical repertoire that he recorded is functioning. This book unites the results of the international conference "The Kolbergs of Eastern Europe", organised by the College of Eastern Europe and the Institute of Musicology of the University of Wroclaw.

Until now, Kathleen Ferrier has been a glorious voice, but through the pages of these fascinating letters and diaries, never previously published, we get to the real person. Fifty years ago, Kathleen Ferrier, the greatest lyric contralto Britain has ever produced, lost her courageous battle with breast cancer. Her name endures to this day, for she struck a chord with a wide-ranging public - in concerts, on records and on the radio - despite a career which lasted barely ten years. Within a decade this former telephone exchange operator was singing on stage at Covent Garden or before royalty at private parties. She was surely fun to know: this collection of 300+ letters and twelve years of her personal diaries give a sunny picture of her life in the muted post-war years. Her indefinable personality was a mix of extreme modesty and self-determined ambition, and a mischievously blunt sense of earthy Lancastrian humour. Until now, Kathleen Ferrier has been a glorious voice, but through the pages of these fascinating letters and diaries, never previously published, we getto the real person. CHRISTOPHER FIFIELD is foremost a conductor, but also a writer on music history (Grove, DNB, Viking Opera Guide, Oxford Companion to Music), and the author of two biographies, of Max Bruch (recently reissued by the Boydell Press) and Hans Richter.

Ernst Krenek has been described as a "one-man history of twentieth-century music." His vast compositional output encompasses many of its extremes and expresses many of its contradictions. Few have attempted, however, to contextualize Krenek's compositional output because our understanding of classical music in the first half of the twentieth century still largely remains focused on the music of a few canonical figures. Responding to renewed interest from performers in Krenek's work, particularly his operas, Peter Tregear's Ernst Krenek and the Politics of Musical Style addresses this gap in the scholarly literature and makes an important contribution to our comprehension of the ways in which his music reflected and informed broader social and political debates in Austria and Germany at the time. Focusing on Krenek's compositional path from the eclectic musical language of Jonny spielt auf to the austere twelve-tone technique of Karl V, Tregear provides an historical and critical context to this most historically significant period of Krenek's creative life. His study also enriches our understanding of many of Krenek's contemporaries, such as Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg. This book should interest students, scholars and practitioners with an interest in modern opera, and contemporary classical music as well as early-20th-century German history more generally.

The Collected Writings of Franz Liszt: Dramaturgical Leaves: Richard Wagner completes the second half of Liszt's writings about stage works, its composers, and music drama. In this volume, Liszt focuses on the works of his most controversial devotee and son-in-law, Richard Wagner, whose music dramas Liszt championed as conductor during his tenure in Weimar. Here, we see Liszt prove his skill and expertise as a music critic, as well. He offers a critical analysis of the aesthetic and musical principles that underlie Wagner's operas, Tannhauser, Lohengrin, and The Flying Dutchman, including a thorough discussion of Wagner's Leitmotif system of composition. Additionally, his findings are substantiated with a plethora of music examples, which will satisfy those who wanted greater musical substance from his writings. He also foretells the magnitude of Wagner's influence on prosperity in his pamphlet-length essay, The Rhine's Gold. Finally, the editor and translator of this volume, Janita Hall-Swadley, provides a unique perspective on these same principles, which is based on Wagner's own mysterious diagram of "The Philosopher's Stone," which was supposed to be included in the original 1863 edition of the composer's important writing, Opera and Drama, but never made it to publication.

An intensely beautiful, profound and poetic biography of the formative years of the dark prince of rock 'n' roll, Boy on Fire is Nick Cave's creation story, a portrait of the artist first as a boy, then as a young man. A deeply insightful work which charts his family, friends, influences, milieu and, most of all, his music, it reveals how Nick Cave shaped himself into the extraordinary artist he would become. A powerful account of a singular, uncompromising artist, Boy on Fire is also a vivid and evocative rendering of a time and place, from the fast-running dark rivers and ghost gums of country-town Australia to the torn wallpaper, sticky carpet and manic energy of the nascent punk scene which hit staid 1970s Melbourne like an atom bomb. Boy on Fire is a stunning biographical achievement.

Personally compiled and curated by Yoko Ono, Imagine John Yoko is the definitive inside story - told in revelatory detail - of the making of the legendary album and all that surrounded it: the locations, the creative team, the artworks and the films, in the words of John & Yoko and the people who were there. Features 80% exclusive, hitherto-unpublished archive photos and footage sequences of all the key players in situ, together with lyric sheets, Yoko's art installations, and exclusive new insights and personal testimonies from Yoko and over forty of the musicians, engineers, staff, celebrities, artists and photographers who were there - including Julian Lennon, Klaus Voormann, Alan White, Jim Keltner, David Bailey, Dick Cavett and Sir Michael Parkinson. 'A lot has been written about the creation of the song, the album and the film of Imagine, mainly by people who weren't there, so I'm very pleased and grateful that now, for the first time, so many of the participants have kindly given their time to "gimme some truth" in their own words and pictures' Yoko Ono Lennon, 2018 In 1971, John Lennon & Yoko Ono conceived and recorded the critically acclaimed album Imagine at their Georgian country home, Tittenhurst Park, in Berkshire, England, in the state-of-the-art studio they built in the grounds, and at the Record Plant in New York. The lyrics of the title track were inspired by Yoko Ono's 'event scores' in her 1964 book Grapefruit, and she was officially co-credited as writer in June 2017. Imagine John Yoko tells the story of John & Yoko's life, work and relationship during this intensely creative period. It transports readers to home and working environments showcasing Yoko's closely guarded archive of photos and artefacts, using artfully compiled narrative film stills, and featuring digitally rendered maps, floorplans and panoramas that recreate the interiors in evocative detail. John & Yoko introduce each chapter and song; Yoko also provides invaluable additional commentary and a preface. All the minutiae is examined: the locations, the key players, the music and lyrics, the production techniques and the artworks - including the creative process behind the double exposure polaroids used on the album cover. With a message as universal and pertinent today as it was when the album was created, this landmark publication is a fitting tribute to John & Yoko and their place in cultural history.

Today Georges Bizet is most immediately recognized as the composer of the acclaimed opera Carmen. One of the most frequently performed operas for over a century, Carmen explores concepts such as the femme fatale and murderous jealousy with vivacity, color, and a wealth of melody. Yet it is only one act in Bizet's story. In Bizet, renowned musicologist Hugh Macdonald goes beyond the composer's most famous opera to take an in-depth look at his entire life and oeuvre. In so doing, Macdonald identifies a number of previously unknown pieces by Bizet, assembling the first comprehensive catalogue of the composer's work. Incorporating these little-known pieces with a thorough reading of primary sources, Macdonald considers the latest in Bizet scholarship to create a complete biography of the composer. Revealing the true extent of Bizet's work as arranger and transcriber, Macdonald sheds light on the composer's complex relationships with his contemporaries, and traces the strange misrepresentation of Bizet's work by French publishers and opera houses in the 1880s, when Carmen rose to worldwide popularity ten years after the composer's early death. The first biography of Bizet in the Master Musicians series in nearly four decades, Bizet will be essential reading for students and scholars of nineteenth-century opera, as well as for Carmen devotees and opera fans.

In 1986, when Bon Jovi's third studio album, Slippery When Wet, was released, America had found its next superband. In Bon Jovi: America's Ultimate Band, Margaret Olson chronicles the history and music of the band from its inception to present day. She closely examines Bon Jovi's musical and social relevance to listeners past and present, exploring the remarkable ways the band has emerged as the expression and product of deep cultural needs and how, within a few years of commercial success, it has made a lasting impact on Generation X, the music business, and American culture. Through opportunities offered by cable television (particularly MTV), Hollywood, and corporate brands, Bon Jovi has been able to influence not only the music, film, and television industries but also the worlds of fashion, musical theater, art, philanthropy, and politics. Like any megaband, its members have struggled with addiction, the demands of fame, and a lack of critical respect. They have persevered, however, to become one of the United States' world's best-selling touring bands. Bon Jovi is a testament to the way modern culture and entertainment can become intertwined, and its success underscores the length of the band's career, the professionalism of its management, the recognition of what audiences want, and the unique way the music-more than anything else-both reflects and shapes the social and musical American landscape it inhabits. Titles in the Tempo series are ideal introductions to major pop and rock artists, the music they produce, and their cultural and musical impact on society. Bon Jovi: America's Ultimate Band should interest fans, students, and scholars alike.

Before we recorded Infernal Love, I didn t know if I was coming or going. I developed quite a healthy drug habit and was drinking a bottle of Absolut vodka every day. I thought that if I gave up drinking, I d spend the next two weeks lying in bed and feeling sick. I decided to keep going and see if inspiration would hit - Andy Cairns, Therapy? So Much For The 30 Year Plan is the first ever book to detail the life of Therapy?, one of rock s boldest and most idiosyncratic acts. Written with the full co-operation of the band s current members frontman Andy Cairns, bassist Michael McKeegan, and drummer Neil Cooper this official biography explores the dizzying highs and crushing lows they have experienced while navigating a three-decade-long career. Featuring extensive interviews with the band and key figures from throughout their career, So Much For The 30 Year Plan offers insights into the band s origins in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, the backlash they received from the underground scene after signing to a major label, the birth of their million-selling 1994 album Troublegum, the full story behind their split with founding member Fyfe Ewing, and much more. Published to coincide with the band s 30th anniversary tour, this is essential reading for all Therapy? fans and for anyone with an interest in the alternative music of the era.

This work illuminates, identifies, and characterizes the influences and expressions of Bob Dylan's Political World throughout his life and career. An approach nearly as unique as the singer himself, the authors attempt to remove Dylan from the typical Left/Right paradigm and place him into a broader and deeper context.

Dolly Parton is instantly recognizable for her iconic style and persona, but how did she create her enduring image? Dolly crafted her exaggerated appearance and stage personality by combining two opposing stereotypes-the innocent mountain girl and the voluptuous sex symbol. Emerging through her lyrics, personal stories, stage presence, and visual imagery, these wildly different gender tropes form a central part of Dolly's media image and portrayal of herself as a star and celebrity. By developing a multilayered image and persona, Dolly both critiques representations of femininity in country music and attracts a diverse fan base ranging from country and pop music fans to feminists and gay rights advocates. In Dolly Parton, Gender, and Country Music, Leigh H. Edwards explores Dolly's roles as musician, actor, author, philanthropist, and entrepreneur to show how Dolly's gender subversion highlights the challenges that can be found even in the most seemingly traditional form of American popular music. As Dolly depicts herself as simultaneously "real" and "fake," she offers new perspectives on country music's claims of authenticity.

ABBA blasted their way onto the global pop scene with a Eurovision Song Contest win in 1974. The song, 'Waterloo', the band's tenth single, was a top 10 hit around the world and spurred them on to enormous chart success with singles, then albums, then compilations selling in the millions. They truly conquered the world, recording, touring, performing and entertaining huge crowds everywhere they went, but after less than a decade, the dream was fading and they went their separate ways, seemingly never to record together again. The superstardom was over, but their music continued to be popular and in every decade that passed the question was asked: will ABBA ever re-form? The answer was always no - they even allegedly turned down a billion-dollar tour - until the late 2010s, when rumours and announcements abounded and finally, to enormous global fanfare, the band revealed that a new 10-track album would be released in November 2021, and a virtual avatar tour would take place in from May 2022; fans went wild. The Little Guide to ABBA celebrates everything the super Scandinavian pop group represents: brilliant pop music, 70s style, influence on hundreds of subsequent acts and an enduring legacy. SAMPLE QUOTE: 'I had a dream, and it was fulfilled by meeting with Benny, Bjorn and Agnetha.' - Anni-Frid Lyngstad SAMPLE FACT: ABBA Gold is the #2 bestselling album of all time.

Who inspired Johannes Brahms in his art of writing music? In this book, Jacquelyn E. C. Sholes provides a fresh look at the ways in which Brahms employed musical references to works of earlier composers in his own instrumental music. By analyzing newly identified allusions alongside previously known musical references in works such as the B-Major Piano Trio, the D-Major Serenade, the First Piano Concerto, and the Fourth Symphony, among others, Sholes demonstrates how a historical reference in one movement of a work seems to resonate meaningfully, musically, and dramatically with material in other movements in ways not previously recognized. She highlights Brahms's ability to weave such references into broad, movement-spanning narratives, arguing that these narratives served as expressive outlets for his complicated, sometimes conflicted, attitudes toward the material to which he alludes. Ultimately, Brahms's music reveals both the inspiration and the burden that established masters such as Domenico Scarlatti, J. S. Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, and especially Beethoven represented for him as he struggled to emerge with his own artistic voice and to define and secure his unique position in music history.

The voice of Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), the “Queen of Fado� and Portugal’s most celebrated diva, was extraordinary for its interpretive power, soul wrenching timbre, and international reach. Amalia à l’Olympia (1957) is an album made from recordings of her first performances at the fabled Olympia Music Hall in Paris in 1956. This album, which was issued for multiple national markets (including: France; USA; Japan; Britain; the Netherlands) catapulted Amália Rodrigues into the international limelight. During its time, this album held the potential for international listeners, outside of Portugal, to represent Portugal, while also standing in for cosmopolitanism, the glamorous city of Paris, and to present a sonorous voyage in sound. This book introduces readers to the voice of Amália Rodrigues and to the genre of the Portuguese fado, offering a primer in how to listen to both. It unpacks this iconic album and the voice, sound, style, and celebrity of Amália Rodrigues. It situates this album within a historical context marked by cold war Atlanticist diplomacy, Portugal’s dictatorial regime, and the emergence of new forms of media, travel, and tourism.In so doing, it examines processes that shaped the internationalization of peripheral popular musics and the making of female vocal stardom in the mid-20th century.

In Dean Dixon: Negro at Home, Maestro Abroad, conductor and scholar Rufus Jones Jr. brings to light a literal treasure trove of unpublished primary sources to tell the compelling story of this great American conductor. A testament to Dixon's resolve, this first-ever full-length biography of this American musical hero chronicles Dixon's musical upbringing, beginnings as a conductor, painful decision to leave his own country, rise to fame in Europe and his triumphant stand twenty-one years later when he returned to the United States to serve as a model for aspiring Black classical musicians. Dean Dixon: Negro at Home, Maestro Abroad will interest anyone who wants to know more about Black American history, American musical culture, and Black American concert music and musicians. More information is available at: www.maestroabroad.com

Contributions by Luther Allison, John Broven, Daniel Droixhe, David Evans, William Ferris, Jim O'Neal, Mike Rowe, Robert Sacre, Arnold Shaw, and Dick Shurman Fifty years after Charley Patton's death in 1934, a team of blues experts gathered five thousand miles from Dockery Farms at the University of Liege in Belgium to honor the life and music of the most influential artist of the Mississippi Delta blues. This volume brings together essays from that international symposium on Charley Patton and Mississippi blues traditions, influences, and comparisons. Originally published by Presses Universitaires de Liege in Belgium, this collection has been revised and updated with a new foreword by William Ferris, new images added, and some essays translated into English for the first time. Patton's personal life and his recorded music bear witness to how he endured and prevailed in his struggle as a black man during the early twentieth century. Within this volume, that story offers hope and wonder. Organized in two parts--""Origins and Traditions"" and ""Comparison with Other Regional Styles and Mutual Influence""--the essays create an invaluable resource on the life and music of this early master. Written by a distinguished group of scholars, these pieces secure the legacy of Charley Patton as the fountainhead of Mississippi Delta blues.

Listen to This stands out as the first book exclusively dedicated to Davis's watershed 1969 album, Bitches Brew. Victor Svorinich traces its incarnations and inspirations for ten-plus years before its release. The album arrived as the jazz scene waned beneath the rise of rock and roll and as Davis (1926-1991) faced large changes in social conditions affecting the African-American consciousness. This new climate served as a catalyst for an experiment that many considered a major departure. Davis's new music projected rock and roll sensibilities, the experimental essence of 1960s' counterculture, yet also harsh dissonances of African-American reality. Many listeners embraced it, while others misunderstood and rejected the concoction. Listen to This is not just the story of Bitches Brew. It reveals much of the legend of Miles Davis--his attitude and will, his grace under pressure, his bands, his relationship to the masses, his business and personal etiquette, and his response to extraordinary social conditions seemingly aligned to bring him down. Svorinich revisits the mystery and skepticism surrounding the album, and places it into both a historical and musical context using new interviews, original analysis, recently found recordings, unearthed session data sheets, memoranda, letters, musical transcriptions, scores, and a wealth of other material. Additionally, Listen to This encompasses a thorough examination of producer Teo Macero's archives and Bitches Brew's original session reels in order to provide the only complete day-to-day account of the sessions.

Contributions by Luther Allison, John Broven, Daniel Droixhe, David Evans, William Ferris, Jim O'Neal, Mike Rowe, Robert Sacre, Arnold Shaw, and Dick Shurman Fifty years after Charley Patton's death in 1934, a team of blues experts gathered five thousand miles from Dockery Farms at the University of Liege in Belgium to honor the life and music of the most influential artist of the Mississippi Delta blues. This volume brings together essays from that international symposium on Charley Patton and Mississippi blues traditions, influences, and comparisons. Originally published by Presses Universitaires de Liege in Belgium, this collection has been revised and updated with a new foreword by William Ferris, new images added, and some essays translated into English for the first time. Patton's personal life and his recorded music bear witness to how he endured and prevailed in his struggle as a black man during the early twentieth century. Within this volume, that story offers hope and wonder. Organized in two parts--""Origins and Traditions"" and ""Comparison with Other Regional Styles and Mutual Influence""--the essays create an invaluable resource on the life and music of this early master. Written by a distinguished group of scholars, these pieces secure the legacy of Charley Patton as the fountainhead of Mississippi Delta blues.

The Unsung Songwriters is dedicated to a period in the history of American music that author Warren Vache calls the "Golden Age of Songwriting," and to the men and women who made it great. Contrary to the widely held opinion that most of our hit and standard songs were composed by a handful of top writers Berlin, Gershwin, Kern, Porter, and Rodgers the fact is that the vast majority of them were written by relatively unknown composers. In this definitive reference work to the "unsung songwriters," you will find Al Neiberg, the author of "It's the Talk of the Town," Maceo Pinkard, the mind behind "Sweet Georgia Brown" and "Sugar," Harry Woods for "Try a Little Tenderness," J. Fred Coots for "You Go to My Head," and many more.

An updated edition of the bestselling biography to include details of her sixth studio album The Truth About Love which was a worldwide number one hit and the birth of her first child in 2011. Paul Lester traces the extraordinary career of Alicia Beth Moore from Pennsylvania through her stint in the girl group Choice to her present incarnation as global superstar Pink. Split Personality reveals the two sides of this complex artist: the feisty fun-filled performer who at thirty continues to conquer in a teen-dominated industry and the conflicted woman whose dark urges have fuelled her deceptively upbeat glossy brand of hi-tech pop. This is a pop biography that makes for a truly exciting read that's worthy of it's electrifying subject!