Products

Peter Gabriel rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. His 1986 album, So, is his most commercially successful, and the album's biggest hit, "Sledgehammer," won a record nine MTV Awards. He has won various Brits and Grammies and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. The book details his time as lead singer of Genesis from its inception until he went out on his own in 1975 as a singer-songwriter, soundtrack composer, and innovator in music videos and digital music recording and distribution. It examines how he became well known as an anti-Apartheid activist for his efforts to bring different styles of international music to the attention of the West by establishing the WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) Festival, his own Real World label and recording studios, as well as the addition of world music performers and styles into his own music. It details his extensive work for Amnesty International as well as many other humanitarian efforts, such as founding his own human rights organization, Witness.

He became famous with Genesis but simply to call Peter Gabriel a pop star would be to sell him very short indeed. A quintessential Englishman, he has since pursued several overlapping careers, bringing to each of them his trademark preoccupation with quality control and restless curiosity.

In 1975, after leaving the band that made him famous he diversified into writing movie soundtracks, various audio-visual ventures, tireless charity work and supporting major peace initiatives. He also became world music’s most illustrious champion, launching the WOMAD festival and recording solo albums that featured musicians from every corner of the globe. These and several other careers make writing Peter Gabriel’s biography an unusually challenging task, but Daryl Easlea has undertaken hours of new interviews with key friends, musicians, aides and confidants to get to the very heart and soul of Peter Gabriel, his music and his complex life. The result is an extraordinary biography of an extraordinary man.

One of the most consistently controversial and misunderstood artists of recent years, this is Yoko Ono in her own words, discussing performance, art, and her life with John Lennon.

She is the world's most famous widow - the often maligned, largely mysterious Japanese avant-garde artist whose relationship with the world's greatest pop group still casts an inescapable shadow over her life and work. In this book, part of the 'Talking' series, countless quotes and interviews have been compiled to present Yoko in her own words, taken from across her life and career.

Unofficial and Unauthorised. Parental advisory - Explicit Contents.

The Kinks are the quintessential British 60s band, revered for an incredible series of classic songs ("You Really Got Me," "Waterloo Sunset," and "Lola," to name but a few) and critically acclaimed albums (The Village Green Preservation Society). Featuring original interviews with key band members Ray Davies, his brother Dave, and Mick Avory, as well as Chrissie Hynde and many others close to the group, every stage of their career is covered in fascinating detail: the hits, the American successes of the 1970s, and the legendary band in-fighting. Nearly 50 years after they formed, The Kinks' influence is still being felt today as strongly as ever. Now updated to include details of the hit musical Sunny Afternoon and an up-to-the-minute report on the troubled relationship between the Davies brothers, You Really Got Me is the ultimate Kinks biography.

You Really Got Me is Nick Hasted’s illuminating biography of The Kinks, drawing on years of in-depth interviews with Ray and Dave Davies and shedding new light on a turbulent 30-year career scarred by suicide attempts, on-stage fights and recurring mental breakdowns.

The Kinks’ distorted fuzz cut through popular music like a chainsaw and unexpectedly propelled two brothers from North London straight to the heights of stardom, to stand alongside The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. With exclusive interviews Nick Hasted untangles this turbulence: Why The Kinks became the only British group to be banned from America at the height of their success; why original bassist Pete Quaife quit in 1968; Ray Davies’ fraught relationship with Chrissie Hynde; how The Kinks’ later years rehabilitated their reputation in America.

Updated to include details of the hit musical Sunny Afternoon and an up-to-the-minute report on the troubled relationship between the Davies brothers, You Really Got Me is the ultimate Kinks biography.

“Keen eyed critique of a most contrary band” Uncut

“Hasted is illuminating” Guardian

When it was formed, Trojan Records epitomised the punk DIY ethic over a decade before 1976. With a blizzard of individual labels and a marketing strategy that involved selling product out of the backs of vans, the company spearheaded the injection of reggae and ska into the vein of British youth consciousness.

In its first brief six-year incarnation, Trojan produced nearly 30 hit singles, created the legendary compilation series Tighten Up and launched new acts like Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, Ken Boothe, The Pioneers, Bob And Marcia, Greyhound and Dave And Ansell Collins, all against a background of cut-throat politics, cultural division and prejudice.

Featuring a comprehensive discography, Young, Gifted And Black is the official story of Trojan Records, lifting the lid on the scheming, backbiting and sheer seat-of-the-pants inspiration that made the label such a powerful force for black UK music.

Recently resurrected and now enjoying chart success in the 21st century, when it was formed Trojan Records epitomised the punk DIY ethic over a decade before 1976. With a blizzard of individual labels and a marketing strategy that involved selling product out of the backs of vans, the company spearheaded the injection of reggae and ska into the vein of British youth consciousness. In its first brief six-year incarnation, Trojan produced nearly 30 hit singles, created the legendary compilation series Tighten Up and launched new acts like Jimmy Cliff, Desmond Dekker, Ken Boothe, The Pioneers, Bob And Marcia, Greyhound and Dave And Ansell Collins, all against a background of cut-throat politics, cultural division and prejudice.