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...

By the time she was 14, Chrissie Hynde knew she had to get out of Akron, Ohio. Her perfect '50s American childhood upturned by a newly acquired taste for rock...

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...

Whether you are learning to play a piano, blow a trumpet, conduct an orchestra or sing, the essentials of music notation are the same.This book is a complete approach to...

This third collection of the author's essays on jazz music focuses on jazz of the 1920s, with Bix Beiderbecke as the central figure. The book concludes with a tribute to...