The living embodiment of The Beatles and a musical juggernaut without parallel, Paul McCartney is undoubtedly the patriarch of pop. In this authoritative biography, acclaimed author and journalist 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 McCartn... read more

'The best Beatles book since Revolution in the Head. Thumbs up' - Classic Rock

'As an exhaustive account of McCartney's life, FAB is unparalleled.' - Q Magazine

'The definitive take on an extraordinary career' - Record Collector

'Intrigues all the way through' - The Times

'Difficult to put down' - Mojo

'The graceful prose and superb storytelling create a riveting narrative' - Kirkus Reviews: Best Biographies of 2010

From original Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler comes a tale of sex, drugs, excess, hairspray and and intense 20-year struggle with addiction. Guns N' Roses is one of the world's most successful rock bands, with estimated sales of 90 million albums worldwide. Steven Adler is the original drummer, with an infamous past of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll that led to his removal from the band. And here, for the first time, Steven Adler tells it all. In My Appetite for Destruction, he reveals with wit and candour his personal struggles... read more

"Great for the die-hard GNR fan... This is a cautionary tale, all the way."- Penthouse

The first complete biography of singing legend Tony Bennett Among America's greatest entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Ray Charles and Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Bennett alone is still here and at the top of his game. For the first time, All the Things You Are tells the incredible story of Bennett's life and sixty-year career, from his impoverished New York City childhood through his first chart-topping hits, from liberating a concentration camp to his civil rights struggles, from his devastating personal and career bat... read more

Edith Piaf was one of the most greatly loved singers of the twentieth century. From the start of her exceptional career in the 1930s, her waif-like form and heart-wrenching voice endeared her first to the French, then to audiences around the globe. As she moved from her youth singing in the streets to the glamour of the Paris music-halls, Piaf formed lasting friendships with such figures as Maurice Chevalier, Jean Cocteau and Marlene Dietrich; she wrote many of her own songs, aided the Resistance in the Second World War and mentore... read more

The definitive biography of John Coltrane, and the first book to do justice to one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. No other jazz musician has proved so inspirational and so fascinating as Coltrane. Ben Ratliff, jazz critic for the "New York Times", has written the first book to do justice to this great and controversial music pioneer. As well as an elegant narrative of Coltrane's life Ratliff does something incredibly valuable - he writes about the saxophonist's unique sound.

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Motley Crue were formed in Los Angeles in 1981 and have since gone on to become one of America's biggest-selling and notorious heavy metal acts, with nine studio albums and over 80 million album sales. Acquiring huge success by the end of the 80s with their mixture of heavy metal and glam rock, singer Vince Neil's 'glam' look even supposedly inspired the hit Aerosmith song 'Dude (Looks Like A Lady)'. In 1992 Neil left the band to pursue a solo career before returning in 1997. The band went into hiatus in 2000 before reuniting in 20... read more

It was a simple idea, but it made James Last hugely successful. He came up with the idea of arranging chart hits in an accessible, big band style and found a massive audience for what turned into an astonishing series of records down the years. In a career stretching back decades, he has sold over 100 million albums with more than 190 releases. Having showed great promise as a child, James joined a dance orchestra in 1946 when he was just 17, was voted best bassist in Germany three years running and went on to become the in-house a... read more

Merle Haggard’s life is a cross between Jack Kerouac, James Dean and Billy the Kid, with a healthy dose of country music mixed in. Born in California in 1937, he was always the running kind, never satisfied sitting still. This ultimately got him into trouble: starting at age thirteen Haggard relates his storied history of crime, when he escaped from his first incarceration at a juvenile detention center, only to do so four more times before the age of nineteen, when he ended up in federal prison at San Quentin. My House of ... read more

When I started to have to deal with all those things that have to do with real life, that's when Merle's music started to make sense to me - Emmylou Harris

This autobiographical portrait of Tom Waits takes shape through a selection of more than 50 interviews. Starting with the first interview - on KPFK-FM's "Folkscene" in 1973- Waits speaks out on a variety of topics and shares something truly unique with his readers. In a rap that is a synthesis of inflections - Louis Armstrong, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain, hobo, pool hall attendant, vaudevillian huckster, musicologist par excellence, and a fresh slathering of the organic word-ooze of William S. Burroughs - Waits comes... read more

David Bowie is one of our greatest icons. This is the definitive biography.
David Bowie - famously described as rock's greatest chameleon - has lived an extraordinary life. From his early years in post-war, bombed out Brixton to a troubled later childhood in Bromley, to the decadent glamour of Ziggy Stardust to his controversial Berlin period, Bowie's life has been filled with drama. One of our most fascinating stars, his story has never been satisfactorily told until now. Paul Trynka has interviewed over two hundred friends,... read more

Fear and Loathing at Rolling Stone showcases the evolution of a writer through his work at the magazine that he helped to put on the map. Jann S.Wenner, Hunter Thompson's editor and friend for nearly thirty-five years, has chosen the pieces, including many never collected before. They show how Thompson's Rolling Stone writing, when taken as a whole, forms an extended, allusive autobiography of the writer himself as he pursues his lifelong obsession, the king-hell story of them all: The Death of the American Dream. From Thompson's ... read more

'You hold in your hands a book crammed with blind prejudices, foggy memories, rash declarations, unsubstantiated assertions and, quite probably, lies.' So begins Soundtrack, Grant Smithies' marvellously passionate, insightful, hilarious and always entertaining paean to New Zealand music. Smithies has written about 118 albums that he personally loves, music that he believes rises above the background noise to say something significant about the musicians who made it, and the place and time from which they came. It is a highly subjec... read more

Michael Jackson was one of those rare human beings who can truly be described as a legend. As with Elvis and John Lennon, everyone will remember where they were when they heard about the death of Michael Jackson. He was just fifty when he died, yet had become a superstar by the time he was eleven, ensuring his music was part of the fabric of everyone's life. Though his days of greatest success were behind him, Jackson was standing on the threshold of what could well have been one of the biggest comebacks in showbiz history. It wasn... read more

A lavishly illustrated tribute to the greatest entertainer of a generation. 'The world has lost one of the greats but his music will live on forever' - Madonna Michael Jackson was the undisputed King of Pop and his untimely death has provoked tributes from around the world. With a colourful life spanning from 1968 when Michael was a member of the Jackson 5 to his recent announcement of a final comeback tour at the O2 in London, nobody can dispute the achievements of the man who was arguably the greatest artist of the millenium. T... read more

A beautifully illustrated celebration of one of the most influential pop music record labels of all time. Mixing cultures and influences from reggae to pop, hip hop, and punk, Island has shaken up artistic tastes and introduced new categories to mainstream music. This spectacularly illustrated book, published to celebrate the labels fiftieth anniversary, moves from Islands origins in founder Chris Blackwellâs pioneering mission to bring Jamaican reggae to the mainstream to the labelâs continuing presence in the music industry. Acco... read more

This book captures some of the world's most recognizable musicians through exceptional photographs selected by Graham Nash, an internationally acclaimed artist of two media - photography and music. Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, and Johnny Cash share pages with Kurt Cobain, Sting, Michael Stipe, and many others in photographs by such photographers as Jim Marshall, Annie Leibowitz, Mark Seliger, Dennis Hopper, and others. The defining theme of the book will be Nash's selection of images, influenced by his personal knowledge... read more

In this raw and moving memoir, Claude Thomas describes his service in Vietnam, his subsequent emotional collapse, and his remarkable journey toward healing. "At Hell's Gate" is not only a gripping coming-of-age story but a spiritual travelogue from the horrors of combat to the discovery of inner peace--a journey that inspired Thomas to become a Zen monk and peace activist who travels to war-scarred regions around the world. "Everyone has their Vietnam," Thomas writes. "Everyone has their own experience of violence, calamity, or tra... read more

Weaving historical fact, mythic tales and contemporary voices, "Princes Amongst Men" recounts a Balkan odyssey in search of the secret history and culture of Europe's greatest musicians - the Roma Gypsies. Garth Cartwright wanders through the ruins of post-Communist Serbia and observes Roma refugees from the Kosovo conflict. He attends a Gypsy wedding in Macedonia, conveys the tragedy of Romania in the aftermath of Ceaucescu, scours Skopje for opium, charts the Euro-Asian beauties so prominent in Bulgaria and witnesses the fiery ce... read more

In 1979 Bob Mould, Grant Harp, and Greg Norton formed Husker Du as a wildly carthartic band, fuelled by anger, volume, and velocity. This title examines how Husker Du became the first hardcore band to marry pop melodies with psychedelic influences and ear-shattering volume.