Biographies, nonfiction, memoirs, and fiction about musicians and the music industry.
In this candid memoir, Springsteen discusses his life as New Jersey’s favorite son, his Catholic upbringing, troubled relationship with his working class father, the musical influences of his youth, a failed marriage, and the rise of his political consciousness. Extensive passages are devoted to well-known E Street Band Members: Vocalist Patti Scialfa (Springsteen’s life partner), saxophonist Clarence Clemons, guitarist Stevie Van Zandt, and drummer Max Weinberg. His writing style is a lyrical match to his songs.
In one of the wildest, most over the top rock memoirs ever written, the members of Motley Crue talk about sex, substance abuse, excess, arrests, and near-death experiences...but surprisingly little about their music.
In his 33 short years, Sam Cooke managed to do an astounding amount of living. In addition to being one of the most popular performers of his era, he had his own record label, wrote many of his own songs, and mentored a young Aretha Franklin. Acclaimed music journalist and biographer Peter Guralnick examines Cooke's genius as well as his many demons.
"What came first, the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music?" Record store owner Rob Fleming has just been dumped, and finds himself torn between a life built around pop music, top 5 lists, and his vinyl collection, and something more...grown-up.
In unsurprisingly poetic prose, both beautiful and personal, Patti Smith recounts memories plucked from various adventures in her life, from visiting a South American prison with her husband Fred "Sonic" Smith, to surveying a Coney Island devastated by a storm, to holing up in a European hotel to binge-watch detective shows.
Sir Elton himself takes us through the fantastical journey that is his life. From small town England to topping the music charts, year after year, Elton brings the excesses of 1970s and '80s pop stardom to the light of day in a disarming, self-deprecating and always entertaining way. An honest, raucous autobiography by a legend, who has no need to tell tales other than his own.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe is well-known as the godmother of rock 'n roll who mixed religious and secular styles which angered gospel singers in more conservative churches. In the 1920s she sang at The Cotton Club and Café Society. Despite the efforts of singers like Eric Clapton, B. B. King, and Johnny Cash, she has yet to be inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame. Here are some examples of her style from YouTube:
The Southern California punk scene gets the Please Kill Me treatment in this oral history, which covers the rise of notable and notorious L.A. acts like The Germs, X, Los Lobos, and The Runaways.
Pattie Boyd, one-time model, wife of George Harrison then wife of Eric Clapton, reveals what life was really like during the swinging music scene of the 1960s and beyond. As a muse to both Harrison and Clapton, Pattie Boyd was the inspiration for "Something" and for "Layla" which became all-time classics.