From "The Heart of Saturday Night" through "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards," a rare look at the creative process of the Grammy-winning visionary artist Via exclusive interviews with engineers and producers and quoted commentary from Tom Waits himself, this book investigates the artistic process behind his unique sound--a sound which has mutated over his career and proved nearly impossible to mimic, although many have tried. One of the most fascinating singers and songwriters working today and considered by many to be a genius, Waits has ridden his own trends for the better part of 40 years, defying any and all notion of convention outside the context of his own sub-genre. An investigatory thread runs throughout the book, and the treasure trove of information and insight will prove a must for any fan of this most enigmatic and revered of craftsmen. A complete discography is included.

Fans of American country music love the personal, relatable stories artists share through their songs. For a country music enthusiast, singing along with a favorite track is more than just jamming to a catchy tune - it's a way of connecting with the singer's journey.
"Nashville Songwriter" gives readers the first completely authorized collection of the true stories that inspired hits by the biggest multi-platinum country superstars of the last half-century - recounted by the songwriters themselves. Award-winning music biographer Jake Brown gives readers an unprecedented, intimate glimpse inside the world of country music songwriting.
Featuring exclusive commentary from country superstars and chapter-length interviews with today's biggest hit-writers on Music Row, this book chronicles the stories behind smash hits such as:
Willie Nelson's "Always on My Mind"
Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying," "Southern Voice," and "Real Good Man"
George Jones's "Tennessee Whiskey"
Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel," and "Cowboy Cassanova"
Brooks & Dunn's "Ain't Nothin' Bout You"
Lady Antebellum's "We Owned the Night" and "Just a Kiss"
Brad Paisley's "Mud on the Tires," "We Danced," and "I'm Still a Guy"
Luke Bryan's "Crash My Party" and "That's My Kind of Night"
The Oak Ridge Boys' "American Made"
George Strait's "Fool Hearted Memory," "Ocean Front Property," and "The Best Day,"
Rascal Flatts's "Fast Cars and Freedom," "Why Wait," and "Take Me There"
Kenny Chesney's "Living in Fast Forward" and "When the Sun Goes Down"
Ricochet's "Daddy's Money"
Montgomery Gentry's "If You Ever Stop Lovin' Me"
The Crickets' "I Fought the Law"
Tom T. Hall "Harper Valley P.T.A." and "A Week in the County Jail"
Trace Adkins's "You're Gonna Miss This"
David Lee Murphy's "Dust on the Bottle"
Jason Aldean's "Big Green Tractor" and "Fly Over States"
And many more top country hits over the past 40 years

LIL WAYNE (An Unauthorized Biography) an in-depth - tell all about the making and building of Cash Money Records, Southern rap and the biggest rap superstar in the universe who served a prison term at the height of his career and successfully released a hit album and videos while inside. LIL WAYNE (An Unauthorized Biography) is an in-depth study of the rap star / music mogul's rise to fame, from his childhood to his becoming one of the most unstoppable, most pragmatic, most creative music personalities of the twenty-first century. He is a multiplatinum-selling - multi-multi-multimillionaire - money making - multi Grammy Award winning rap superstar. Just months ahead of his incarceration, Wayne had been on a whirlwind of touring, helping to launch the rising stars of his Young Money Records' signees Drake and Nicki Manaj, and touring non-stop. That when word finally came down relative to his now infamous New York City illegal gun possession charge-with the facts seeming fairly cut and dry-Wayne opted to cut his losses and plead guilty to the charge. Even while incarcerated, he rallied his Young Money Records crew, to carry the torch and bang out hit records in his absence. LIL WAYNE (An Unauthorized Biography) chapters include: "The Rise of Cash Money Records"; "The making of "Tha Carter I, II and III"; "Superstardom;" "Family and Fatherhood"; "The Masters of Reinvention: the Second Coming of Cash Money"; and, "I am Not A Human Being";. As Lil Wayne states when asked to describe himself, "I'm a Martian. I like to be different. And what's more different than a Martian?" LIL WAYNE (An Unauthorized Biography) is a remarkable story that incorporates Lil Waynes ingenious passion for music. According to MTV, "Wayne has hit a whole new stratosphere. He's evolved into one of the top-tier playas in his field, truly on another planet with a chosen few." Drake was clearly inspired by Lil Wayne's example, when he said "I don't think there will ever be anybody like Lil Wayne ever again in hip-hop. He paralyzes a room when he walks into it-his wordplay, the excitement that he brings to his music. We all will have to work a lot harder to keep hip-hop as exciting as Lil Wayne has made it."

Lady Gaga is recognized for her flamboyant, diverse, and outre contributions to the music industry through her fashion, performances, and music videos. She had sold an estimated 26 million albums and 127 million singles worldwide and her singles are some of the best-selling worldwide. Her achievements include five Grammy Awards and 13 MTV Video Music Awards. With never before seen photos and interviews that bring you deep into the heart and soul of this extraordinary talent, destined to rule the world, author Jake Brown, will take you on a journey beginning in Yonkers, New York, crisscrossing throughout the United States and traversing around the world. LADY GAGA: BORN TO BE FREE An Unauthorized Biography was written by Nashville-based music biographer Jake Brown who has published thirty five books, including other Colossus Books titles: Kanye West: The Rise of Kanye West and the Chicago Rap Scene (The Early Years); Jay Z and the Roc-A-Fella Record Dynasty; Prince: In the Studio; Dr. Dre: In the Studio; Suge Knight: The Rise, Fall and Rise of Death Row Records; 50 Cent: No Holds Barred; Biggie Smalls: Ready to Die; Tupac: In the Studio; as well as titles on R. Kelly; The Black Eyed Peas and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Supernatural roller derby action. The film follows Cherry Skye (Amber Sajben) and the rest of her derby team as they are pit against demonic forces after the amulet given to Cherry by her boyfriend Brad (Jake Brown) opens a portal to another world.

Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Studio brings you right on the scene from the formation of the group to their rocky road where you get first hand details of the successes, the producers, the engineers, the controversies; Frusciante's drug addiction, Slovak's death, the break ups, the tours, the mayhem and of course, the music. Show more Show less

Author Jake Brown breaks it all down. In Kanye West Before the Legend: The Rise of Kanye West and the Chicago Rap and R&B Scene - The Early Years, we will uncover the method behind this genius's multi-platinum madness, from Jay Z's 'The Blueprint', through 'College Drop Out' and 'Late Registration', and beyond. His beloved Chicago Times certainly felt that was the case in late 2003 when they predicted that "West is indeed really putting it down, and the answer to his question of 'what if ' is that he seems destined to become hip-hop's next multi-platinum superstar. "I said this is something that is going to be around forever and will be hailed as the curve of where music should be. Imagine seeing a person who everybody said couldn't rap and going up and telling somebody t hat. They are going to say, 'This dude is crazy." "Now, one year later that crazy one is a genius, but genius is crazy in itself. I always say you have to be a little postal to push the envelope...I'm getting away with things that you're not supposed to be able to get away with in a record...I'm a representation of real people. I speak for what everyday people go through. I'm like a class clown too. I compare my style a lot to Dave Chappelle, but I bring up really serious issues that I might cover up with a joke so that we laugh to keep from crying. I'm the closest that hip-hop is getting to God. In some situations. I'm like a ghetto Pope." - Kanye West

With never seen before photos and interviews, internationally acclaimed author, Jake Brown, will take you deep into Amy Winehouse's world of record deals, contracts, touring, bands, men, women, drugs and alcohol. Amy Jade Winehouse was born on September 14th, 1983 in the middle-class London suburb of Southgate to parents Mitch and Janice, who worked as a cab driver and pharmacist respectively. She died of alcohol poisoning on July 23, 2011, at the young age of twenty seven years old. Her album Back to Black subsequently became the UK's best selling album of the 21st century in 2012. Amy's introduction to her father's love for jazz would prove in time to be the pivotal stylistic influence in the course of shaping her broader musical roots as both a singer and songwriter. "I taught Amy to sing when she was a baby, like all parents sing to their children, I taught her how to sing...we loved singing together. We loved talking about music." Along with her father, the singer would additionally credit her brother Alex with helping put her in touch with her first exposure to playing, "my brother taught himself guitar, so I took an inspiration for teaching myself from him, and he showed me a couple of things." Though she began fiddling around on the guitar, Winehouse's true calling would come with a unique vocal gift that instantly caught the ear of everyone from the first time they ever heard it. Mitch said, "I remember her being nine and ten and just starting out and realized she had a very powerful voice." Not surprisingly, it was within her early explorations of her talent that Amy would find refuge, "I was singing mostly a lot of blues and jazz when I was young, a teenager. That's when you're really messed up about your life. "It's just mad, your life, you're up and down, like nobody's business." It was here during this early period in her evolution as an R&B singer that Amy would first make the all-important connection between the fundamental importance of feeling what she was singing on a personal level, so that she could then succeed in communicating that feeling in the embodiment of her physical vocal performance. An essential lesson she summed up with, "you have to live certain things, to be able to then sing about them" Among the many awards and recognitions Amy Winehouse earned in her short life and music career were an Iyor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song "Stronger Than Me," a BRIT Award nomination for Best Female Solo Artist. Amy's album "Back to Black" produced numerous nominations, including two BRIT Awards (Best Female Solo Artist and Best British Album), five Grammy Awards, four Ivor Novello Awards, four MTV Europe Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, three World Music Awards, and was nominated for the Mercury Prize - Album of the Year and a MOBO Awards- Best UK Female. During her career, Amy Winehouse received 23 major awards from 60 nominations. In February 2012, Amy Winehouse was listed at number 26 on MTV's - VHI's 100 Greatest Women In Music. Chapters Include: Growing up in Southgate, Amy's Education in Rebellion, Frank- 2003, Hitting the Stage, The Ballad of Amy and Blake Pt. I, Back to Black - 2006, Coming to America, The Ballad of Amy and Blake Pt. II, The Wild Ride of Britain's Bonnie & Clyde and One Last Dance. Amy Winehouse: Too Young To Die...Too Old To Live, was written by Nashville-based, internationally acclaimed, music biographer, Jake Brown. Mr. Brown has written over thirty five published books, including: Lady Gaga: Born To Be Free; Lil Wayne: An Unauthorized Biography; Prince: In the Studio; and Dr. Dre: In the Studio.

Originating his very own funk-pop musical genre that produced over 100 million albums sold world-wide; six Grammy Awards among tens of dozens of award nominations over the past 30 years; induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and a world-tour the same year which grossed $87 million-making it the #1 most profitable tour of the year, Prince proved he was as relevant in the millennium as he'd been since the late 1970s when he first introduced what Rolling Stone Magazine describes in sound and impact as a "taut, keyboard-dominated...hybrid of rock, pop, and funk, with blatantly sexual lyrics...(that) influenced much of 1980s dance-pop music...Madonna...Michael...and Janet Jackson were comparable to Prince only in terms of star power. None could match the formidable breadth of his talents, which included not just singing and dancing but also composing, producing, and playing instruments."

The emergence of the Black Eyed Peas, one of the rap game's renaissance players throughout the course of the last decade, is chronicled for the first time in this dazzling biography. With more than 30 million albums sold worldwide since 1998, the savvy hip-hoppers built themselves into an international brand through tireless touring and promotion of every sort, from Super Bowl commercials and iMac ads to good old-fashioned top-ten hits, including the smashes "Where Is the Love?," "Don't Phunk with My Heart," and the ubiquitous "My Humps." In addition to the group's ascent to hip-hop royalty, the book examines the trials and tribulations of its individual members: mastermind will.i.am; pop princess Fergie, a superstar in her own right; and the eclectic others, Taboo and apl.de.ap.

Dr. Dre: 'In The Studio' details Dr. Dre s life, times and history, in a way no other book has. Dr. Dre: 'In the Studio' describes how he was molded into one of the world s greatest Hip Hop Producers beginning when he was three years old absorbing the music during his mother s house parties. As a deejay, Dre mixed and spun his way to the top, using Grandmaster Flash as his catalyst; and then embarked on his destiny as the most in demand and greatest record producer of rap music in the world. Author Jake Brown brilliantly captures the history of this music legend. The excitement and notoriety of Dr. Dre never lingers as the reader learns all about Dr. Dre s relationships; from Death Row Records to Aftermmath Entertainment, with the World Class Wrecking Crew, N.W.A., D.O.C., Suge Knight, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game and much more. Dr. Dre: 'In the Studio' focuses on the hip hop production godfather's studio craft. Exploring in great detail the writing and production of Dr. Dre's catalog of smash hit, multi-platinum, albums and singles.

Few realize how important Kanye West has been to the last 5 years of hip-hop, well before he became a solo phenomenon, when he was still a fledgling producer working on Jay Z's "The Blueprint", arguably the first 5 MICs-worthy album of the Millennium, and the record which most critics & fans consider to be the most musically consistent and influential album of his career. Thankfully, Kanye is getting his due props now, in the moment, because he knows to demand it. West wouldn't desire just to shoot for the stars, even when he was producing them, as he wanted most of all to be one in his own right. Through his sound, West breaks it all down, and in the course of 'Kanye West in the Studio', we as students will uncover the method behind this genius' multi-platinum madness, from Jay Z's "The Blueprint", lesson by lesson, through to "College Drop Out" and "Late Registration", and beyond. This book describes in detail how West became one of the biggest winners of the decade.

In Jay Z and the Roc-A-Fella Dynasty, author Jake Brown has chronicled the Hip Hop icon's legacy. As Hip Hop's prodigal son, Jay Z is truly the pinnacle of where Hip Hop has come in its short but extraordinary life time. Among the detailed and explicit chapters, the story includes: "The Hustlin Years," "Shawn Carter Becomes Jay Z," "The Birth of Roc-A-Fella Records and Brooklyn's Finest-Jay Z and Biggie Smalls."

Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson endured substantial obstacles throughout his young yet remarkably dramatic life before becoming, in early 2003, the most discussed figure in rap, if not pop music in general. In this new biography, every detail of 50's "life on the edge" is covered.

Focuses exclusively on the studio craft of the late rap legend, Featuring exclusive interviews with many of his producers, including a lengthy, multi-chapter interview with Shakur's closest musical collaborator, Johnny J, among others, offering fans never-before-revealed insight into 2-Pac's recording method, the inter-workings of his songwriting process

While many considered Biggie ahead of his time, author Jake Brown clearly cites why it was his time . He didn't live in or up to the moment ?he actually created it. Biggie controlled his time, by the very nature of what he achieved in it. When his time was up, he had done what he set out to do, and it was historic Biggie Smalls' life was lived in the fast lane. - The Notorious B.I.G. quickly became a household name among hip hop fans and all responsibility would rest on him as he made his way up hip hop aisles to center stage. What took hip-hop by storm with the debuts of the Notorious B.I.G. was his candid rapping style. He seemed to welcome the challenge, as if he was already resigned to his fate, hence, ready for death, or whatever the world could throw at him . In Ready to Die: The Story of Biggie Smalls ? The Notorious B.I.G . author Jake Brown reveals Biggie's sensitive side as well as his hard-core media stance; it explores his motivations, his loyalties and his roots. In a true sense, it strips away the media frenzy and sheds light on the truth, bringing you upclose and personal into the rise of Bad Boy Entertainment which would make Sean Puffy Combs (Puff Daddy) a mogul in his own right; Tupac Shakur; Faith Evans; Lil Kim and the Junior Mafia.

The embattled R&B star R. Kelly was arrested on a fugitive nationwide warrant issued as he was preparing to leave a rented vacation home where he had lived for more than a year with his wife and three children charged with 21 counts of child pornography. In Your Body's Calling Me: Music, Love, Sex and Money - The Story of the Life and Times of "Robert" R. Kelly, author Jake Brown explores the past to uncover the truth behind the crooner's celebrated, yet conflicted life, including: His childhood and impoverished upbringing, His abuse as a child, Experiences that molded him into both the man and celebrity, His collaboration with and marriage to Aaliyah, Child porn allegations filed against him, His haunting past and God-fearing, Soul, and Rhythm and Blues sounds that led him to a chart-topping career. R. Kelly's distinct sound has an ability to blend cutting edge, street-wise Hip-Hop music and storytelling with smooth love songs. His role as collaborative composer and producer with other artists expanded outside of his R&B genre, reflecting the diversity of his talents, as he crafted hits for many of the world's biggest Pop stars, including Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Notorious BIG, Puffy, Janet Jackson, Toni Braxton, Mary J. Blige, NAS, Maxwell, Kirk Franklin, and KC & Jo Jo. R. Kelly, musical genius, racked up numerous Top 40 and Top Ten smashes hits in Billboard's Top 200 list. R. Kelly's music has topped Billboard's R & B Album, Adult Contemporary, Hot 100 Singles, Top 200 Album and the R & B/Hip Hop Charts. R. Kelly has been nominated for and received numerous awards including: Grammys for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Album (R.), and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group; Soul Train Music Awards for Best R&B/Soul Album, Male (R.); NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Male Artist and Music Video, and was the American Music Award's Favorite Male Soul/R&B Artist and Sammy Davis Jr. Entertainer of the Year. In an instant, R. Kelly would go from a revered global superstar to a man" whose freedom and security..whose very foundation. was being threatened. Your Body's Calling Me reveals all the details about how R. Kelly became the 'Prince of Pillowtalk' and how that title would come back to haunt him.again.and again

Presents Suge Knight, a visionary entrepreneur's life story. This book shows where Suge intends to take Hip Hop in the millennium and features insightful interviews with business associates, family members and artists who speak candidly about his life.

Lemmy Kilmister is founder, sole constant member, vocalist, bassist, songwriter and living legend. He has given Jake Brown unprecedented behind-the-scenes access into the writing and recording of the band's 26 albums. Together with insight from fellow band members, crew and producers, this features all the stories behind such albums as Ace of Spades, Bomber and Overkill.