Composers category: 3267 books

Stuart Sutcliffe is the most famous contender for the crown of 'fifth Beatle'. One of the founding members, a close friend of Lennon, he left the band after their Hamburg sojourn in order to pursue his promising career as an artist, dying shortly thereafter of a brain haemorrhage. For years his sister...

Based on lengthy interviews with Ellington's bandmates, family, and friends, Duke Ellington and His World offers a fresh look at this legendary composer. The first biography of the composer written by a fellow musician and African-American, the book traces Ellington's life and career in terms of the...

For this authoritative post-cold-war biography of Shostakovich's illustrious but turbulent career under Soviet rule, Laurel E. Fay has gone back to primary documents: Shostakovich's many letters, concert programs and reviews, newspaper articles, and diaries of his contemporaries. An indefatigable...

Ever wonder what goes into the creation of some of the best music ever recorded? Ever wonder how someone becomes an iconic professional who is universally admired and respected? Al Schmitt on the Record: The Magic Behind the Music reveals answers to those questions and more. In this memoir...

With every death of a great performer the conspiracy theorists soon come climbing out of the woodwork. Throughout my investigations for this book I have been faced with more crazy conspiracy theories than actual believable ones. I have heard everything from alien abductions to government cover ups....

Memoir by the cofounder and former lead guitarist of heavy metal giants Judas Priest Judas Priest formed in the industrial city of Birmingham, England, in 1969. With its distinctive twin-guitar sound, studs-and-leather image, and international sales of over 50 million records, Judas Priest...

‘Who gave the drugs to the Beatles? I didn’t invent those things. I bought it from someone who got it from somebody. We never invented the stuff.’ – John Lennon Riding So High charts the Beatles’ extraordinary odyssey from teenage drinking and pill-popping, to cannabis, LSD, the psychedelic...

Nico’s keyboardist recounts her ill-advised eighties tour in this “funny memoir . . . A well-written black comedy” of life on the fringes of rock & roll (The New York Times).   This is the story of the last “scene” of the art rock diva Nico, whose fifteen minutes of fame included...

"In what is the most comprehensive biography of the group to date, Browne compiles a fun and fast-paced music history.... an authoritative chronicle." --Publishers Weekly The first and most complete narrative biography of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, by acclaimed music journalist...

Her iconic blonde looks, stunning voice and songs of loneliness and melancholy have endeared her to millions, yet Agnetha Faltskog remains an enigmatic and distant figure. From her success as a teenage singer and songwriter in Sweden in the late 1960 s to her years of global superstardom with pop...

Acclaimed composer Ned Rorem delights and provokes with a fearless collection of vivid memories, critiques, and musings on life, music, and his world Pulitzer Prize–winning American composer Ned Rorem has been lauded for his art songs, symphonies, operas, and other orchestral works. With...

Chrissy Amphlett is a true legend of Australian rock?n?roll. Here, the spellbinding performer who inspired and outraged as lead singer of the Divinyls tells her own amazing story. In this raw, gripping and searingly honest account, Chrissy spares no one ? least of all herself. She reveals how...

A new memoir from internationally renowned musician Liona Boyd. Few people’s lives are as romantic and adventurous as Liona Boyd’s has been. She has performed around the world, sold millions of albums, won five Juno awards, serenaded numerous heads of state, and, for eight years, dated...

The Grateful Dead's long, strange trip has been the subject of countless books-but none like So Many Roads. Drawing on new interviews with surviving members and people in their inner circle along with previously unknown details gleaned from the group's extensive archives, David Browne, acclaimed music...