Boys Keep Swinging

Boys Keep Swinging
Author: Jake Shears
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 5
Release: 2018-02-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1501140140

In this “exhilarating yet poignant account of one boy taking flight” (Shelf Awareness, starred review), one of rock music's most entrancing figures transforms the vividness of his musical world into an unforgettable literary account of overcoming the odds and finding his true voice. Long before hitting the stage as the lead singer of the iconic glam rock band Scissor Sisters, Jake Shears was Jason Sellards, a teenage boy living a fraught life, resulting in a difficult time in high school as his classmates bullied him and few teachers showed sympathy. It wasn’t until years later, while living and studying in New York City, that Jason would find his voice as an artist and, with a group of friends and musicians who were also thirsting for stardom and freedom, form the band Scissor Sisters. First performing in the smoky gay nightclubs of New York, then finding massive success in the United Kingdom, Scissor Sisters would become revered by the LGBTQ community, sell out venues worldwide, and win multiple accolades with hits like “Take Your Mama” and “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,” as well as their cult-favorite cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” “Brutally honest” (Elton John), candid, and courageous, Shears’s writing sings with the same powerful, spirited presence that he brings to his live performances. Boys Keep Swinging is “a wild, sexy, emotional ride through underground New York at the millennium. From the fringes to the top, it's a tale that speaks to the outsider in all of us” (Andy Cohen).

David Bowie Is...

David Bowie Is...
Author: Camille Paglia
Publisher: Victoria & Albert Museum
Total Pages: 330
Release: 2013-04-16
Genre: Art
ISBN:

David Bowie's career as a pioneering artist spanned nearly 50 years and brought him international acclaim. He continues to be cited as a major influence on contemporary artists and designers working across the creative arts. This book, published to accompany the blockbuster international exhibition launched at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, is the only volume that grants access to Bowie's personal archive of performance costumes, ephemera, and original design artwork by the artist, bringing it together to present a completely new perspective on his creative work and collaborations. The book traces his career from its beginnings in London, through the breakthroughs of Space Oddity and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and on to his enormous impact on 20th-century avant-garde music and art. Essays by V&A curators on Bowie's London, image, and influence on the fashion world are complemented by Howard Goodall on musicology; Camille Paglia on gender and decadence, and Jon Savage on Bowie's relationship with William Burroughs and his fans. The more than 300 color illustrations include personal and performance photographs, album covers, costumes, original lyric sheets, and much more. Praise for David Bowie Is "Perusing David Bowie Is (V&A Publishing, distributed by Abrams), the exhibition's catalog, with its procession of poses and costumes and weighty essays tracking the cross-references to pop culture and high art, you get a sense of how much hard work it took to be Mr. Bowie." --The New York Times "The fans of 50 years or those making discoveries in retrospect will be intrigued by the accompanying book David Bowie Is that is far more than a fanzine."--The New York Times "Lends context and picks away at Bowie with such insight that it's a rare hagiography with soul." --Chicago Tribune "Combining top-notch articles on the singer/actor's life and work with official images and reproductions of his fashion and associated ephemera, the hefty, mango-colored book is nothing short of a treasure trove of all things Bowie; a one-stop smorgasbord for the eyes whose pictorials chronicle the groundbreaking star from Ziggy Stardust to Thin White Duke to Heathen and every personality in between." --Examiner.com

There Goes Gravity

There Goes Gravity
Author: Lisa Robinson
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2014-04-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1101632089

From a legendary music journalist with four decades of unprecedented access, an insider's behind-the-scenes look at the major personalities of rock and roll. Lisa Robinson has interviewed the biggest names in music--including Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Patti Smith, U2, Eminem, Lady Gaga, Jay Z and Kanye West. She visited the teenage Michael Jackson many times at his Encino home. She spent hours talking to John Lennon at his Dakota apartment--and in recording studios just weeks before his murder. She introduced David Bowie to Lou Reed at a private dinner in a Manhattan restaurant, helped the Clash and Elvis Costello get their record deals, was with the Rolling Stones on their jet during a frightening storm, and was mid-flight with Led Zeppelin when their tour manager pulled out a gun. A pioneering female journalist in an exclusive boys' club, Lisa Robinson is a preeminent authority on the personalities and influences that have shaped the music world; she has been recognized as rock jounralism's ultimate insider. A keenly observed and lovingly recounted look back on years spent with countless musicians backstage, after hours and on the road, There Goes Gravity documents a lifetime of riveting stories, told together here for the first time.

Best of Bowie

Best of Bowie
Author: David Bowie
Publisher: Hal Leonard
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2003-01-01
Genre: Rock music
ISBN: 9780711998544

Contains all the songs from the hit album plus the bonus song Everyone Says Hi. Arranged for piano and voice with guitar chord boxes.

Rip It Up and Start Again

Rip It Up and Start Again
Author: Simon Reynolds
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2006-02-17
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1101201053

A landmark history of post-punk, the basis of the documentary film directed by Nikolaos Katranis Renowned music journalist Simon Reynolds celebrates the futurist spirit of such bands as Joy Division, Gang of Four, Talking Heads, and Devo, which resulted in endless innovations in music, lyrics, performance, and style and continued into the early eighties with the video-savvy synth-pop of groups such as Human League, Depeche Mode, and Soft Cell, whose success coincided with the rise of MTV. Full of insight and anecdotes and populated by charismatic characters, Rip It Up and Start Again re-creates the idealism, urgency, and excitement of one of the most important and challenging periods in the history of popular music.

The Complete David Bowie (Revised and Updated 2016 Edition)

The Complete David Bowie (Revised and Updated 2016 Edition)
Author: Nicholas Pegg
Publisher: Titan Books (US, CA)
Total Pages: 1305
Release: 2016-12-06
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1785655337

The biggest edition yet – expanded and updated with 35,000 words of new material Critically acclaimed in its previous editions, The Complete David Bowie is widely recognized as the foremost source of analysis and information on every facet of Bowie’s career. The A-Z of songs and the day-by-day dateline are the most complete ever published. From the 11-year-old’s skiffle performance at the 18th Bromley Scouts’ Summer Camp in 1958, to the emergence of the legendary lost album Toy in 2011, to his passing in January 2016, The Complete David Bowiediscusses and dissects every last development in rock’s most fascinating career. * The Albums – detailed production history and analysis of every album from 1967 to the present day. * The Songs – hundreds of individual entries reveal the facts and anecdotes behind not just the famous recordings, but also the most obscure of unreleased rarities – from ‘Absolute Beginners’ to ‘Ziggy Stardust’, from ‘Abdulmajid’ to ‘Zion’. * The Tours – set-lists and histories of every live show. * The Actor – a complete guide to Bowie’s career on stage and screen. * Plus – the videos, the BBC radio sessions, the paintings, the Internet and much more.

Bowie in Berlin

Bowie in Berlin
Author: Thomas Jerome Seabrook
Publisher: Jawbone Press
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2008-02
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1906002088

This is a biographical and historical account of the recording of David Bowie's albums 'Low', ''Heroes'' and 'Lodger'. Set against the backdrop of post-war Berlin it features a cast of characters including Iggy Pop, Kraftwerk and Robert Fripp. It also looks at the influence Bowie's 'Berlin Trilogy' has exerted on other musicians.

On Bowie

On Bowie
Author: Rob Sheffield
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2016-06-28
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 006256272X

From the New York Times bestselling author of Love Is a Mix Tape, a thoughtful and loving meditation on the life of the late David Bowie that explores his creative legacy and the enduring and mutual connection he enjoyed with his fans. Innovative. Pioneering. Brave. Until his death in January 2016, David Bowie created art that not only pushed boundaries, but helped fans understand themselves and view the world from fantastic new perspectives. When the shocking news of his death on January 10, 2016 broke, the outpouring of grief and adulation was immediate and ongoing. Fans around the world and across generations paid homage to this brilliant, innovate, ever evolving artist who both shaped and embodied our times. In this concise and penetrating book, featuring color photographs, highly regarded Rolling Stone critic, bestselling author, and lifelong Bowie fan Rob Sheffield shares his own feelings about the passing of this icon and explains why Bowie’s death has elicited such an unprecedented emotional outpouring from so many lives.

The Age of Bowie

The Age of Bowie
Author: Paul Morley
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 496
Release: 2016-08-09
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1501151185

Author and industry insider Paul Morley explores the musical and cultural legacies left behind by “The Man Who Fell to Earth.” Respected arts commentator and author Paul Morley, an artistic advisor to the curators of the highly successful retrospective exhibition David Bowie is for the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, constructs a definitive story of Bowie that explores how he worked, played, aged, structured his ideas, influenced others, invented the future, and entered history as someone who could and would never be forgotten. Morley captures the greatest moments from across Bowie’s life and career; how young Davie Jones of South London became the international David Bowie; his pioneering collaborations in the recording studio with the likes of Tony Visconti, Mick Ronson, and Brian Eno; to iconic live, film, theatre, and television performances from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, as well as the various encounters and artistic relationships he developed with musicians from John Lennon, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop to Trent Reznor and Arcade Fire. And of course, discusses in detail his much-heralded and critically acclaimed finale with the release of Blackstar just days before his shocking death in New York. Morley offers a startling biographical critique of David Bowie’s legacy, showing how he never stayed still even when he withdrew from the spotlight, how he always knew his own worth, and released a dazzling plethora of personalities, concepts, and works into the world with a single-minded determination and a voluptuous imagination to create something the likes of which the world had never seen before—and likely will never see again.

Strange Fascination

Strange Fascination
Author: David Buckley
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 594
Release: 2012-04-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1448132479

The Sunday Times bestseller. David Bowie was arguably the most influential artist of his time, reinventing himself again and again, transforming music, style and art for over five decades. David Buckley's unique approach to unravelling the Bowie enigma, via interviews with many of the singer's closest associates, biography and academic analysis, makes this unrivalled biography a classic for Bowie fans old and new. This revised edition of Strange Fascination captures exclusive details about the tours, the making of the albums, the arguments, the split-ups, the music and, most importantly, the man himself. Also including exclusive photographic material, Strange Fascination is the most complete account of David Bowie and his impact on pop culture ever written.