Secondhand Music Books

In this collection of essays, Gene Lees brings together candid interviews with Jazz's greatest musicians and his own thoughts on the issue of racism, past and present, in jazz.

Jim and Andy's in New York was one of the city's four musicians' haunts in the 1960s. In a vivid series of portraits, we meet its clientele, an unforgettable gallery...

CHERYL COLE PROMISE includes everything you need to know about the singing and dancing pop sensation ...and more! Learn about Cheryl's style, her amazing looks, her friendships and her loves....

Brilliantly funny misheard lyrics and outrageous earworms'Six o'clock already I was just in the middle of a dream. I was kissing Danny DeVito by a crystal blue Italian stream.''I was...

'Wonderful...Carlin's book never shies from the details of this most enduring of American heroes. The divorces, cruelties, years in therapy and his antidepressant fuelled comeback of 2003 are all here'...

This is a biography of Billy Strayhorn, who wrote and arranged many of the most significant music of the Ellington Orchestra between 1940 and 1967. Billy Strayhorn lived his too-short...

Alec Wilder wrote songs and lyrics of unsurpassed beauty and originality, and his work won the respect and admiration of such important musical figures as Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Mitch...

This is the ultimate guide to the most popular form of music, which at its widest interpretation covers a spectrum of genres, from rock 'n' roll and soul to pop...

Without the determination, magnetism, vision, good manners, respectable clothes and financial security of Brian Epstein, no one would ever have heard of John, Paul, Ringo and George. In Liverpool, in...

What does it mean to be a "diva"? A shifting, increasingly loaded term, it has been used to both deride and celebrate charismatic and unapologetically fierce performers like Aretha Franklin,...

'For a lot of years, I've answered a lot of questions, but have never told my story before.'Across six decades, Sir Tom Jones has maintained a vital career in a...

Neil Young is one of rock 'n' roll's most important, influential and enigmatic figures; an intensely reticent artist who has granted no writer access to his inner sanctum - until...

Top Ten Lists: Music showcases the cream of the crop, mixing little-known talents and the big players throughout the years with wonderful colour photographs and interesting insider tips. With over...

'[An] astute reckoning with modern celebrity' - The Times'A wild read' - The Guardian'A well-researched, measured account' - The SunPart biography, part social history, Being Britney pieces together a collage...

Get Started in Classical Music is a clear, concise yet comprehensive introduction to the world of classical music for the newcomer. It takes your listening experience as the starting point...

'A weighty discussion of metal, for both passionate fans and neophytes' Guardian'Heavy opens an ornate portal into a murky subculture, illuminating the marginalia as well as the big beasts' Sunday...

Like many starstruck girls, Geri Halliwell grew up with one ambition. She wanted to be famous. She had the drive, the energy, the fierce determination to succeed. If only she...

A GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, PITCHFORK, NPR, METRO AND HERALD SCOTLAND BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2018 'The definitive grime biography' NME 'A landmark genre history' Pitchfork The year 2000. As Britain celebrates...

This acclaimed biography traces her story from her childhood in North London, through to her eventful time at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. It follows her as she takes early...

Hip-hop is now a global multi-billion pound industry. It has spawned superstars all across the world. There have been tie-in clothing lines, TV stations, film companies, cosmetics lines. It even...

Text and Act, a collection of essays and reviews published over the last dozen years, offers a brilliant evaluation of the early music movement, transforming the debate about `early music'...

"Looking at Terry's photographs is like gazing through a window at the most extraordinary and exciting moments of my life."ELTON JOHNElton John and iconic photographer Terry O'Neill worked together for...

___________'Incredibly tense and thriller-like . . . I totally recommend it' LEE CHILD'The dialogue is punchy, cinematic . . . we get inside the mind of Patterson's villain, the delusional...

A DAILY TELEGRAPH and IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEARThe must-read music book of the year, now with a brand new chapter covering the death of Taylor Hawkins and his...

The colourful story of the 80-year-old saxophone player and singer affectionately know as The King of The Swingers. Paddy Cole has taken his style of Jazz, Dixieland and Swing band...

Few bands are as shrouded in the murky haze of rock mythology as The Doors, and parsing fact from fiction has been a virtually impossible task. But now, after fifty...

In To Be a Gay Man, Will Young speaks out about gay shame, revealing the impact it had on his own life, how he learned to deal with it, and...