Shortlisted for the NME Best Music Book Award 2018 THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'The definitive book on Bowie' The Times Dylan Jones's engrossing, magisterial biography of David Bowie is unlike any Bowie story ever written. Drawn from over 180 interviews with friends, rivals, lovers, and collaborators, some of whom have never before spoken about their relationship with Bowie, this is the definitive oral history of his remarkable rise to stardom and his unparalleled artistic path. Tracing Bowie's life from the English suburbs to London to New York to Los Angeles, Berlin, and beyond, its collective voices describe a man profoundly shaped by his relationship with his schizophrenic half-brother Terry; an intuitive artist who could absorb influences through intense relationships and yet drop people cold when they were no longer of use; and a social creature equally comfortable partying with John Lennon and dining with Frank Sinatra. By turns insightful and salacious, DAVID BOWIE is as intimate a portrait as may ever be drawn. It sparks with admiration and grievances, lust and envy, as the speakers bring you into studios and bedrooms they shared with Bowie, and onto stages and film sets, opening corners of his mind and experience that transform our understanding of both artist and art. Including illuminating, never-before-seen material from Bowie himself, drawn from a series of Jones's interviews with him across two decades, DAVID BOWIE is an epic, unforgettable cocktail-party conversation about a man whose enigmatic shapeshifting and irrepressible creativity produced one of the most sprawling, fascinating lives of our time.

The harmonica is one of the most important, yet overlooked, instruments in music. This definitive volume celebrates the history of the world's most popular musical device, its impact on various forms of music, folk, country, blues, rock, jazz and classical music. The author traces the development of the harmonica from the ancient Chinese sheng to futuristic harmonica sythesizers. Nearly seventy harmonica masters are profiled including Stevie Wonder, Little Walter, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Reed, Charlie McCoy, Sonny Terry, and John Popper. This updated edition includes an extensive new afterword, an expanded discography of the finest harmonica recordings, and a listing of the best harmonica resources on the internet.

Experimentation in Improvised Jazz: Chasing Ideas challenges the notion that in the twenty-first century, jazz can be restrained by a singular, static definition. The worldwide trend for jazz to be marginalized by the mainstream music industry, as well as conservatoriums and schools of music, runs the risk of stifling the innovative and challenging aspects of its creativity. The authors argue that to remain relevant, jazz needs to be dynamic, proactively experimental, and consciously facilitate new ideas to be made accessible to an audience broader than the innovators themselves. Experimentation in Improvised Jazz explores key elements of experimental jazz music in order to discern ways in which the genre is developing. The book begins with an overview of where, when and how new ideas in free and improvised jazz have been created and added to the canon, developing the genre beyond its initial roots. It moves on to consider how and why musicians create free and improvised jazz; the decisions they make while playing. What are they responding to? What are they depending on? What are they thinking? The authors analyse and synthesise the creation of free jazz by correlating the latest research to the reflections provided by some of the world's greatest jazz innovators for this project. Finally, the book examines how we respond to free and improvised jazz: artistically, critically and personally. Free jazz is, the book argues, an environment that develops through experimentation with new ideas.

George Michael was an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and philanthropist who rose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! and later embarked on a solo career. Michael has sold over 115 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His first solo single "Careless Whisper" reached number one in over 20 countries, including the US. Michael's debut solo album Faith was released in 1987, staying at number one on the Billboard 200 for 12 weeks, and winning Album of the Year at the 31st Grammy Awards. Three years later Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990) was released which included the Billboard Hot 100 number one "Praying for Time." "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," a 1991 duet with Elton John, was also a transatlantic number one. Michael, who came out as gay in 1998, was an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/ AIDS charity fundraiser. His most famous songs were with Wham! and as a solo artist, but he also collaborated with such musical royalty as Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Queen, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Paul McCartney, and Beyonce. This is his story.

In 1956 many people thought rock `n' roll was a passing fad, yet over forty years later , more than ever, Popular Music is a part of contemporary culture, reinventing itself for successive generations. Pop embraces its own history, with musicians from every genre routinely sampling the sounds of the past. present.
Living Through Pop explores popular music's history, and the ways in which it has been produced by musicians, broadcasters, critics and fans. In discussing this complex relationship between the past and the present, the contributors investigate signficant moments in music's history, from the Rolling Stones and the Velvet Underground to the Sex Pistols and the Verve, from drum `n' bass to European extreme techno.

Author Biography:
Andrew Blake is Head of the School of Cultural Studies at King Alfred's College, Winchester.

UPDATED TO INCLUDE PAUL McCARTNEY'S KNIGHTING AND THE DEATHS OF JOHN LENNON AND GEORGE HARRISON

Philip Norman's biography of the Beatles is the definitive work on the world's most influential band -- a beautifully written account of their lives, their music, and their times. Now brought completely up to date, this epic tale charts the rise of four scruffy Liverpool lads from their wild, often comical early days to the astonishing heights of Beatlemania, from the chaos of Apple and the collapse of hippy idealism to the band's acrimonious split. It also describes their struggle to escape the smothering Beatles' legacy and the tragic deaths of John Lennon and George Harrison. Witty, insightful, and moving, "Shout!" is essential reading not just for Beatles fans but for anyone with an interest in pop music.

You know it when you hear it, but can you say what it is? How you know? Why you either love or loathe it? What makes it original or derivative? To a music that tends to render its aficionados and detractors equally inarticulate, Theodore Gracyk brings a rare critical clarity. His book tells us once and for all what makes rock music rock. A happy marriage of aesthetic theory and the aesthetic practice that moved a generation, "Rhythm and Noise" is the only thorough-going account of rock as a distinct artistic medium rather than a species of popular culture.
What's in a name? "Rock" or "Rock 'n' Roll?" Grayck argues that rock and roll is actually a performance style, one in a number of musical styles comprising rock. What distinguishes rock, Gracyk tells us, is how it is mediated by technology: The art is in the recording. The lesson is a heady one, entailing a tour through the history of rock music from Elvis Presley's first recordings in 1954 to Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994. Gracyk takes us through key recordings, lets us hear what rock musicians and their critics have to say, shows us how other kinds of music compare, and gives us the philosophical background to make more than passing sense of the medium. His work takes up the common myths and stereotypes about rock, popular and academic, and focuses on the features of the music that electrify fans and consistently generate controversy. When Elvis came to town, did southern sheriffs say that rock was barbaric and addictive? Well so did Theodor Adorno, in his way, and Allan Bloom, in his, and Gracyk takes aim at this charge as it echoes through the era of recorded music. He looks at what rock has to do with romanticism and, even more, with commercialism. And he questions the orthodoxy of making grand distinctions between "serious" and "popular" art.
Keenly attuned to the nuances of music and of all the ways that we can think about it, this exhilarating book tunes us in, as no other has, to the complex role of rock in American culture.

From Sia to Elton John, Dusty Springfield to Little Richard, LGBT voices have changed the course of modern music. But in a world before they gained understanding and a place in the mainstream, how did the queer musicians of yesteryear fight to build foundations for those who came after? Pulling back the curtain on the colourful world that shaped our musical and cultural landscape, Darryl W. Bullock reveals the inspiring and often heartbreaking stories of internationally renowned stars, as well as lesser-known names, who have led the revolution from all corners of the globe. David Bowie Made Me Gay is a treasure trove of moving and provocative stories that emphasise the right to be heard and the need to keep up the fight for equality in the spotlight.

The world stopped in 1970 when Paul McCartney announced that he was through with the Beatles. Though the Beatles' breakup was widely viewed as a cultural tragedy, one of the most fascinating phases of their story was just beginning.

In You Never Give Me Your Money, journalist Peter Doggett tells the behind-the-scenes story of the personal rivalries and legal feuds that have dominated the Beatles' lives since 1969. It is both a compelling human drama and an equally rich and absorbing story of the creative and financial empire the band members set up to safeguard their interests but that ultimately controlled their lives. You Never Give Me Your Money charts the Shakespearean battles between Lennon and McCartney, George Harrison's raging inner conflict between spirituality and fame, and the struggle with alcoholism that nearly cost Richard Starkey his life. From tragedy to triumphant reconciliation, from individual chart success to bitter courtroom battles, this meticulously researched work tells the previously untold story of a group and a legacy that will never be forgotten.

In 2007, an unlikely troupe of 1500 Filipino prisoners became Internet celebrities after their YouTube video of Michael Jackson's ground-breaking hit 'Thriller' went viral. Taking this spectacular dance as a point of departure, Dangerous Mediations explores the disquieting development of prisoners performing punishment to a global, online audience. Combining analysis of this YouTube video with first-hand experiences from fieldwork in the Philippine prison, Aine Mangaoang investigates a wide range of interlocking contexts surrounding this user-generated text to reveal how places of punishment can be transformed into spaces of spectacular entertainment, leisure, and penal tourism. In the post-YouTube era, Dangerous Mediations sounds the call for close readings of music videos produced outside of the corporate culture industries. By connecting historical discussions on postcolonialism, surveillance and prison philosophy with contemporary scholarship on popular music, participatory culture and new media, Dangerous Mediations is the first book to ask critical questions about the politics of pop music and audiovisual mediation in early 21st-century detention centres.

The living embodiment of The Beatles and a musical juggernaut without parallel, Paul McCartney is the patriarch of pop. Ahead of McCartney's 80th birthday and Glastonbury headline set, acclaimed author Howard Sounes creates the most accurate and extensive profile of McCartney ever built, leaving no stone unturned, and no shadow unexplored. He is the torch-bearer of the Beatles - the greatest band in pop - and one of the most closely studied stars in show business. But surprises and secrets still linger in the life of Sir Paul McCartney. In FAB, his full story is told for the first time. Acclaimed author Howard Sounes spent more than two years investigating every aspect of Sir Paul's life and work, including interviewing over 200 people. The result is the richest and more comprehensive biography of McCartney ever written. Uniquely, FAB pays equal attention to the story of Paul McCartney both in the Beatles and post-Beatles, creating a unique narrative spanning the arc of the artist's life. FAB culminates in the sensational human story of Sir Paul's calamitous marriage to Heather Mills, which is fully revealed for the first time. Sounes proves a judicious critic of the music of an iconic star while also delivering a superb psychological portrait of the man.

In 1985, Mark Bryan heard Darius Rucker singing in a dorm shower at the University of South Carolina and asked him to form a band. For the next eight years, Hootie & the Blowfish-completed by bassist Dean Feldman and drummer Soni Sonefeld-played every frat house, roadhouse, and rock club in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, becoming one of the biggest independent acts in the region.In Only Wanna Be with You, Tim Sommer, the ultimate insider who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1993, pulls back the curtain on the band's indie days; the chart-topping success of their major-label debut, cracked rear view; the year of Hootie (1995); the lean years; Darius Rucker's history-making rise in country music; and one of the most remarkable comeback stories of the century. Featuring new and extensive interviews with the band members, some of the band's most famous fans, and stories from the recording studio, tour bus, and golf course, this book is essential reading for Hootie lovers and music buffs.

With these words, President Clinton contributed to Long Island University's three-day celebration of that momentous event in American history when Robinson became the first African American to play major league baseball. This new book includes presentations from that celebration, especially chosen for their fresh perspectives and illuminating insights.

A heady mix of journalism, scholarship, and memory offers a presentation that far transcends the retelling of just another sports story. Readers get a true sense of the social conditions prior to Robinson's arrival in the major leagues and the ripple effect his breakthrough had on the nation. Anecdotes enliven the story and offer more than the usual "larger than life" portrait of Robinson.

A melange of contributors from the sports world, academia, and journalism, some of Robinson's contemporaries, Dodger fans, and historians of the era, all sharing a passion for baseball, reflect on issues of sports, race, and the dramatic transformation of the American social and political scene in the last fifty years. In addition to the editors, the list of authors includes Peter Golenbock, one of America's preeminent sports biographers and author of Bums: The Brooklyn Dodgers, 1947-1957, Tom Hawkins, the first African-American to star in basketball at Notre Dame and currently Vice-President for Communications of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bill Mardo a former writer for the New York Daily Worker, Roger Rosenblatt, teacher at the Southampton Campus of Long Island University, and author of numerous articles, plays, and books, Peter Williams, author of a study of sports myth, The Sports Immortals, and Samuel Regalado, author of Viva Baseball : LatinMajor Leaguers and Their Special Hunger.

Product Note:
Garland Publishing

Brian Ward is Lecturer in American History at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne .; This book is intended for american studies, American history postwar social and cultural history, political history, Black history, Race and Ethnic studies and Cultural studies together with the general trade music.

Sexing the Groove discusses these issues and many more, bringing together leading music and cultural theorists to explore the relationships between popular music, gender and sexuality. The contributors, who include Mavis Beayton, Stella Bruzzi, Sara Cohen, Sean Cubitt, Keith Negus and Will Straw, debate how popular music performers, subcultures, fans and texts construct and deconstruct `masculine' and `feminine' identities. Using a wide range of case studies, from Mick Jagger to Riot Grrrls, they demonstrate that there is nothing `natural', permanent or immovable about the regime of sexual difference which governs society and culture.
Sexing the Groove also includes a comprehensive annotated bibliography for further reading and research into gender and popular music.

Contents:
Contributors: Mavis Bayton, Stella Bruzzi, Norma Coates, Sara Cohen, Sean Cubitt, Charlotte Crieg, Mary Celeste Kearney, Stan Hawkins, Marion Leonard, Paul McDoanld, Keith Negus, Gareth Palmer, David Sanjek, Will Straw

* Intense focus on the emergence of a new, post-Civil Rights Movement black identity * Offers an alternative history and musicology of the Black Power Movement * Defines Black Power Music - a musical and political reality * Explores the intense interconnections between black popular culture and black political culture * Essential reading for all students engaged in black popular music studies, African American studies, popular culture studies, ethnic studies as well as sociology, ethnomusicology and political science.

The plane crash of 3 February 1959 which claimed the life of Buddy Holly was both a human tragedy, and a tragedy for rock'n'roll. In a little under two years, Holly and his band -- the Crickets -- had become major stars, thanks to their high standard of musicianship and a string of memorable hits including 'That'll Be The Day', 'Rave On', 'Peggy Sue', 'Oh Boy!' and 'Heartbeat', only for their career to be cruelly cut short. After his death, Holly's records continued to sell in quantity for many years -- a testament to his massive influence and the lasting popularity of his music. It may sound strange now, but in those monochrome, pre-Internet days very little was actually known about the singer with the unusual name and the hiccup in his voice -- a situation that persisted until the appearance of John Goldrosen's pioneering biography in 1975. Since then, much more information has been uncovered, thanks to decades of research by dedicated fans. This book draws together a mass of Holly facts and info from a variety of published sources, as well as the author's own original research, and presents them in an easy-to-use encyclopaedic format. Now in its third edition, it has proved to be a popular and valuable reference work on this seminal rock'n'roller. This is a book that every Holly fan will want to keep at his fingertips. A book about a musical genius who will never be forgotten.

A collection of Joni Mitchell's finest songs, arranged for piano, voice and guitar.

The International Who's Who in Popular Music 2018 gives biographical information and contact details for some of the most talented and influential artists and individuals from the world of popular music. Now in its nineteenth edition, there are over 7,000 biographies charting the careers and achievements of artists in pop, rock, folk, jazz, dance, world, country music and much more. Key Features: - each entry includes full biographical information: principal career details, recordings and compositions, honours and contact information where available - each entrant is given the opportunity to update his or her information - spans the full range of the popular music industry, from rock to jazz and dance to country - provides information on established names as well as up-and-coming artists - a directory section provides details of music festivals, awards, organizations within the industry, and digital music sources - for ease of reference, the book includes an index of music group members. In one accessible volume this title offers users a vast collection of information on the most famous and influential people in the popular music industry.

This book is the playful and romantic approach to gourmet dining for newlyweds. It includes elegant, yet easy, recipes to launch newlyweds' life together with fun and style. The book is designed to put a nice multiple course meal on the table, picture fine China.