Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 30 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Joseph Delaney

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Mick Foster

Tony Allen

This is the combined life story of Mick Foster and Tony Allen, revealing how these most unlikely of stars toured the world and entered the record books. A charming narrative told with heaps of Celtic charm, it is filled with nostalgic reminiscences about growing up in rural Ireland in the 1950s and 60s, and spans the breadth of their long career, including appearing on Top of the Pops alongside Bob Geldof and being feted by Terry Wogan, and the extraordinary moment when they found themselves at the very top of the charts, beating Take That to the number-one slot.

After All These Years

Our Story

J P Bean

Joe Cocker is a rock legend. A gas fitter who went from playing Sheffield pubs to the stadiums of the world, he was the man who no one - not even himself - expected to survive the age of 30. Now, approaching his 60s and having recovered his life and career, he has co-operated with the full and frank biography to tell of all the highs and lows of his remarkable journey. Even by the crazy standards of rock'n'roll it is an amazing story. Since his mind-blowing interpretation of the Beatles' "With a Little Help From My Friends" topped the British charts in 1968, Joe Cocker has had hits in every decade and in more countries than he can remember. His appearance in the movie of Woodstock in 1969 catapulted him to worldwide fame and his Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour of America almost killed him. Here he talks to biographer J.P. Bean about his heroin addiction, alcoholism, the arrests that got him thrown in jail, and the demons that haunted him for years. But most of all it is an uplifting story of an ordinary man who lit up America like a beacon in the night, was written off as a shambolic wreck and then - against all the odds - climbed back to become an even bigger star than he was first time around.

Joe Cocker

The Authorised Biography

Mike Barson

Mark Bedford

Chris Foreman

Graham McPherson

Cathal Smyth

Lee Thompson

Dan Woodgate

New Foreword by Irvine Welsh. 
 
In Before We Was We Madness tell us how they became them. A story of seven originals, whose collective graft, energy and talent took them from the sweaty depths of the Hope and Anchor's basement to the Top of the Pops studio. 
 
In their own words they each look back on shared adventures. Playing music together, riding freight trains, spraying graffiti and stealing records. Walking in one another's footsteps by day and rising up through the city's exploding pub music scene by night. Before We Was We is irreverent, funny and full of character. Just like them.

Before We Was We

The Making of Madness by Madness

Madness by Madness

Shane Filan

As a lead singer of Westlife, one of the most successful pop acts of all time, Shane Filan was on top of the world. Together with the band, he achieved an incredible 14 No.1 singles (a record beaten only by the Beatles) sold 44 million records and was adored by fans the world over. 
 
Everything he touched turned to gold, or so it seemed. Like many others, he had piled his fortunes into the Irish property boom and when the bubble burst, Shane struggled with mounting debt. Just ten days after Westlife’s final farewell concert, in front of a sold-out crowd of 80,000 fans, Shane was declared bankrupt with debts of £18 million – losing everything. 
 
But this wasn’t the end for Shane Filan – a devoted singer and family man, Shane circled back to his roots and a year later he launched his solo career. In My Side of Life Shane shares his story for the first time – his early years growing up as part of a large Irish family in Co. Sligo, the phenomenal success of Westlife and the ups and downs of their time together, the breakup of the band, his financial devastation, and finally going it alone as a solo artist. 
 
This is Shane’s side of the story.

My Side of Life: The Autobiography

Daniel O'Donnell

From humble beginnings in County Donegal in Ireland to worldwide recording success, Daniel O'Donnell recounts the incredible story of his life, charting the ups and downs with remarkable honesty. 
Through wonderful anecdotes, Daniel recalls his early years and the moment he set his heart on becoming a singer, and gives a personal acount of his speading popularity and subsequent perfomances all over the world. With distinctive charm and modesty, he takes us behind the scenes of his phenomenal professional success, providing unique access to the man behind the hits and headlines. 
A bestseller when it was first published, Daniel O'Donnell: My Story has been fully revised and updated with a wealth of brand new material. for the first time Danel gives an intimate account of his romance and high-profile wedding to Majella McLennan as well as his deeply personal observations on worldwide success and his recent breathrough to stardom in the USA.

Daniel O'Donnell - My Story

Meat Loaf

David Dalton

Meat Loaf's bizarre and spectacular life story is scarcely credible. After surviving an abusive childhood, during which he was almost murdered by his alcoholic father, he starred in one of the biggest stage and film musicals ever, then went on to record the third best-selling album of all time. 
 
To Hell and Back is the true story of a man who ran away from a cruel home life at 17 and starred in the legendary Rocky Horror Picture Show before turning to rock 'n' roll. His first album, Bat Out Of Hell, was considered so uncommercial by his first record label that they dropped him - only for it to go on to sell 20 million copies worldwide. He then spent the 1980s on the skids, with a severe drink and drugs problem and mounting money problems leading him to a nervous breakdown, before making a triumphant comeback with 1993's album Bat Out Of Hell II and colossal hit single 'I'd Do Anything For Love'. 
 
This is an extraordinary story and a classic rock autobiography.

To Hell And Back

An Autobiography

John Warburton

The Mondays were the band who had it all. Credited with a range of achievements, from creating Madchester and introducing indie kids to dance music to bringing ecstasy to Britain, they were the rock 'n' roll story that beggared belief. In Shaun they had an inspired gutter poet; in his sidekick Bez they had a cultural icon. 
 
Hallelujah is the story of how this hapless group of ruffians, thieves, thugs and dealers, prompted by boredom, drugs and a visit from the taxman, got their act back together after six long years and played a sell-out world tour. Along the way a man was set on fire, an orgy was staged, someone nearly drowned and every single band member got lost in Europe. There were guns, writs, jellyfish, fights, copious amounts of class As - and a skull on a stick. 
 
Former Daily Sport journalist John Warburton, Shaun's friend and confident, went along for the ride. He includes contributions from others who've witnessed the madness first hand, including Jo Whiley, Chris Moyles, Steve Lamacq and Fatboy Slim.

Hallelujah!

The extraordinary story of Shaun Ryder and Happy Mondays

Henry Rollins

Using his trademark wit, insight and verve, icon Henry Rollins shares journals from his gruelling world tours of 1997 and 1998, as well as a record of the fulfilment of his longstanding dream to journey through Africa. He takes us on a rollercoaster of highs and lows, frustrations and exhilaration - from roving gangs of baboons in Kenya to haggling with immigration officials in Madagascar and his thoughts on meeting his childhood heroes, Black Sabbath - and finds a way to make his unique experiences accessible and meaningful to us all.

Smile, You're Travelling

Sara Hawys Roberts

Leon Noakes

New discoveries and a fresh perspective, with unprecedented access to Richey's personal archive 
 
On 1 February 1995, Richey Edwards, guitarist of the Manic Street Preachers, went missing at the age of 27. On the eve of a promotional trip to America, he vanished from his London hotel room, his car later discovered near the Severn Bridge, a notorious suicide spot. 
 
Over two decades later, Richey’s disappearance remains one of the most moving, mysterious and unresolved episodes in recent pop culture history. 
 
For those with a basic grasp of the facts, Richey's suicide seems obvious and undeniable. However, a closer investigation of his actions in the weeks and months before his disappearance just don’t add up, and until now few have dared to ask the important questions. 
 
Withdrawn Traces is the first book written with the co-operation of the Edwards family, testimony from Richey’s closest friends and unprecedented and exclusive access to Richey’s personal archive. 
In a compelling real-time narrative, the authors examine fresh evidence, uncover overlooked details, profile Richey's state of mind, and brings us closer than ever before to the truth.

Withdrawn Traces

Searching for the Truth about Richey Manic, Foreword by Rachel Edwards

Aerosmith

Stephen Davis

By far and away the most candid rock 'n' roll autobiography ever written, Walk This Way is the complete story of five incomparable and uncompromising musical artists who pulled themselves up from nowhere to become rock icons; who crashed and burned spectacularly ; and who rose up gloriously from the ashes to reclaim their rightful titles as World Champion Rockers. 
But much more than a chronicle of brain-numbing excess, it is a breathtaking study in genius - an exhilarationg look deep inside the music: what spawned and inspired, birthed and moulded the sound that still blows a nation away with the force of a hurricane. This is Aerosmith unbound, where they came from, what they are now, and what they always will be, first and foremost: a truly great American band. 
Hang on, it's a hell of a ride.

Walk This Way: The Autobiography Of Aerosmith

Ann Harrison

This essential and highly acclaimed guide, now updated and revised in its ninth edition, explains the business of the British music industry. 
 
Drawing on her extensive experience as a media lawyer, Ann Harrison offers a unique, expert opinion on the deals, the contracts and the business as a whole. She examines in detail the changing face of the music industry and provides absorbing and up-to-date case studies. 
 
Whether you're a recording artist, songwriter, music business manager, industry executive, publisher, journalist, media student, accountant or lawyer, this practical and comprehensive guide is indispensable reading. 
 
Fully revised and updated, this edition focuses on the transformative effects artificial intelligence is already having on the industry as well as exciting future developments for creativity and copyright considerations.

Music: The Business (9th Edition)

This essential and highly acclaimed guide, now updated and revised in its eighth edition, explains the business of the British music industry. 
 
Drawing on her extensive experience as a media lawyer, Ann Harrison offers a unique, expert opinion on the deals, the contracts and the business as a whole. She examines in detail the changing face of the music industry and provides absorbing and up-to-date case studies. 
 
Whether you're a recording artist, songwriter, music business manager, industry executive, publisher, journalist, media student, accountant or lawyer, this practical and comprehensive guide is indispensable reading. 
 
Fully revised and updated. Includes: 
· The current types of record and publishing deals, and what you can expect to see in the contracts 
· A guide to making a record, manufacture, distribution, branding, marketing, merchandising, sponsorship, band arrangements and touring 
· Information on music streaming, digital downloads and piracy 
· The most up-to-date insights on how the COVID-19 crisis has affected marketing 
· An in-depth look at copyright law and related rights 
· Case studies illustrating key developments and legal jargon explained.

Music: The Business (8th edition)

(8th edition)

Mick Middles

Factory Records' fame and fortune were based on two bands - Joy Division and New Order - and one personality - that of its director, Tony Wilson. At the height of the label's success in the late 1980s, it ran its own club, the legendary Haçienda, had a string of international hit records, and was admired and emulated around the world. But by the 1990s the story had changed. The back catalogue was sold off, top bands New Order and Happy Mondays were in disarray, and the Haçienda was shut down by the police. 
 
Critically acclaimed on its original publication in 1996, this book tells the complete story of Factory Records' spectacular history, from the label's birth in 1970s Manchester, through its '80s heyday and '90s demise. Now updated to include new material on the re-emergence of Joy Division, the death of Tony Wilson and the legacy of Factory Records, it draws on exclusive interviews with the major players to give a fascinating insight into the unique personalities and chaotic reality behind one of the UK's most influential and successful independent record labels.

Factory

The Story of the Record Label

Josh Frank

Caryn Ganz

Pixies' career spanned just seven years before the pressures of the road and personality clashes tore the band apart. But in that time they became one of the pioneers of alternative rock and left a musical legacy that would inspire generations of musicians, from Kurt Cobain and David Bowie to U2, Radiohead and Blur. 
 
This is the story of a band called Pixies and how they turned their distinctive, warped breed of dynamic surf-punk into music legend. Told in the words of the band themselves, the studio owners, producers and engineers who worked with them, and admirers of their music, including Bono, Courtney Love and Beck, Fool The World is a complete journey through the life, death and rebirth of one of the most influential bands of all time.

Fool The World

The Oral History of A Band Called Pixies

Daniel Wolff

S.R Crain

Cliff White

G. David Tenenbaum

When Sam Cooke was shot dead in a cheap motel in Hollywood, he was one of America's most successful pop stars. He left a world in which he had been born poor and had become very rich from the success of such records as "You Send Me" and "A Wonderful World", yet his body lay unrecognised in a morgue for two days. This biography follows Cooke's life in a racist America where his voice was one of the first to reach beyond the segregated audiences and command a white following, Cooke himself becoming a player in the fledgling civil rights movement. This award-winning biography is a full and sometimes shocking story of a man whose songbook is revered by great performers such as Otis Redding, Rod Stewart and Aretha Franklin.

You Send Me

The Life and Times of Sam Cooke

George Klein

Chuck Crisafulli

When George Klein was thirteen, he couldn't have known how important the new kid in class - the one with the guitar, the boy named Elvis - would become in his life. But from the first time GK (as he was nicknamed by Elvis) heard this kid sing, he knew that Elvis Presley was someone extraordinary. In this heartfelt, entertaining and affectionate memoir, George Klein writes candidly about their close friendship, which began at school and continued through Elvis's rise to fame and the wild swirl of his tumultuous life, right up to the singer's tragic death. 
 
Writing with the authority of someone who was in the midst of it all, from the good times at Graceland and hanging out with Hollywood stars to butting heads with Elvis's iron-handed manager, Colonel Tom Parker, GK reveals who the King really was and how he acted when the stage lights were off. Full of anecdotes and first-hand accounts of some of the most defining moments in the legend's life, Elvis: My Best Man captures the true essence of the man behind the music.

Elvis: My Best Man

Ray Davies

As a boy in post-War England, legendary Kinks singer/songwriter Ray Davies fell in love with America – its movies and music, its culture of freedom fed his imagination. 
 
 In Americana, Davies tries to make sense of his long love-hate relationship with the country that both inspires and frustrates him, and where he nearly lost his life in a street shooting. 
 
 Some of the most fascinating characters in pop culture and the British Invasion make appearances, from the famous to the behind-the-scenes players. The book is interspersed with lyrics and also includes photographs from Davies's own collection and the Kinks’ archive. 
 
 From his quintessentially English perspective, Davies – with candour, humour, and wit – takes us on a very personal road trip through his life and storied career as a rock star, and reveals what music, fame and America really mean to him.

Americana

The Kinks, the Road and the Perfect Riff

Tim Riley

Music historian and journalist Tim Riley's biography challenges many popular assumptions about Lennon's life, from his widely misunderstood 'Working Class Hero' origins to his epic romance with Yoko Ono. Riley also explores Lennon in all his contradictions: the misogynist turned peace activist, the moralist who loved to outrage and the 'bigger than Christ' LSD enthusiast who settled down to become a house-husband. 
A pre-eminent scholar of Beatles music, Riley has consulted some of the most important Beatles scholarship of the past two decades. In a field littered with untrustworthy memoirs, he has culled the most reliable information from hundreds of books, and tracked down even more insightful sources among Lennon's friends, enemies, confidantes, celebrity associates and business contacts. He also writes brilliantly about the music and about Lennon's artistic and creative processes. 
 
The Beatles have just enjoyed their most successful sales decade ever, and this book will be a great gift for the Beatles fan in your life or for anyone with an interest in this British music legend.

Lennon

The Man, the Myth, the Music - The Definitive Life

Richard Havers

The Rolling Stones

Be there again! The Christmas present that brings back the sixties. 
 
From their first TV appearance on Thank Your Lucky Stars!, buttoned up in matching hounds-tooth suits at manager Andrew Loog Oldham's insistence, to the louche rockers who appeared on stage for the televised free concert in London's Hyde Park in 1969, this book looks back at their career-defining broadcasts, remembering the music, the clothes, the fans, the rivals and friends, and the world at large around them, divided by generation between broad-sheet moral panic and hysterical teen riots. 
 
Featuring previously unseen facsimile documents from the BBC and commercial TV and radio archives and many stunning unseen images, this is history as it happened, in context, immediate and vivid, offering new insights and a fresh unexplored perspective on the story of one of the greatest great rock 'n' roll bands the world has ever seen.

The Rolling Stones: On Air in the Sixties

David Essex

As a young schoolboy, David Essex dreamed of becoming a professional footballer, and was signed up by his beloved West Ham United, but as a teenager he developed a passion for music which set him on a very different path, and ultimately led to superstardom. 
 
It wasn't, however, an easy start. Scraping a living on the edges of show business was a hard slog, and he endured many disappointments. Then aged 23, he went along to an audition for a new musical called Godspell and won the role of Jesus that was to shoot him to fame. Within a year he was starring in the smash hit film, That'll Be the Day, and had written and recorded his first number one single 'Rock On'. 
 
It was the start of Essex Mania, and a long journey of undreamt of adventure. From Godspell to EastEnders it's been an amazing life. And here is David's full incredible story – in his own words.

Over the Moon

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