Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians

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The Long Hard Road Out of Hell

Marilyn Manson

The best–selling autobiography of America's most controversial celebrity icon, Marilyn Manson (with a bonus chapter not in the hardcover). In his twenty–nine years, rock idol Manson has experienced more than most people have (or w...

Paperback
Published: Apr 1999

The True Adventures of the Rolling St...

Stanley Booth

Stanley Booth, a member of the Rolling Stones' inner circle, met the band just a few months before Brian Jones drowned in a swimming pool in 1968. He lived with them throughout their 1969 American tour, staying up all night together l...

Paperback
Published: May 2000

Tori Amos: Piece by Piece

Tori Amos

An unusual foray into the world of autobiographical self-examination, singer-songwriter Tori Amos and writer Ann Powers's collaborative effort PIECE BY PIECE explores the artist's family background, including her Cherokee heritage and...

Paperback
Published: Jan 2006

The World Of Duke Ellington

Stanley Dance

'The ultimate in art is self-expression, not escape.'-Duke Ellington In this fascinating portrait of one of America's greatest musical legends, longtime friend and jazz historian Stanley Dance recounts the life of the incomparable Duk...

Paperback
Published: Jan 2001

Searching for the Sound: My Life with...

Phil Lesh

In this ruthlessly honest, illuminating bestseller, the bass player for the greatest improvisational band in American history tells the full, true story of his life, Jerry Garcia, and the Grateful Dead.

Paperback
Published: Apr 2006

Swing That Music

Louis Armstrong

The first autobiography of a jazz musician, Louis Armstrong's Swing That Music is a milestone in jazz literature. Armstrong wrote most of the biographical material, which is of a different nature and scope than that of his other, late...

Paperback
Published: Aug 1993

Out of Sync

Lance Bass

At sixteen, Lance Bass received a phone call from Justin Timberlake that would change his life forever. Soon after, he left his small-town home in Clinton, Mississippi, to join an emerging musical group called *NSYNC. Two years later ...

Paperback
Published: Jun 2008

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Disc...

Thad Carhart

Thad Carhart never realized there was a gap in his life until he happened upon Desforges Pianos, a demure little shopfront in his Pairs neighborhood that seemed to want to hide rather than advertise its wares. Like Alice in Wonderlan...

Paperback
Published: Mar 2002

Hank Williams: The Biography

Colin/Merritt Escott

In his brief life, Hank Williams created one of the defining bodies of American music. Songs such as 'Your Cheatin' Heart,' 'Hey, Good Lookin',' and 'Jambalaya' sold millions of records and became the model for virtually all country m...

Paperback
Published: Apr 2004

Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and T...

Ralph Stanley

A legend looks back on his six decades in music. Ralph Stanley was born in 1927 in a corner of Virginia known as Big Spraddle Creek, a place where music echoed from the ridge tops, was belted out by workers in the fields, and resona...

Paperback
Published: Nov 2010

Magical Mystery Tours: My Life with t...

Tony Bramwell

A Top Ten Music Book Bestseller in The Independent (UK)"Brings the era to vivid life. The mythic moments are all here. Magical Mystery Tours is a tour de force." ---Entertainment WeeklyGrowing up in a postwar Liverpool subur...

Paperback
Published: Apr 2006

Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Unce...

Richard Cole

No one knew Led Zeppelin like Richard Cole. The band's tour manager for more than a decade, Cole was there when they burst onto the music scene, achieved cult status, cut platinum records, and transformed popular music. Second only to...

Paperback
Published: Jan 2002

Bono

Michka Assayas

A portrait of the Grammy Award-winning lead singer of U2 discusses how his life and achievements defy rock-star clichTs, describing his transformation from a post-punk band singer to one of the industry’s most famous figures, hi...

Paperback
Published: Apr 2006

Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generati...

Philip Norman

UPDATED TO INCLUDE PAUL McCARTNEY'S KNIGHTING AND THE DEATHS OF JOHN LENNON AND GEORGE HARRISONPhilip Norman's biography of the Beatles is the definitive work on the world's most influential band -- a beautifully written account of th...

Paperback
Published: Feb 2005

Lady Sings the Blues the 50th Anniver...

Billie Holiday

Lady Sings the Blues is the fiercely honest, no-holds-barred autobiography of Billie Holiday, the legendary jazz, swing, and standards singing sensation. Taking the reader on a fast-moving journey from Holiday's rough-and-tumble Balti...

Paperback
Published: Jun 2006

Rage To Survive: The Etta James Story...

Etta James

Here is the story of perhaps the finest soul singer of the rock era--Etta James. One of the great women of American music, equally at home singing blues and jazz, Etta regales us with tales of her chaotic childhood, the stars she ha...

Paperback
Published: Jun 2003

Can't You Hear Me Callin': The Life o...

Richard D. Smith

Considering the range of stars that have claimed Bill Monroe as an influence—Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and Jerry Garcia are just a few—it can be said that no single artist has had as broad an impact on American popular music as he...

Paperback
Published: Sep 2001

Petty: The Biography

Warren Zanes

*One of Rolling Stone's 10 Best Music Books of 2015*An exhilarating and intimate account of the life of music legend Tom Petty, by an accomplished writer and musician who toured with PettyNo one other than Warren Zanes, rocker and wr...

Paperback
Published: Nov 2016

Once Upon a Time: The Lives of Bob Dy...

Ian Bell

Written with an intelligence and verve rarely found in rock biography, the mysterious artist that is Bob Dylan is illuminated through the cultural history of his time.Half a century ago, a youth appeared from the American hinterland a...

Paperback
Published: Oct 2014

Never Say No to a Rock Star: In the S...

Glenn Berger

In 1974, at the age of seventeen, author Glenn Berger served as "Schlepper" and apprentice to the legendary recording engineer Phil Ramone at New York City's A&R Studios, and was witness to music history on an almost daily a...

Paperback
Published: Jul 2016

Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of...

David Browne

When Jeff Buckley drowned at the age of thirty in 1997, he not only left behind a legacy of brilliant music -- he brought back haunting memories of his father, '60s troubadour Tim Buckley, a gifted musician who barely knew his son and...

Paperback
Published: Jan 2002

Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and T...

Stanley Crouch

Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker is the first installment in the long-awaited portrait of one of the most talented and influential musicians of the twentieth century, from Stanley Crouch, one of the foremost...

Paperback
Published: Oct 2014

Little Girl Blue: The Life of Karen C...

Randy L. Schmidt

Little Girl Blue is an intimate profile of Karen Carpenter, a girl from a modest Connecticut upbringing who became a Southern California superstar.            Karen was the instantly recognizable lead singer of the Carpente...

Paperback
Published: Sep 2011

Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madne...

J. Randy Taraborrelli

So much has how been said and written about the life and career of Michael Jackson that it has become almost impossible to disentangle the man from the myth. This book is the fruit of over 30 years of research and hundreds of exclusiv...

Paperback
Published: Aug 2010

Slash

Slash

From one of the greatest rock guitarists of our era comes a memoir that redefines sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. For the first time ever, Slash tells the tale that has yet to be told from the inside: how the legendary band Guns N' R...

Paperback
Published: Nov 2008

The Colonel: The Extraordinary Story ...

Alanna Nash

A meticulously researched biography, this story profiles 'The Colonel' Tom Parker, the man behind Elvis Presley, in a compelling new light. Filled with startling material found in never-before-seen documents, including Parker's army r...

Paperback
Published: Sep 2004

Beneath the Underdog: His World as Co...

Charles Mingus

A wild, lyrical, and anguished autobiography, in which Charles Mingus pays short shrift to the facts but plunges to the very bottom of his psyche, coming up for air only when it pleases him. He takes the reader through his childhood i...

Paperback
Published: Sep 1991

His Way: The Unauthorized Biography o...

Kitty Kelley

This is the book Frank Sinatra failed to stop,  the unauthorized biography of one of the most  elusive public figures of our time. Celebrated  journalist Kitty Kelley spent three years researching  government documents (Mafia-...

Paperback
Published: Dec 2010

Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Red...

Peter James Carlin

Brian Wilson was the visionary behind America's most successful and influential rock band.  And as the leader of the Beach Boys, he sold 100 million records, produced Pet Sounds, and built a catalog of songs that continues to define ...

Paperback
Published: Jun 2007

Beethoven: The Universal Composer (Em...

Edmund Morris

In "Beethoven", Edmund Morris, the author of three bestselling presidential biographies and a lifelong devotee of the great composer, brings him to life as a man of astonishing complexity and overpowering intelligence. A gig...

Paperback
Published: Feb 2010
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