Desmond Child is the ultimate hitmaker, contributing to some of the biggest smash global hits that helped ignite the success of music icons KISS, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Ricky Martin, Katy Perry, and countless others. In Livin' On A Prayer, he reveals how he climbed his way to the top and beyond amid extraordinary circumstances and shares his very personal and unbelievable journey that shaped him into an artist of international renown. For over half a century, Desmond Child has ...

The Life of Marvin Gaye: Divided Soul is the definitive biography of an enormously gifted and sensitive musician.David Ritz presents his uniquely candid and intimate account of the tumultuous life of the Prince of Soul music, Marvin Gaye.Assembling years of conversations and interviews from his life as a close friend and lyricist to the gifted Soul sensation, Ritz tells the Marvin Gaye story with fly-on-the-wall accuracy and detail. From his early years as an abuse...

This "comprehensive and illuminating" biography of the Queen of Soul (USA Today) was hailed by Rolling Stone as "a remarkably complex portrait of Aretha Franklin's music and her tumultuous life."Aretha Franklin began life as the golden daughter of a progressive and promiscuous Baptist preacher. Raised without her mother, she was a gospel prodigy who gave birth to two sons in her teens and left them and her native Detroit for New York, where she st...

Revealing, funny, whimsical, and wise, outlaw country legend Willie Nelson shares the untold stories behind the his favorite songs, with all the lyrics and a dynamic assortment of never-before-seen photos and ephemera.From his earliest work in the 1950s to today, Willie looks back at the songs that have defined his career, from his days of earning $50 each to his biggest hits, from his less well-known songs (but incredibly meaningful to him) to his concept albums. ...

An intimate, often hilarious but always sincere memoir from country legend Ty Herndon on his struggles with addiction, mental health, his career, relationships, and being the first openly gay male country superstar.Ty Herndon may be most known for his beautiful country songs, but behind the music Herndon's own life could be the subject of a classic country ballad. His career began as a member of the band The Tennessee River Boys—the band that would later become Dia...

Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller shaped the rock and roll era - this is their story in their own words.In 1950 a couple of rhythm and blues loving teenagers named Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller met for the first time. Leiber was looking for someone to help compose music for lyrics he'd written, and a friend recommended a Piano player named Mike Stoller. They discovered their mutual affection for R&B, and, as Jerry and Mike put it in this fascinating autobiography, it was the beginn...

Janet Jackson emerged from the shadows of an already famous family to become one of the most beloved, recognizable, and influential performers in the world—but at what cost?From the age of ten, when she made her acting debut on Good Times, Janet Jackson was told by Hollywood that she needed to slim down. Her well-meaning brothers, especially fun-loving Michael, teased her relentlessly until she began to believe that who she was wasn’t good enough. It was a...

As a ghostwriter, biographer, and lyricist, David Ritz has worked with some of the biggest names in music, such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Marvin Gaye. Now, in his inspiring memoir, he shares how writing for these legendary artists led him to faith.Over the last forty-five years, David Ritz has collaborated with some of the biggest stars in music. Working to give a voice to these iconic musicians, he found his own, and following the sacred pulse he calls ...

Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller shaped the rock and roll era - this is their story in their own words.In 1950 a couple of rhythm and blues loving teenagers named Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller met for the first time. Leiber was looking for someone to help compose music for lyrics he'd written, and a friend recommended a Piano player named Mike Stoller. They discovered their mutual affection for R&B, and, as Jerry and Mike put it in this fascinating autobiography, it was the beginning ...

A riveting cautionary tale about the ecstasy and dangers of loving Marvin Gaye, a performer passionately pursued by all—and a searing memoir of drugs, sex, and old school R&B from the wife of legendary soul icon Marvin Gaye.After her seventeenth birthday in 1973, Janis Hunter met Marvin Gaye—the soulful prince of Motown with the seductive liquid voice whose chart-topping, socially conscious album What’s Going On made him a superstar two years earlier. Despite a seventeen-year-age d...

A perfect Christmas gift for music lovers, Pretty Paper is Willie Nelson’s inspiring Christmas fable, based on his holiday classic “Pretty Paper.”More than fifty years ago, Willie Nelson’s beloved Christmas song “Pretty Paper” first hit the airwaves. And for all these years, Willie has wondered about the real-life Texas street vendor, selling wrappings and ribbons, who inspired his song. Who was this poor soul? What did his painful trials say about our lov...

Tip Harris, better known as Grammy Award-winning, multi-platinum selling hip-hop artist and actor T.I., is at the top of his game. Now he displays yet another side of his remarkable talents with Power & Beauty, a love story of life on the streets. Set in the dangerous shadows of Atlanta, Georgia, Power & Beauty is a dark, gritty story of sex, violence, hustling, and redemption centered around Paul “Power” Clay and Tanya “Beauty” Long—two kids facing long odds and lethal t...