In May 1939 Britten and Pears disembarked at Montreal at the start of their American visit, which was to be a period of intense musical activity and new personal relationships. At the same time, the relationship between Britten and Pears deepened into a partnership that was to endure for almost forty years.Their absence from England during the first years of the war led to sharp public comment and controversy, much of it documented here. On their return from America in 1942, hostil...

Volume One of these remarkable letters and diaries opens with a letter from Britten aged nine to his formidable mother, Edith. Music is already at the centre of his life, and it accompanies him through prep and public school and then to London to the Royal College of Music, where the phenomenally gifted but inexperienced young composer is plunged into metropolitan life and makes influential new friends, among them W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood. This was a time of prodigious musical...

The third volume of the annotated selected letters of composer Benjamin Britten covers the years 1946-51, during which he wrote many of his best-known works, founded and developed the English Opera Group and the Aldeburgh Festival, and toured widely in Europe and the United States as a pianist and conductor.Correspondents include librettists Ronald Duncan ( The Rape of Lucretia), Eric Crozier ( Albert Herring, Saint Nicolas, The Little Sweep) and...

Metallica have sold in excess of 100 million albums and won seven Grammys. Their journey from scuzzy Los Angeles garages to the stages of the world's biggest stadia has been an epic and often traumatic one, and one of the few truly great rock 'n' roll sagas.No music writers have been afforded greater access to Metallica over the years than Paul Brannigan and Ian Winwood, two former editors of Kerrang. Having conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with the band, ...

Chet Atkins called Lenny Breau (19411984) the greatest guitarist who ever walked the face of the earth. Breaus astonishing virtuosity influenced countless performers but unfortunately it came at the expense of his personal relationships. Forbes-Roberts analyzes Breau and his recordings to reveal an enormously gifted man as well as the inner workings of his music. The publication of this fascinating story confirms Breaus musical importance.

In an irresistible tale of a life lived fully, if not always wisely, Liam Clancy, of the legendary Irish group the Clancy Brothers, describes his eventful journey from a small town in Ireland in the 1930s into the heart of the New York music scene in the 1950s and ’60s.Following in the grand tradition of such Irish memoirs as Angela’s Ashes and Are You Somebody?, Liam Clancy relates his life’s story in a raucously funny and star-studded account of moving from provi...

This is the book fans have been waiting for since Mother’s Milk and Blood Sugar Sex Magik first hit the charts: The first (and only!) official Red Hot Chili Peppers story—an oral and visual autobiography from one of the world’s greatest rock groups. Together, Anthony Kiedis, John Frusciante, Flea, and Chad Smith tell the 61-million-album selling band’s rollercoaster story, with anecdotes of their concert tours and creative collaborations, memories of surprise successes an...

'The truest measure of the man we have thus far' - Mojo'Affectionate, impeccably researched biography' - Mail on Sunday'Head and shoulders above the usual rock hagiography' - Sunday TelegraphThe first biography to be written with the cooperation of the Lynott Estate, Cowboy Song is the definitive authorised account of the extraordinary life and career of Thin Lizzy guiding spirit,...

'James Hetfield is a guitarist of otherworldly ability... this book tries to understand, de-mystify and even humanise a rock legend who, for most of his career, has remained impenetrable.'Metallica's ascension from thrash metal obscurity to becoming arguably one of the greatest rock bands the world has ever known, can be directly attributed to its lead singer and guitarist, James Hetfield. Having sold 110 million records worldwide and with an impressive eight Grammy...

It’s been over forty years since the tragic death of Jimi Hendrix, yet his popularity is undiminished and his place as the preeminent electric guitarist of the ages is still unrivaled. In The Jimi Hendrix Experience, bestselling author and rock aficionado Jerry Hopkins delves into the legendary life and career of the greatest man to ever pick up a guitar.With a consistent mix of greatness and madness, learn why the man who only released three studio albums during his life ...

Saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter has not only left his footprints on our musical terrain, he has created a body of work that is a monument to artistic imagination. Throughout Shorter's extraordinary fifty-year career, his compositions have helped define the sounds of each distinct era in the history of jazz.Filled with musical analysis by Mercer, enlivened by Shorter's vivid recollections, and enriched by more than seventy-five original interviews with his friends and associa...

The acclaimed biography—now updated and revised. "Many writers have tried to probe [Dylan's] life, but never has it been done so well, so captivatingly" ( The Boston Globe).Howard Sounes's Down the Highway broke news about Dylan's fiercely guarded personal life and set the standard as the most comprehensive and riveting biography on Bob Dylan. Now this edition continues to document the iconic songwriter's life through new interviews and reporting,...