Review imprint: 1779 books

From an idiosyncratic childhood in a sleepy British market town to the top of the international pop charts, this first critical examination of the life of Brian Eno charts a lengthy and colorful journey. Interviews with many key collaborators-such as David Byrne, Robert Wyatt, John Cale, Bryan Ferry,...

Frank Sinatra was the greatest entertainer of his age, invigorating American popular song with innovative phrasing and a mastery of drama and emotion. Drawing upon interviews with hundreds of his collaborators as well as with "The Voice" himself, this book chronicles, critiques, and celebrates...

Rick James played with Neil Young, self-produced his first album (later picked up by Motown), crossed rock and funk to come up with one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s, became one of the biggest pop stars of the era, turned a young white woman named Teena Marie into an R&B superstar, displayed...

Leonard Cohen, one of the most admired performers of the last half century, has had a stranger-than-fiction, roller-coaster ride of a life. Now, for the first time, he tells his story in his own words, via more than 50 interviews conducted worldwide between 1966 and 2012. In *Leonard Cohen on Leonard...

Though many books have chronicled Jimi Hendrix’s brilliant but tragically brief musical career, this is the first to use his own words to paint a detailed portrait of the man behind the guitar. With selections carefully chosen by one of the world’s leading Jimi Hendrix historians, this work includes...

This definitive biography, based on exclusive and extensive interviews with Patsy Cline's mother, husband, and the country stars who knew and loved her, is now updated to feature a host of never-before-published photographs and letters and an afterword that details controversial claims about her birth,...

Robert Johnson is the subject of the most famous myth about the history of the blues: he allegedly sold his soul at the crossroads in exchange for his incredible talent, and this deal led to his tragic death at age 27. This single notion can be recited by everyone who has ever heard of him, but the...

From his emergence in the 1950s as an uncannily beautiful young Oklahoman who became the prince of “cool” jazz seemingly overnight to his violent, drug-related death in Amsterdam in 1988, Chet Baker lived a life that has become an American myth. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and previously...

This autobiographical portrait of Tom Waits takes shape through a selection of more than 50 interviews. Starting with the first interview-on KPFK-FM’s Folkscene in 1973-Waits speaks out on a variety of topics and shares something truly unique with his readers. In a rap that is a synthesis of inflections-Louis...

Part biography, part true-crime narrative, this painstakingly researched book chronicles the improbable rise and stunning fall of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle from his early big screen success to his involvement in actress Virginia Rappe’s death, and the resulting irreparable damage to his career....

Now a Netflix original film starring Will Forte, Domhnall Gleeson, and Emmy Rossum. Comic genius Doug Kenney cofounded National Lampoon, cowrote Animal House and Caddyshack, and changed the face of American comedy before mysteriously falling to his death at the age of 33. This is the first-ever...

Judy Garland on Judy Garland is the closest we will come to experiencing and exploring the legend’s planned autobiography. Collecting and presenting the most important Garland interviews and encounters that took place between 1935 and 1969, this work opens with her first radio appearance under contract...

In Hollywood history, no other lawyer has achieved the movie star–like fame and glamour that Greg Bautzer enjoyed. This revealing biographytells, for the first time, the amazing story of a self-made man who for 50 years used his irresistible charm and prodigious legal talent to dominate the courtrooms,...

While the Three Stooges were the longest active and most productive comedy team in Hollywood, their artistic height coincided with the years Curly was with them, and this is his definitive biography. From 1932 to 1946 Curly was the zaniest of the Stooges, becoming famous for his high-pitched voice,...