Styles

The first book to deal exclusively with the British musical film from the very beginning of talking pictures in the late 1920s through the Depression of the 1930s up to the end of World War II. Cheer Up! is the first book to deal exclusively with the British musical film from the very beginning of talking pictures in the late 1920s through the Depression of the 1930s up to the end of World War II. The upsurge in production at British studios from 1929 onwards marked the real birth of a genre whose principal purpose was to entertain the British public. This endeavour was deeply affected by the very many emigres escaping Nazi Germany, who flooded into the British film industry during this decade, as the genre tried to establish itself. The British musical film in the 1930s reflects a richness of interest. Studios initially flirted with filming what were essentially stage productions plucked from the West End theatre but soon learned that importing a foreign star was a box-office boost. Major musical stars including Jessie Matthews, Richard Tauber and George Formby established themselves during this period. From its beginning, the British musical film captured some of the most notable music-hall performers on screen, and its obsession with music-hall persisted throughout the war years. Other films married popular and classical music with social issues of poverty and unemployment, a message of social integration that long preceded the efforts of the Ealing studios to encourage a sense of social cohesion in post-war Britain. The treatmentof the films discussed is linear, each film dealt with in order of its release date, and allowing for an engaging narrative packed with encyclopaedic information.

Read more

For 13 years, Peter Hince lived the rock ‘n’ roll dream. As head roadie for Queen he had a front row seat and backstage pass to some of the greatest moments in music.

Now, he is opening up his incredible archive and sharing hundreds of photographs and mementoes – many never seen before – as well as stories and memories from life inside rock ‘n’ roll history.

Queen Uncovered is packed with images and ephemera from this truly unique collection, covering life on the road and in the studio, backstage and on-stage, relaxing at parties, filming iconic music videos and much more besides.

Read more

Discover everything you need to know about the world’s hottest young pop star in Olivia Rodrigo – The Ultimate Fan Book.

Since releasing her debut single ‘Drivers Licence’ in January 2021, Olivia Rodrigo has rocketed to the top of charts around the world, and quickly become not only one of the most exciting young singer-songwriters of the moment, but one of the biggest stars in the world today. In Olivia Rodrigo – The Ultimate Fan Book, you’ll discover how this former Disney starlet has found such amazing success with her catchy songs, striking fashion choices and incredible charm.

Through lively text and dozens of gorgeous photographs, this Fan Book follows the rise and rise of Olivia, from High School Musical to her acclaimed album Sour, and highlights how she’s only just getting started. Filled with quotes from Olivia and her closest collaborators, discussing fame, fashion, fans and more, as well as tons of stunning snaps from the red carpet to stadium stages, Olivia Rodrigo – The Ultimate Fan Book takes you onstage, in the studio and behind the scenes with one of the brightest stars on the planet.

Read more

The Gorillaz Art Book is here!

Featuring brand new artwork by Jamie Hewlett, who has invited more than 40 creators to offer new interpretations of 2D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs in one expansive volume of original artwork.

Contributing artists include Ruff Mercy, Kim Jung Gi, Robert Smith, Kerbscrawler Ghost, Robert Valley, Craig McCracken and Tim McCourt & Max Taylor.

Celebrating 20 years of Gorillaz, this latest Z2 partnership sees Hewlett expand the band’s collaborative vision to fellow visual artists in The Gorillaz Art Book, a stunning visual feast of 306 pages.

Read more

(Vocal Score). The complete vocal score to the classic musical with 13 songs: I Cain’t Say No * Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ * Oklahoma * Out of My Dreams * People Will Say We’re in Love * The Surrey with the Fringe on Top * and more.

Read more

★How to Speak KPOP★ is the most straightforward guide book to learn Korean words from Korean dramas, movies, and pop culture. It uniquely combines the most popular Korean slang words and trendy phrases that cannot be found in the ordinary Korean language textbook. And it will give you a full explanation of the cultural background of the word and help you to understand why it is being used like that.

Features of this book:

✓Visualized Interconnection Between English and Korean

✓The Most Popular Korean Words

✓Detailed Explanation

✓Pronunciation Guide

✓Real-life Example

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could understand what your favorite Kpop idol says to you or the jokes from your favorite Korean drama on Netflix? How to Speak KPOP is all about helping you to understand Korean words from pop culture without getting into too much Korean grammar or any boring language textbook type of study.

This book will give you a fun and easy way to learn the most popular Korean words one by one.

How to speak KPOP will also help you to know how the word is pronounced with the Romanized alphabets. Please don’t forget to read and say a word from the examples. The examples are thoughtfully picked to sound just like a native and a true KPOP fan who knows what KPOP language is all about.

Learning a foreign language is very rewarding, and learning a cultural background even opens your eyes and heart to a whole new experience. You will get both from this book! Now go ahead and click “Buy Now”.

Read more

Julian Cope’s highly acclaimed autobiography and its long-awaited sequel in one extraordinary volume.

Julian Cope shot to fame with eighties band ‘Teardrop Explodes’ during the Punk era. Hailed as a visionary by those people who recognise his genius and a madman by those who find him perplexing, he has become a cult figure in the music world.

Head-On/Repossessed is written in Cope’s own inimitable style and follows his journey through a time of incredible change within the music industry.
Head-on is the highly acclaimed autobiography that The Observer viewed as “book of the year” when it was first released. Repossesed picks up in 1983 where Head On ends and continues up until 1989.

Read more

A Sunday Times Bestseller. The exhilarating and startlingly honest autobiography of the living legend.

Exhilarating … leaves blood on the page … My Name Is Barbra is 992 pages of startling honesty and self-reflection, deadpan parenthetical asides (including a running bit about how much she loves going to the dentist), encyclopedic recall of onstage outfits, and rigorous analyses of her films’ Vanity Fair

‘The mother of all memoirs’ New Yorker

‘Glorious, exuberant, chatty and candid, a 970-page victory lap past all who ever doubted, diminished or dissed her, with lingering high fives for the many supporters . . . generous dollops of chutzpah … Nobody puts Barbra in the corner’ New York Times

‘An extraordinary life – you couldn’t make it up’ The Guardian

‘This enormous, poignant memoir from the ultimate showbusiness trouper shows that you can never have it all (even if you’re Barbra). The writing is great and the likeable formidable personality shines through . . . deeper than the average celebrity memoir’ The Times

‘The book is crammed with delicious details of backstage arguments, bewildered suitors and at least one incident of falling off a London bus’ BBC

‘A glorious doorstopper… the sheer ambition of this intricately woven memoir makes it a fascinating read. The delicate pages bring to mind a Russian novel or, perhaps more appropriately for the many who view Streisand as akin to a deity, a bible. And yet, Streisand writes relatively succinctly, with warmth and wit. Behind the sequins, beneath the wigs and through the glass of the recording studio, there’s just a woman who dreamed of being famous and make it happen, on her terms. It’s an accomplished and entrancing walk through a life well lived’ Evening Standard

‘Streisand is no less than a living legend, one of a handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and now, she’s taking us all back to where it began. Streisand’s story is truly inspirational and it’s one that you’ll want to pick up again and again’ Glamour

Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career, from growing up in Brooklyn to her first star-making appearances in New York nightclubs to her breakout performance in Funny Girl (musical and film) to the long string of successes in every medium in the years that followed. The book is, like Barbra herself, frank, funny, opinionated, and charming. She recounts her early struggles to become an actress, eventually turning to singing to earn a living; the recording of some of her acclaimed albums; the years of effort involved in making Yentl; her direction of The Prince of Tides; her friendships with figures ranging from Marlon Brando to Madeleine Albright; her political advocacy; and the fulfillment she’s found in her marriage to James Brolin.

No entertainer’s memoir has been more anticipated than Barbra Streisand’s, and this engrossing and delightful book will be eagerly welcomed by her millions of fans.

‘A brilliant memoir’ Hillary Clinton

Sunday Times Bestseller, November 2024

Read more

‘An adventurer, an entrepreneur, a buccaneer, a visionary’ – BONO

As the founder of Island Records, fabled music producer Chris Blackwell has discovered and worked with some of the most important musicians of the second half of the twentieth century – from Steve Winwood to Cat Stevens, Bob Marley to Grace Jones, U2 to Roxy Music, plus countless others. He is also widely credited with having brought reggae music to the world stage.

Now, as reflects on his life, Blackwell takes us back to the island where it all began: Jamaica – the place where his family once partied with the likes of Noël Coward, Ian Fleming and Errol Flynn and where, as Jamaican local music began to adopt contemporary American trends, Blackwell’s burgeoning musical instincts flourished. It was also the birthplace of the now-legendary Island Records, founded by Blackwell in 1959.

Five years later, while living in London selling Jamaican records to Caribbean immigrants, Blackwell came across the vocal talents of teenager Millie Small, who he paired with the song ‘My Boy Lollipop’. The producer added a ska beat and released what would be a worldwide hit.

But this was just the beginning of a truly remarkable career. In this fascinating memoir, including up to fifty photos supplied by Blackwell’s team, the music icon will discuss the many artists he’s worked with over the years, as well as unpicking the initiatives, decisions and risks that ultimately brought such success to both Blackwell and his esteemed musical collaborators.

Read more

An insider’s guide to achieving that dream career by one of the brightest stars in musical theatre.

Being in a West End or Broadway musical is the dream of thousands of talented performers. But competition is intense and reaching the spotlight can often require a leap into the dark. So You Want To Be In Musicals? is your comprehensive guide to building – and sustaining – a successful career in musical theatre, and introduces you to everything you need to know about:

• Training how to select a drama school, what to do to get in, and what to do once you’re there
• Auditioning how to choose and prepare your pieces, and foster a positive attitude towards auditions
• Rehearsing how to construct your character, work with the director, and develop your own creative process
• Performing how to deal with nerves, what to do as an understudy, and how to sustain that eight-show-a-week routine
• Working how to get an agent, how to market yourself effectively, and how to maintain a healthy body and mind

Along with a wealth of honest, straightforward advice, the book is packed with instructive anecdotes from Ruthie’s own glittering career.

Written with Daniel Bowling music supervisor and director on many of the West End’s biggest shows – including The Phantom of the Opera, Joseph, Mary Poppins and Avenue Q – So You Want To Be In Musicals? provides an extraordinary wealth of inside information and advice, that would usually take years of hard work and determination to obtain, in one essential volume.

Read more

74 of the most popular items from Carols for Choirs 1, 2 and 3 in one volume, plus 26 pieces new to the series. The volume contains both accompanied and unaccompanied items, and the Order of Service for a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Orchestral and brass ensemble accompaniments for many of the items are available on hire.

Read more

For the first time, all of Einaudi’s best known music in a single collection, for solo Piano. Also included are two brand new tracks, The Earth Prelude and High Heels, as well as two remixed versions of Lady Labyrinth and Eros.

Read more

A Times Book of the Year
An Uncut Magazine Book of the Year
A Waterstones Music Book of the Year
A Virgin Radio Book of the Year
A Louder Book of the Year

‘Probably the best Bush book to date.’ – Record Collector

Kate Bush: the subject of murmured legend and one of the most idiosyncratic musicians of the modern era. Comprising fifty chapters or ‘visions’, Running Up That Hill is a multi-faceted biography of this famously elusive figure, viewing her life and work from fresh and illuminating angles.

Featuring details from the author’s one-to-one conversations with Kate, as well as vignettes of her key songs, albums, videos and concerts, this artful, candid and often brutally funny portrait introduces the reader to the refreshingly real Kate Bush.

Along the way, the narrative also includes vivid reconstructions of transformative moments in her career and insights from the friends and collaborators closest to Kate, including her photographer brother John Carder Bush and fellow artists David Gilmour, John Lydon and Youth.

Running Up That Hill is a vibrant and comprehensive re-examination of Kate Bush and her many creative landmarks.

Read more

THE OFFICIAL STORY OF A MUSICAL ICON – TOLD IN FULL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS OWN WORDS

‘Funny, smart and heartbreaking. Incredible… go listen to it or read it.’ Robbie Williams

‘In what might be the most entertaining music memoir since Elton John’s Me, Boy George’s Karma weaves a meandering path through several decades’ of fame, success, crash and burn, before delivering him into a kind of autumnal meditative serenity… This is George O’Dowd in all his exhausting glory.’ Observer

‘Joyously indiscreet’ Daily Mail

‘I went to a lot of trouble to create Boy George and then I went through a whole battle for years about not wanting to be him. But now I enjoy and embrace it in a way that I wasn’t able to as a young person…. I’m finally learning to be George Alan O’Dowd from Eltham.’

Karma is the definitive autobiography from the incomparable Grammy, Brit and Ivor Novello award-winning lead singer of Culture Club and LGBTQ+ vanguard: Boy George. Told in his inimitable style, Karma tells the story of the charismatic frontman – the drama, the music, his journey of addiction and recovery, surviving prison, meeting legends like David Bowie, Prince and Madonna, and the highs and lows of a life lived in the spotlight and in the headlines.

This is the explosive and searingly honest account of Boy George’s life as a child growing up in sixties London, coming out to his Irish Catholic family and exploring his sexuality through the hedonism of the seventies – the glam rock and punk rock revolution that birthed Culture Club – and the heydays of the nineties, to finally embracing the man and artist that he is today. With all the humour, honesty, sarcasm (and hats!) that you’d expect, Karma gives us a unique insight into Boy George’s incredible story and the true evolution of a music icon.

‘Culture Club is always going to be one of those lovers I go back to. I’ve railed against it and that Boy George character I created. For years I convinced myself I was a creature of habit, unchangeable, immovable. But eventually you have to look in the mirror. Not looking for spots, looking for something deeper. Why the hell am I here? I would say life is the point of life.’

Read more

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.

Read more