"All you need is love" war die Botschaft John Lennons 1967 bei der ersten weltweit ausgestrahlten Live-Fernsehsendung, die ein Millionenpublikum erreichte. Seine Liedtexte sind Schlüsselmomente in der Entwicklung seiner Philosophie. Auf der Basis von Interviews, Songs, Gedichten und Prosa John Lennons entwirft Gary Tillery ein Bild des vielseitigen Künstlers, das dreiißig Jahre nach seinem Tod überfällig ist. Er zeigt einen Menschen, der nach einer schwierigen Kindheit mit 23 Jahren alles ...

John Lennon called himself a working class hero. George Harrison was a working class mystic. Born in Liverpool as the son of a bus conductor and a shop assistant, for the first six years of his life he lived in a house with no indoor bathroom. This book gives an honest, in-depth view of his personal journey from his blue-collar childhood to his role as a world-famous spiritual icon.Author Gary Tillery’s approach is warmly human, free of the fawning but insolent tone of most rock bi...

A woman in the audience once handed Elvis a crown saying, “You’re the King.” “No, honey,” Elvis replied. “There is only one king — Jesus Christ. I’m just a singer.” Gary Tillery presents a coherent view of Elvis’s thoughts through such anecdotes and other recorded facts. We learn, for instance, that Elvis read thousands of books on religion; that his crisis over making bimbo movies like Girl Happy led him to writers such as Gurdjieff, Krishnamurti, and Helena Blavatsky; and that, while dri...

A radio playlist could easily follow John Lennon’s "Mind Games" with "Do Ya Think I’m Sexy." But comparing the two, it becomes obvious that Lennon had more in common with the great thinkers of any age than with the songwriters who were his contemporaries. Cynical Idealist reveals, for the first time, the spiritual odyssey of this extraordinary man. Out of a turbulent life, from his troubled, working-class childhood throughout his many roles — Beatle, peace advocate, social activist, househ...