No Surrender

Van Morrison

Van Morrison: No Surrender is the definitive biography of one of the most influential figures in the history of popular music.

A compendium of detail, a neck-aching triumph of research

Here is everything you wanted to know about Van Morrison... Rogan leaves no stone unturned

'Remarkably well-researched and deeply engrossing...Rogan's painstaking research yields an abundance of detail...Fascinating'

'This characteristically accomplished biography shows the singer from every angle'

'Superb in all respects...Rogan is a tremendous rock biographer'

His [Van Morrison] career is scrupulously chronicled by Rogan, whose affection for the music is never dimmed

Johnny Rogan has been called 'pop's most eccentric biographer, a fanatical searcher after truth'. He is the author of sixteen books, including books on the Byrds, Roxy Music, the Kinks, the Smiths, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and John Lennon. His work has been acclaimed endlessly in print and on radio and television.

Reclusive, difficult and enigmatic, Van Morrison is a gifted singer-songwriter and an endlessly complicated man. In Van Morrison: No Surrender, Johnny Rogan has produced a provocative and revelatory biography of the musician, analysing the sense of place in his work and the tortuous journey that took him from local fame in Belfast to international success. 
 
Set against the cultural and political backdrop of Belfast, before, during and after the Troubles, No Surrender offers a unique and penetrating perspective on Morrison's long career and the times that made him. 
 
This paperback edition includes a new epilogue.

Johnny Rogan

As definitive a view of the man as anyone could hope for

In the tradition of the most interesting biographies, a troubled subject makes for a gripping read

Rogan is exceptionally good at painting a picture of the moment he is exploring ... engrossing ... you're left with a sympathetic understanding of [Davies'] ways and motives

It’s [Ray Davies’s] quirks that make him a worthy study, and Johnny Rogan is the man for the job, a writer renowned for going to extraordinary lengths to research his subjects … a social history as well as character study. Rogan illuminates the labyrinth of Swinging Sixties record labels, managers, bookers and pluggers, and spares no blushes in his depiction of the young Kinks

Masterfully teases out the warring impulses wrestling in [Davies’s] psyche … [Rogan is] adept at relating the social history of the 1950s and 1960s to Davies’s brooding character and lyric obsessions ... He uncovers psychological traumas everywhere and is fascinating on the bitchy rivalries between 1960s pop titans … Such tales make this ... oceanically researched biography go with a swing

Meticulously researched, crafted with a near-obsessive passion and boasts abundant original interviews … the many fans of [Davies] have never been served this well; Rogan interviews major players and delves deep into the archives to emerge with the ultimate account of Davies’ life, times and idiosyncrasies … Rogan never loses sight of Davies’ position as a quintessentially brilliant English songwriter and pop-culture commentator, resulting in his own personal masterpiece and another benchmark for music biographies

Definitive … impressive … Nary a character or event of even minor importance in the Davies story is left undisturbed by the author’s flair for asking the right questions of the right people (including Ray himself) and plundering archives … The wonder is that with so many facts and opinions to assemble, this tome remains so eminently readable

A terrific insight into one of Britain's greatest artists

Monumental ... shining through the violence, the personality clashes, the litigation with former management, the volatile relationship with women, even a mental breakdown, are the songs

Rogan chooses to delve deep into the period that will most interest potential readers of this book … defiantly non-sensationalist … dogged, even-handed and punctilious in his research … scrupulously fair in his assessments of his subject’s work and character, while also conceding that, in several ways, Davies remains an enigma … a valuable account of the working life of a complicated man

Kinkophiles will enjoy the recreation of Sixties London and the accounts of sibling mayhem

Gripping and hugely readable … teems with as much detail as a 19th-century novel … whatever’s been previously written about the band is rather overwhelmed by Rogan’s book with its illuminating interviews with Ray and Dave Davies and an abundance of supplementary testimony

The most in-depth biography to date of the head Kink and enduring pop genius

One of the best rock biographers of his generation

This richly detailed and revelatory biography presents the most frank and intimate portrait yet of Ray Davies

Rogan does an excellent job of trying to work out what makes The Kinks’ enigmatic frontman tick whilst charting the tumultuous career of a band whose idiosyncratic but brilliant hits are currently enjoying a renaissance

This book is a good, solid, factually based read throughout… I imagine nearing six decades of recording history to be squeezed into one book is a task beyond the scope of a lot of authors, but this has been done rather well by Johnny Rogan… Excellent and complex.

A Complicated Life

NOW UPDATED WITH A NEW EPILOGUE 
 
In the summer of 1964, aged twenty, Ray Davies led the Kinks to fame with their number one hit ‘You Really Got Me’. Within months, they were established among the pop elite, swamped by fans and fast becoming renowned for the rioting at their gigs. 
 
But Ray’s journey from working-class Muswell Hill to the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame was tumultuous in the extreme, featuring breakdowns, bitter lawsuits, spectacular punch-ups and a ban from entering the USA. His relationship with his brother Dave is surely the most ferocious and abusive in music history. Based on countless interviews conducted over several decades, this richly detailed and revelatory biography presents the most frank and intimate portrait yet of Ray Davies.

Johnny Rogan

Praise for Ray Davies

As definitive a view of the man as anyone could hope for

In the tradition of the most interesting biographies, a troubled subject makes for a gripping read

Rogan is exceptionally good at painting a picture of the moment he is exploring ... engrossing ... you're left with a sympathetic understanding of [Davies'] ways and motives

As definitive a view of the man as anyone could hope for

In the tradition of the most interesting biographies, a troubled subject makes for a gripping read

Rogan is exceptionally good at painting a picture of the moment he is exploring ... engrossing ... you're left with a sympathetic understanding of [Davies'] ways and motives

As definitive a view of the man as anyone could hope for

In the tradition of the most interesting biographies, a troubled subject makes for a gripping read

Rogan is exceptionally good at painting a picture of the moment he is exploring ... engrossing ... you're left with a sympathetic understanding of [Davies'] ways and motives

Books by Johnny Rogan

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