Secondhand Music Books

Now a National Bestseller!You've read the headlines, but you don't know Jamie Lynn Spears. The world first met Jamie Lynn as a child star, when it was her job to...

'I can't rewrite history; all I can do is be honest and wear my heart on my sleeve. It's really the only way I know. I want to show people...

The living embodiment of The Beatles and a musical juggernaut without parallel, Paul McCartney is the patriarch of pop. Ahead of McCartney's 80th birthday and Glastonbury headline set, acclaimed author...

Imagine you've made it. You and your friends have hit the big time in music and you're going to be a star. But then, quite suddenly, it's over. Your best...

'I was 22 years old, a hard-on with a pulse: wretched, vice-ridden, too much to burn and not enough minutes in a hour to do so'The action begins in West...

Yehudi Menuhin was a legend in his own time. Born in April 1916 in New York of Russian-Jewish parents, he made his extraordinary debut at the age of seven, playing...

The genius behind such classic songs as "Suzanne", "Bird on the Wire" and "Hallelujah", Leonard Cohen has been one of the most important and influential songwriters of our time, a...

Anthony Reynolds' fascinating and detailed biography draws on scores of new interviews conducted with Cohen's band members past and present, his business associates, editors, friends, fans, producers, colleagues, enemies and...

Photographs and Reflections by Paul McCartney'Millions of eyes were suddenly upon us, creating a picture I will never forget for the rest of my life.'In 2020, an extraordinary trove of...

Bob Dylan stands out with Elvis Presley and The Beatles in a triumvirate of popular-music artists of unparalleled achievements, influence and public fascination. He changed popular music in the 1960s,...

'One of Britain's outstanding poets' Sir Paul McCartney'Riveting' Observer'An exuberant account of a remarkable life' New StatesmanThis is a memoir as wry, funny, moving and vivid as its inimitable subject...

'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'...

Despite the number of claims in publishers blurbs, not many people actually achieve the status of legend in their own lifetime. Fewer still actually deserve that status. John Peel is...

When Freddie Mercury died in 1991, aged just 45, the world was rocked by the vibrant and flamboyant star's tragic secret that he had been battling AIDS. The announcement of...

In 1994 punk rock trio Green Day were on top of the world with DOOKIE, their massive hit album. They were loud, fast, bratty, pissed off, hopeless, truthful, drunk, maybe...

In 2001 Will Young shot to fame as the first winner of Pop Idol. It was clear from the start that he would never be a typical pop star -...

Celebrate the incredible career of pop music's biggest star in this sparkling biography.We're all living in the Taylor Swift Era. Since her 2006 debut album she's sold more than 200...

COWBOYS AND INDIES is the story of the 'record men' - the mavericks and moguls who have shaped the music industry from the first sound machines of the 1850s through...

New discoveries and a fresh perspective, with unprecedented access to Richey's personal archiveOn 1 February 1995, Richey Edwards, guitarist of the Manic Street Preachers, went missing at the age of...

Known as the "Prince of Bummers," Leonard Cohen is a multi-talented poet, singer-songwriter, novelist, and Zen Buddhist whose career has spanned more than forty years and inspired countless other artists....

A series of biographies of great composers which present the subjects against a social background of their times. Each book draws on personal letters and recollections, engravings, paintings - and...

Take That are the most successful pop act of the 1990s. In 1994 alone, they have already picked up the prestigious Brit Awards for "Best British Single" and "Best British...

What is a wiseman? What is a prophet? Someone with a strange, unflappable demeanor. Someone who speaks in cryptic koans, words whose meanings take years to unravel. Someone who has...

Sir Georg Solti is the most famous and accomplished conductor of our age. He was born in Hungary, where he suffered from pre-war anti-Semitism; he spent the war years in...

In early 1991, top music manager Danny Goldberg agreed to take on Nirvana, a critically acclaimed new band from the underground music scene in Seattle. He had no idea that...

An entirely new assessment of the most important figure in the 20th century. Michael Freedland has interviewed over 100 people, including those closest to Sinatra, many of whom reveal details...

"It wasn't me. I didn't do it. And I'll never do it again!" says Brian Johnson of The Lives of Brian. That AC/DC's legendary frontman got to do it all...

An Independent Best Non-Fiction Book for 2024 Celebrated music critic Ann Powers explores the life and career of the legendary Joni Mitchell What you are about to read is not...

Global icon. Songwriting sensation. Fashion phenomenon. Welcome to the Taylor-verse.Through stunning photographs that explore key outfits from her style evolution alongside expert analysis, Icons of Style pays homage to the...