Best Biographies of Composers & Musicians

He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as “The Big Bang”: seeing Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show . Like many of his songs (“Thunder Road,” “Badlands,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “The River,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” “The Rising,” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” to name just a few), Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography is written with the lyricism of a singular songwriter and the wisdom of a man who has thought deeply about his experiences. “Astonishing.” —Vanity Fair “An utterly unique, endlessly exhilarating, last-chance-power-drive of a memoir.” —Rolling Stone “Frank and gripping.” —David Brooks, The Atlantic “Bruce Springsteen's life is now officially an open book. “A virtuoso performance, the 508-page equivalent to one of Springsteen and the E Street Band's famous four-hour concerts: Nothing is left onstage, and diehard fans and first-timers alike depart for home sated and yet somehow already aching for more.” — NPR "Kinetic...The ultimate rock star shares like he's got one last chance to make it real. He is a man – a son, a husband, a father and a friend – willing to share what he’s learned.” —Wall Street Journal “Richly rewarding….Bruce Springsteen proves that he has taken on life fully engaged both in living and examining it, and in doing so, he’s delivered a story as profoundly inspiring as his best music….It’s alternately brutally honest, philosophically deep, stabbingly funny and, perhaps most important, refreshingly humble.” — Los Angeles Times "A master storyteller.... the language of his memoir often sings and leaps off the page with alliteration and pulse, especially when he's rhapsodizing about rock 'n' roll." That motto describes both the content of Mr Springsteen’s book and the appeal of his songs, many of which look back on youthful traumas from a mature perspective.” — The Economist “Glorious…a philosophically rich ramble through a rock 'n roll life…. It’s the lyric he was born to write.” — USA Today (four stars out of four) “Where Springsteen soars — both as musician and writer — is in his ability to bear witness, not only to his own inner life but to the lives of those left behind in the post-industrial wastelands of this nation.

The love story of Joey and Rory. By inviting so many into the final months of Joey’s life as she battled cancer, Joey and Rory Feek captured hearts around the world with how they handled the diagnosis; the inspiring, simple way they chose to live; and how they loved each other every step of the way. In this vulnerable book, he takes us for the first time into his own challenging life story and what it was like growing up in rural America with little money and even less family stability. In This Life I Live , Rory Feek helps us not only to connect more fully to his and Joey’s story but also to our own journeys. As an artist, Rory is half of the Grammy-nominated county music duo Joey + Rory.

In honor of the ten-year anniversary of The Heroin Diaries , Nikki Sixx’s definitive and bestselling memoir on drug addiction is reissued with exclusive new content. Joining him are Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Slash, Rick Nielsen, Bob Rock, and a host of ex-managers, ex-lovers, and more. International rock icon Nikki Sixx is one of the founding members of Mötley Crüe and Sixx:A.M., a two-time New York Times bestselling author of The Heroin Diaries and This Is Gonna Hurt , co-founder of rock couture fashion line Royal Underground, philanthropist, photographer, and host of the nationally syndicated radio show Sixx Sense, which airs on over 115 stations, and The Side Show Countdown. In addition to selling over 100 million albums with Mötley Crüe and Sixx:A.M., songs written by Sixx have been used in national commercials, his photographs have been published by the New York Post , and he’s raised several hundred thousand dollars through his Running Wild In The Night charity for Covenant House California. They haven't been crouched naked under a Christmas tree with a needle in their arm like an insane person in a mansion in Van Nuys. They're not out of their minds and writing in a diary and they're not watching their holiday spirit coagulating in a spoon. I didn't speak to a single person today...I thought of calling Bob Timmons, but why should I ruin his Christmas? So if I die, at least I leave a paper trail of my life (nice lil suicide note). BOB TIMMONS: By Christmas 1986, Nikki had been addicted to heroin and cocaine for at least a year, possibly longer. As a drug counselor, I first met Nikki when M?tley Cr?e's manager, Doc McGhee, called me in to work with the band's singer, Vince Neil. Over the years I have worked with platinum-selling artists from the Rolling Stones to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and all points in between, and let me make one thing clear from the start-M?tley Cr?e, more than anybody, wrote the book for decadence and partying. He came mooching in, with his greasy James Dean hair and his junkie eyes that are sunk so deep in his elongated face that he looks like he's wearing makeup, and he stood by the tree and asked me how my Christmas had been. Oh, she's nice enuff, but I know on the inside I'm just her meal ticket to an easier, softer life. Not just for the junk, they make enuff off me to maintain their cheap little habits, but she likes to decorate their little one-room rat's nest with the extra money they have left over. That's the real reason she demands he comes at my beck and call...she likes that extra cash for thrift shops and secondhand stores. I used to ride a Honda Shadow motorcycle around the Valleys with my shirt off, totally out of my mind. Yet as soon as I hit the pipe, within 30 seconds all hell breaks lose in my brain...and I keep on doing it and doing it and doing it and doing it, and I can't stop. Sixx and I, in particular, took a lot of narcotics, and he would always want to push things: "Hey, how about taking these two drugs together? Right now it seems impossible that cops are peering in from the trees outside or people are looking at me thru the peeohole at the front door. I would start out freebasing or mainlining anywhere in the house: the front room, the kitchen, the bathroom. I would huddle in there, surrounded by my drug paraphernalia and guns, convinced that people were in the house trying to get me, or a SWAT team was outside preparing to bust me. ROSS HALFIN: As a photographer I've shot M?tley Cr?e many times over the years for magazines and got particularly close to Nikki. I remember the first time I ever met him in LA we got on pretty well and decided to go for a drink that night.

How music provided hope in one of the world's darkest times—the inspirational life story of Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest living Holocaust survivor. Written with the cooperation of Alice Herz-Sommer, Melissa Müller and Reinhard Piechocki's Alice's Piano is the first time her story has been told. REINHARD PIECHOCKI is the author of a number of works of cultural history and a close friend of Alice Herz-Sommer's for many years.ALICE HERZ-SOMMER, at 107 years old, is the oldest living Holocaust survivor.

Waylon Jennings relates the story of his life as a country music star. With the help of writer and rock guitarist Kaye, an older, calmer, drug-free Jennings now relates his life story, from his childhood in a dirt-floored house in West Texas, through his busted marriages and hard-partying days, to his current existence as happily married man (to country star Jessi Colter) and member of the Highwaymen, the country music supergroup made up of Jennings, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. A country music star tells of his poor childhood and rise to stardom.

While he was exalted by his devoted fans as the "black Bob Dylan" (a term he hated) and widely sampled by the likes of Kanye West, Prince, Common, and Elvis Costello, he never really achieved mainstream success. “Controversial and enigmatic, the tragic trajectory of Scott-Heron's life and career is expertly examined in this testament to one of the last great radical artists.” ― Kirkus.

Carly Simon's New York Times bestselling memoir, Boys in the Trees , reveals her remarkable life, beginning with her storied childhood as the third daughter of Richard L. Simon, the co-founder of publishing giant Simon & Schuster, her musical debut as half of The Simon Sisters performing folk songs with her sister Lucy in Greenwich Village, to a meteoric solo career that would result in 13 top 40 hits, including the #1 song "You're So Vain." An Amazon Best Book of December 2015: In the trees is just about the only place in Carly Simon’s world that there aren’t boys, suggests this unputdownable memoir by the beloved singer and the first artist in history to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for the same song ("Let the River Run" from the movie Working Girl ).

It was the summer Coltrane died, the summer of love and riots, and the summer when a chance encounter in Brooklyn led two young people on a path of art, devotion, and initiation. Bound in innocence and enthusiasm, they traversed the city from Coney Island to Forty-second Street, and eventually to the celebrated round table of Max's Kansas City, where the Andy Warhol contingent held court. Smith's memoir of their friendship, Just Kids , is tender and artful, open-eyed but surprisingly decorous, with the oracular style familiar from her anthems like "Because the Night," "Gloria," and "Dancing Barefoot" balanced by her powers of observation and memory for everyday details like the price of automat sandwiches and the shabby, welcoming fellow bohemians of the Chelsea Hotel, among whose ranks these baby Rimbauds found their way. Smith transports readers to what seemed like halcyon days for art and artists in New York as she shares tales of the denizens of Max's Kansas City, the Hotel Chelsea, Scribner's, Brentano's, and Strand bookstores. In the lobby of the Chelsea, where she and Mapplethorpe lived for many years, she got to know William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Johnny Winter.

” — Complex “A cautionary tale that ends in triumph.” — GQ “A revelation and a welcome addition to hip-hop’s literary legacy.” — All Hip Hop. Born in rural Bessemer, Alabama, Radric Delantic Davis became Gucci Mane in East Atlanta, where the rap scene is as vibrant as the dope game. He inspired and mentored a new generation of artists and producers: Migos, Young Thug, Nicki Minaj, Zaytoven, Mike Will Made-It, Metro Boomin. In his extraordinary autobiography, the legend takes us to his roots in Alabama, the streets of East Atlanta, the trap house, and the studio where he found his voice as a peerless rapper. There are scenes from Gucci Mane’s new autobiography that seem better fit for a gripping Oscar drama than for the story of a guy who recently won his first MTV Video Music Award.” —GQ “A captivating dive into the mind of Radric Davis. The book provides incredible insight into one of the most influential rappers of the last decade, detailing a volatile and fascinating life . By the end, every reader will have a greater understanding of Gucci Mane, the man and the musician.” —PITCHFORK “A story of black manhood in the American South as never described before. Even while incarcerated, Gucci remained a cult hero to a generation that reached far beyond the Southern city where his influence first blossomed. —HIGHSNOBIETY “Gucci Mane’s story is one of reinvention.” —PEOPLE.COM “Highly-anticipated . a serious look inside his major life struggles and triumphs.” —BILLBOARD “Inspirational.” —THE SOURCE “The Autobiography of Gucci Mane, written with music journalist Neil Martinez-Belkin, quietly defies the conventions of the celebrity memoir genre; in parts, it reads like what I can only describe as pop culture poetry. riveting, filled with music-world intrigue and inner-city shootouts and buoyed by a self-awareness not marred by ego.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY “Gucci Mane managed to turn his entire life around and penned that ascent in his newest memoir . a well-rounded portrait.” —REVOLT TV “Gucci’s family life, drug dealing and arrests — as well as the perfection of a musical style that would help elevate the careers of a slew of young Southern artists such as Migos, Young Thug and Zaytoven — are on full display in the new The Autobiography of Gucci Mane . the trap king’s roots, and his past, remain close to his head and his heart.” —THE UNDEFEATED “ Autobiography buzzes with the grandeur and grittiness that Gucci is known for, and some of that can be attributed to the music journalist Neil Martinez-Belkin, who co-wrote it.” —THE OUTLINE “As entertaining as anything Gucci has ever made . The entire book feels less like an autobiography but rather a conversation . something moving and meaningful, much more so than the usual 'hustler to rapper' story.” —SWGRUS “ The Autobiography of Gucci Mane is about growth, resilience and how no matter the setback, Gucci Mane is always prepared to come back harder than ever before. the many lessons Gucci Mane endured and shared in this autobiography can be valued by us all.” —ESSENCE “Better than any urban novella, the book is an exemplary account of the life and times of Radric Davis from Bessemer, Alabama—otherwise known as Gucci Mane.” —NEWSWEEK “His book brings a fuller worldview to the rhymed version of the biography he’s previously shared.” —PACIFIC STANDARD “The Autobiography of Gucci Mane is Gucci’s greatest redemption song . His autobiography shines because we get to see an emotionally intelligent Gucci. Given Gucci’s influence on this generation and its rappers, as well as neighborhood pushers from inner-city dwellings around the country, his newly debuted book is poised to inspire rappers and men like myself to give more thought to mental health, drug use and the kind of lives we want to lead.”. — VIBE “ The Autobiography of Gucci Mane is written with an appealing matter-of-factness, and it helps to replace myth with something closer to the real story.”. — THE NEW YORKER Gucci Mane, born Radric Delantic Davis, is a critically acclaimed, platinum-selling recording artist. The Autobiography of Gucci Mane is his first book.

Love bravely, live bravely, be courageous--there's really nothing to lose. --Jewel. McFarland is the pseudonym for a well-regarded journalist who, over the last decade, has written for a host of leading publications, including Rolling Stone, SPIN, Vanity Fair, Details, and The Los Angeles Times .

In his early teens his solace was the guitar, and his incredible talent would make him a cult hero in the clubs of Britain and inspire devoted fans to scrawl “Clapton is God” on the walls of London’s Underground. It was while working with the latter that he fell for George’s wife, Pattie Boyd, a seemingly unrequited love that led him to the depths of despair, self-imposed seclusion, and drug addiction. By the early seventies he had overcome his addiction and released the bestselling album 461 Ocean Boulevard , with its massive hit “I Shot the Sheriff.” He followed that with the platinum album Slowhand , which included “Wonderful Tonight,” the touching love song to Pattie, whom he finally married at the end of 1979. As he retraces every step of his career, from the early stints with the Yardbirds and Cream to his solo successes, Clapton also devotes copious detail to his drug and alcohol addictions, particularly how they intersected with his romantic obsession with Pattie Boyd. At times, he sounds more like landed gentry than a rock star: bragging about his collection of contemporary art, vigorously defending his hunting and fishing as leisure activities, and extolling the virtues of his quiet country living. “Like the bluesmen who inspired him, Clapton has his share of scars... his compelling memoir is... a soulful performance.” — People “An absorbing tale of artistry, decadence, and redemption.” — Los Angeles Times.

By the age of 18, Rita was an unwed mother, and it was then that she met Bob Marley at a recording studio in Trench Town. Bob and Rita became close friends, fell in love, and soon, she and her girlfriends were singing backup for the Wailers. But while Rita displayed blazing courage, joy, and an indisputable devotion to her husband, life with Bob was not easy. Written with author Hettie Jones, No Woman No Cry is a no-holds-barred account of life with one of the most famous musicians of all time. Fans of reggae legend Bob Marley will welcome this no-nonsense biography from his wife, Rita, who was also his band member, business partner, musical collaborator and the only person to have witnessed firsthand his development from local Jamaican singer to international superstar. Aided by poet and memoirist Jones (How I Became Hettie Jones), Rita presents the powerful details of her early life story: her youth in the Trench Town ghetto of Kingston, Jamaica, living with "thugs, thieves, killers, prostitutes, gamblers"; her encounters with the early "Wailing Wailers"; and how her relationship with Bob cemented as they spent days recording in Dodd's Studio One. Throughout, this memoir emphasizes Rita's own substantial musicianship, first as part of Bob Marley's backing vocalists, the I-Threes, and later her own career after his death "carrying on a legacy that means so much to the world."

Ten years ago, Motley Crue's bestselling The Dirt —penned with rock chronicler extraordinaire Neil Strauss—set a new bar for rock 'n' roll memoirs. Crue members Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx also team up with New York Times music writer Neil Strauss to tell the story of their band's rise to phenomenal success: their tours, friendships, alcohol and drug problems, music, influence and, above all, girls. Their hobbies have included collecting automatic weapons, cultivating long arrest records, pushing the envelope of conceivable drug abuse, and dreaming up backstage antics that would make Ozzy Osbourne blanch with modesty.

In honor of the ten-year anniversary of The Heroin Diaries , Nikki Sixx’s definitive and bestselling memoir on drug addiction is reissued with exclusive new content. Joining him are Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Slash, Rick Nielsen, Bob Rock, and a host of ex-managers, ex-lovers, and more. International rock icon Nikki Sixx is one of the founding members of Mötley Crüe and Sixx:A.M., a two-time New York Times bestselling author of The Heroin Diaries and This Is Gonna Hurt , co-founder of rock couture fashion line Royal Underground, philanthropist, photographer, and host of the nationally syndicated radio show Sixx Sense, which airs on over 115 stations, and The Side Show Countdown. In addition to selling over 100 million albums with Mötley Crüe and Sixx:A.M., songs written by Sixx have been used in national commercials, his photographs have been published by the New York Post , and he’s raised several hundred thousand dollars through his Running Wild In The Night charity for Covenant House California. They haven't been crouched naked under a Christmas tree with a needle in their arm like an insane person in a mansion in Van Nuys. They're not out of their minds and writing in a diary and they're not watching their holiday spirit coagulating in a spoon. I didn't speak to a single person today...I thought of calling Bob Timmons, but why should I ruin his Christmas? So if I die, at least I leave a paper trail of my life (nice lil suicide note). BOB TIMMONS: By Christmas 1986, Nikki had been addicted to heroin and cocaine for at least a year, possibly longer. As a drug counselor, I first met Nikki when M?tley Cr?e's manager, Doc McGhee, called me in to work with the band's singer, Vince Neil. Over the years I have worked with platinum-selling artists from the Rolling Stones to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and all points in between, and let me make one thing clear from the start-M?tley Cr?e, more than anybody, wrote the book for decadence and partying. He came mooching in, with his greasy James Dean hair and his junkie eyes that are sunk so deep in his elongated face that he looks like he's wearing makeup, and he stood by the tree and asked me how my Christmas had been. Oh, she's nice enuff, but I know on the inside I'm just her meal ticket to an easier, softer life. Not just for the junk, they make enuff off me to maintain their cheap little habits, but she likes to decorate their little one-room rat's nest with the extra money they have left over. That's the real reason she demands he comes at my beck and call...she likes that extra cash for thrift shops and secondhand stores. I used to ride a Honda Shadow motorcycle around the Valleys with my shirt off, totally out of my mind. Yet as soon as I hit the pipe, within 30 seconds all hell breaks lose in my brain...and I keep on doing it and doing it and doing it and doing it, and I can't stop. Sixx and I, in particular, took a lot of narcotics, and he would always want to push things: "Hey, how about taking these two drugs together? Right now it seems impossible that cops are peering in from the trees outside or people are looking at me thru the peeohole at the front door. I would start out freebasing or mainlining anywhere in the house: the front room, the kitchen, the bathroom. I would huddle in there, surrounded by my drug paraphernalia and guns, convinced that people were in the house trying to get me, or a SWAT team was outside preparing to bust me. ROSS HALFIN: As a photographer I've shot M?tley Cr?e many times over the years for magazines and got particularly close to Nikki. I remember the first time I ever met him in LA we got on pretty well and decided to go for a drink that night.

Just like you, Ann Voskamp hungers to live her one life well. With lovely word pictures inspired by everyday life in her family and on her farm, she writes about her struggle to live joyfully amid sin and sorrow and suffering. Let Ann's beautiful, heart-aching stories of the everyday give you a way of seeing that opens your eyes to thanksgiving, a way of being present to God that makes you deeply happy, and a way of living so you are not afraid to die.

#1 New York Times Best Seller. Named a Best Book of 2017 by Barnes & Noble and Amazon From Facebook’s COO and Wharton’s top-rated professor, the #1 New York Times best-selling authors of Lean In and Originals: a powerful, inspiring, and practical book about building resilience and moving forward after life’s inevitable setbacks. “I was in ‘the void,’” she writes, “a vast emptiness that fills your heart and lungs and restricts your ability to think or even breathe.” Her friend Adam Grant, a psychologist at Wharton, told her there are concrete steps people can take to recover and rebound from life-shattering experiences. Beginning with the gut-wrenching moment when she finds her husband, Dave Goldberg, collapsed on a gym floor, Sheryl opens up her heart—and her journal—to describe the acute grief and isolation she felt in the wake of his death. Option B illuminates how to help others in crisis, develop compassion for ourselves, raise strong children, and create resilient families, communities, and workplaces. An Amazon Best Book of April 2017: After the unexpected passing of her beloved husband, Facebook COO and bestselling author of Lean In , Sheryl Sandberg, feared that she and her children would never find joy again. Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy --co-authored with psychologist and friend Adam Grant--shows you how Sandberg, and many others who have overcome a wide range of profound hardships, triumphed over tragedy. The book posits that it’s helpful to think of resilience like a muscle, one that atrophies in the calm between the storms of our lives. Option B reveals an aspect of Sandberg’s character—her impulse to be helpful. Helpful, moving.” —Caitlin Flanagan, The New York Times “The overwhelming message of this book is: We’re a lot more resilient than we think we are. Her deeply personal book is more than memoir; interspersed with devastating scenes are equally powerful strategies for coping when your world has gone tilt.” —Tracy Grant, The Washington Post. None of us can escape sadness, loss, or life’s disappointments, so the best option is to find our Option B.” — Malala Yousafzai , Nobel Peace Prize winner. “ Option B is as hopeful as it is heartbreaking. This incredible book doesn’t avoid the loss and tragedy we all sometimes encounter, but it is animated by a resolve that is both inspiring and instructive.” — Bryan Stevenson , author of Just Mercy and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. “Illuminating, original, and deeply inspiring, Option B is one part riveting memoir, one part heal-your-heart boot camp, one part stories of others who learned to thrive in the face of profound loss: a practical, vital contribution to the literature on loss and resilience.” — Cheryl Strayed , author of Wild “Like her debut volume, Sandberg’s Option B is an optimistic book, even if one riven with sorrow. She argues that after adversity and loss, there is an opportunity for ‘post-traumatic growth.’ Thus the book is in part a moving memoir.” —Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker “Sandberg’s new book is tough, full of the raw, painful emotions . Within Option B there are lessons for leaders who want to make organizations more resilient, help employees recover from a loss—or crisis—and create workplaces that are more prepared to deal with failure.” —Jena McGregor, The Los Angeles Times “Admirably honest, optimistic . At its core the book helps those who have been felled by despair: a guide both for those who have directly suffered loss and for those who are close to people who have.” — The Economist “Though it was inspired by a deeply personal tragedy, Option B details Sandberg’s experience and the topic of resilience more broadly, and is filled with insight that is useful for anyone overcoming loss or failure.” —Brad Stulberg, New York Magazine “Science of Us” “Being among the most powerful women in the world didn’t spare Sheryl Sandberg from the sudden death of her husband, not quite two years ago. Sandberg writes how she created new rituals, such as taking a moment at dinner each evening to express gratitude for something positive that day, and declaring ‘small wins.’ Day by day, the book says, these small victories can become building blocks to a return to emotional equanimity.” —Diane Cole, The Wall Street Journal “ Option B tackles a universal subject, and offers up a path to happiness based not on fantasies of immortality but on the reality of the sorrow of life itself . Finding growth and ultimately joy is the project of Option B. Sandberg makes a point of emphasizing this aspect.” —Emily Peck, The Huffington Post. “ Option B chronicles Sandberg’s devastating loss, her grief and how she emerged from it with a new perspective on life. The most affecting parts of the book recount not just Sandberg's grief, but that of her children . “Sandberg is helping people find resilience and meaning in the face of adversity. “Helpful and hopeful Sandberg draws on her own pain around the sudden death of her husband, and shares what she has learned about resilience with a tone that is raw and candid.