Music

Come along backstage and peek inside the spectacular and sometimes scandalous world of musical theatre.

See the world’s most-loved musical productions come to life in this lavishly illustrated book!

This show-stopping reference book includes:

– A chronological structure that makes the book work as a history of musicals
– Includes a 20-page reference section with key details on over 100 additional musicals
– Neat timelines summarise the plot, characters, and songs for 20 top musicals

From The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music to Mamma Mia and Les Misérables, fall in love all over again with the songs, stories, characters, creators, and legendary stars from every era of musical theatre.

Take a journey through the years and immerse yourself in the behind-the-scenes world of musical theatre! From the dance halls and vaudeville to the silver screen and sensational Broadway shows, this go-to musical guide has all the glitter and glamour of the West End.

It’s Showtime!

Delve into profiles of successful creators such as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Packed with profiles of musical icons and fun infographics that summarise the plot, characters and songs, Musicals: The Definitive Visual Guide is the perfect way to embrace your inner “theatre geek”.

With a foreword by Elaine Paige, this updated edition gives greater coverage on the smash-hit Hamilton and includes mention of new and popular stage and movie musicals. It’s a must-have or the ultimate gift for musical theatre fans.

Complete the Series:

If you enjoyed this illustrated celebration of musicals, look out for more titles in this series from DK. Uncover the most mesmerising moments in ballet history in Ballet: The Definitive Illustrated Story.

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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Touching, personal, indomitable, but always laugh-out-loud funny, The Lives of Brian is the legendary story of one of the rock world’s best-loved performers – and the many lives he’s led

‘Both a rollicking tale of rock’s bygone glory days and a deeply human account of a working-class boy who never gave up’ MAIL ON SUNDAY
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For over a decade rock legend Brian Johnson tried to make his mark with a succession of bands, yet big time success remained out of reach. But was he going to give up on his dream?

Not a chance . . .

So when, after the tragic death of Bon Scott, AC/DC hired Brian as their new singer, he gave it his all. And his debut, Back in Black, went on to become the biggest-selling rock album of all time.

Big hearted, touching, indomitable and always laugh-out-loud funny, The Lives of Brian is the story of one of the world’s best-loved performers, told in his own inimitable voice.
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‘The Lives of Brian is the literary twin of a classic AC/DC album – wild material woven together seamlessly, and always leaving you wanting more’ Hot Press

‘A tale of fate, serendipity and dogged determination’ Mojo

‘A heart-wrenching and hilarious memoir’ Billboard

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The Sunday Times bestseller and Waterstones Book of the Year, now in paperback

‘Paul McCartney says this is as close as he will get to an autobiography and no wonder – his life is in every line of these songs … pure joy’ Sunday Times, Book of the Year

With seven songs added for this edition: ‘Bluebird,’ ‘Day Tripper,’ ‘English Tea,’ ‘Every Night,’ ‘Hello, Goodbye,’ ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ and ‘Step Inside Love’

Spanning seven decades – from his early Liverpool days, through the historic decade of The Beatles, to Wings and his long solo career – Paul McCartney’s The Lyrics has transformed the way artists write about music, pairing the definitive texts of 161 songs with intimate, autobiographical commentaries on McCartney’s life and music.

Arranged alphabetically, these commentaries reveal the diverse circumstances in which the songs were written, how they ultimately came to be, and the remarkable – often ordinary – people and places that inspired them. Dozens of vignettes re-create the working-class Liverpool of McCartney’s youth, where delivery boys ran parcels on docks, as in ‘On My Way to Work,’ and elderly ladies in the neighbourhood inspired ‘Eleanor Rigby.’ McCartney also introduces us to his early literary influences, among them Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll and Allen Ginsberg, as well as Alan Durband, his beloved English teacher, and his mother, Mary, who passed away when he was just fourteen – and whose memory has infused his work ever since.

Yet the two most powerful presences in The Lyrics after the author himself are his songwriting partner, John Lennon, and his ‘Golden Earth Girl,’ Linda Eastman McCartney. Here McCartney describes how he met John at a church fête in 1957; their adventures with George Harrison and Ringo Starr in the early 1960s; and how, at the end of the decade, they, and The Beatles, broke up. Thus began a second act of now more than fifty years, with Linda and family life as driving forces – inspiring songs from ‘Maybe I’m Amazed,’ written just after the breakup of The Beatles, to the 2012 ballad ‘My Valentine,’ addressed to McCartney’s wife and partner, Nancy Shevell McCartney.

Edited and introduced by Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Paul Muldoon, and enhanced by more than a hundred images from McCartney’s personal archives – including handwritten texts, mementos, and photographs – and seven new song commentaries, The Lyrics is a book for the ages, and the definitive literary and visual record of one of the greatest songwriters of all time.

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From traditional favourites to modern country dances, these 100 Favourite Ceilidh Dances are bound to get your blood pumping. The book includes easy to follow instructions and diagrams, a brief history of Scottish country dancing, and information about the origins of each dance.

Beginners will be expert country dancers in no time, and experts will return again and again to share and call their favourite dances.

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The book opens in January 1969, the beginning of The Beatles’ last year as a band. The Beatles (The White Album) is at number one in the charts and the foursome gather in London for a new project. Over 21 days, first at Twickenham Film Studios and then at their own brand-new Apple Studios, with cameras and tape recorders documenting every day’s work and conversations, the band rehearse a huge number of songs, culminating in their final concert, which famously takes place on the rooftop of their own office building, bringing central London to a halt.

The Beatles: Get Back tells the story of those sessions through transcripts of the band’s candid conversations. Drawing on over 120 hours of sound recordings, leading music writer John Harris edits the richly captivating text to give us a fly-on-the-wall experience of being there in the studios. These sessions come vividly to life through hundreds of unpublished, extraordinary images by two photographers who had special access to their sessions―Ethan A. Russell and Linda Eastman (who married Paul McCartney two months later). Also included are many unseen high-resolution film-frames, selected from the 55 hours of restored footage from which Peter Jackson’s documentary is also drawn.

Legend has it that these sessions were a grim time for a band falling apart. However, as acclaimed novelist Hanif Kureishi writes in his introduction, “In fact this was a productive time for them, when they created some of their best work. And it is here that we have the privilege of witnessing their early drafts, the mistakes, the drift and digressions, the boredom, the excitement, joyous jamming and sudden breakthroughs that led to the work we now know and admire.” Half a century after their final performance, this book completes the story of the creative genius, timeless music, and inspiring legacy of The Beatles.

“It would be fair to say that today Let It Be symbolizes the breaking-up of The Beatles. That’s the mythology, the truth is somewhat different. The real story of Let It Be has been locked in the vaults of Apple Corps for the last 50 years.” ― Peter Jackson

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