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Satisfaction: 10 Albums That Changed My Life
by Martin PopoffDiscover the music that influenced some of the biggest stars in Music history in 10 Albums That Changed My Life, a personal, insightful and gloriously illustrated look at the music that matters the most to the artists who matter the most to you. More than a hundred musicians invite you backstage, each revealing in their own words the 10 albums that influenced their lives, their music and their futures. Artists from Punk to Classic Rock, British Invasion to Pop, and Heavy Metal to Modern Rock take the stage in this sonic coming-of-age adventure. With more than 1,000 albums illustrated and profiled, 10 Albums That Changed My Life shares wonderfully intimate perspectives and surprising selections. Consider Henry Rollins, the legendary front man for punk's Black Flag. Slipped into his list of heavy rockers, you'll find The Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hair. "I had this record in 4th or 5th grade. It was my mother's. I knew it was subversive and I probably shouldn't be listening to it and that's what made it irresistible to me. Besides, there is some great songwriting and performances on this album," Rollins says. From the Beatles' Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band to Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, Rolling Stone's Exile on Main Street to The Beach Boys Pet Sounds, Flatt & Scruggs The Original Sound to Jimi Hendrix Are You Experienced, the book is packed with classics and cool revelations. Featuring a Foreword by Rock And Roll Hall of Fame artist Nancy Wilson of Heart, 10 Albums That Changed My Life is a fun and fabulous page-turner, tuning into the music that made a difference. And still does.
Saturday Night, Sunday Morning: Staying True to Myself from the Pews to the Stage
by PJ MortonGrammy-winning singer-songwriter, keyboardist for the mega pop band Maroon 5, and founder of Morton Records, PJ Morton details the inspiring journey that led to his unique sound and urges readers to follow their own dreams. The son of pastors and gospel artists, PJ Morton grew up singing gospel music in church. As he was drawn to R&B and pop, PJ experimented in combining genres to create his own sound that record labels struggled to categorize. Despite the pressure to conform, he defied expectations and risked launching his own label, Morton Records, leading to twenty Grammy nominations and awards. PJ Morton is the rare artist who has straddled the tensions of life, whether in music or faith expressions, or in racial and cultural identities, while staying true to his New Orleans and Christian roots. Saturday Night, Sunday Morning captures his powerful journey of combining his two worlds, showing readers how to overcome obstacles as they seek their own dreams.
Saturday Nights with Daddy at the Opry
by Libby Leverett-CrewThe daughter of the Grand Ole Opry’s official photographer reminisces about witnessing country music history alongside her father in this memoir.Like many little girls, Libby Leverett-Crew’s father, Les Leverett, often had to work nights and weekends. But unlike many girls, Libby’s father took her along to his job—where he was the official photographer for the Grand Ole Opry for more than thirty years.First at the historic Ryman Auditorium, and later at the Grand Ole Opry House, Libby Leverett-Crew was a witness to country music history. And now some forty years later, she pays tribute to the wonderful people who touched the lives of her entire family while at the same time hearing witness to the powerful impact a loving father can have on his child’s life.In Saturday Nights with Daddy at the Opry, Libby Leverett-Crew shares not only her remarkable memories of those Saturday nights with Dolly Parton, Minnie Pearl, Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, and countless others, including assorted Muppets, astronauts, ballet dancers, actors, Andy Warhol, and k.d. lang, but also a beautiful father-daughter relationship. The book also includes more than 100 photographs from her father.Praise for Saturday Nights with Daddy at the Opry“Les Leverett has added so much class and talent to our world; I’m not surprised that his daughter, Libby, has done this book. Yeah, Libby good for you. I’m proud to have baby-sat you from time to time backstage. You were always a joy.” —Dolly Parton“There’s an old song, “I Was There When It Happened So I Guess I Oughta Know.” That’s [Libby’s] story inside the world of country music. I knew her first as Les Leverett’s kid. It must be in the water at their house because she’s come into her own as a masterful photographer. She also wields a pen that has a detailed memory for great storytelling.” —Marty Stuart
Save Me from Myself: How I Found God, Quit Korn, Kicked Drugs, and Lived to Tell My Story
by Brian WelchThe former Korn guitarist’s “compelling” story of an out-of-control life, a devastating drug addiction, and a miraculous redemption through Jesus Christ(Entertainment Weekly).In February 2005, more than ten thousand people in Bakersfield, California, watched as Brian “Head” Welch—the former lead guitarist of the controversial rock band Korn—was saved by Jesus Christ. The event set off a media frenzy as observers from around the world sought to understand what led this rock star out of the darkness and into the light.Now, in this courageous memoir, Head talks for the first time about his shocking embrace of God and the tumultuous decade that led him into the arms of Jesus Christ. Offering a backstage pass to his time with Korn, Head tells the inside story of his years in the band and explains how his lifestyle resulted in an all-consuming addiction to methamphetamines. Writing openly about the tour bus mayhem of Ozzfest and the Family Values tour, he provides a candid look at how the routine of recording, traveling, and partying placed him in a cycle of addiction that he could not break on his own.Head details his struggles with the drug that ultimately led him to seek a higher power. Despite his numerous attempts to free himself from meth, nothing—not even the birth of his daughter—could spur him to kick it for good. Here Head addresses how, with the help of God, he emerged from his dangerous addiction and found a path that was not only right for his daughter, it was right for him.Discussing the chaotic end to his time in Korn and how his newfound faith has influenced his relationship with his daughter, his life, and his music, Head describes a rock and roll journey unlike any other, and reveals how his moments of doubt and his hardships have only deepened his faith.“Not your typical testimony account . . . surprisingly engrossing.” —CCM Magazine“[A] tale of how religion can save a lost soul . . . the book explains, without becoming preachy, how Welch gave up rock stardom for a Christian lifestyle.” —Library JournalIncludes photographs
Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting
by Mary Gauthier"A handbook for compassion... a Must-Read Music Book.”—Rolling Stone Country"Generous and big-hearted, Gauthier has stories to tell and worthwhile advice to share." —Wally Lamb, author of I Know This Much Is True"Gauthier has an uncanny ability to combine songwriting craft with a seeker’s vulnerability and a sage’s wisdom.” —Amy Ray, Indigo GirlsFrom the Grammy nominated folk singer and songwriter, an inspiring exploration of creativity and the redemptive power of song Mary Gauthier was twelve years old when she was given her Aunt Jenny’s old guitar and taught herself to play with a Mel Bay basic guitar workbook. Music offered her a window to a world where others felt the way she did. Songs became lifelines to her, and she longed to write her own, one day. Then, for a decade, while struggling with addiction, Gauthier put her dream away and her call to songwriting faded. It wasn’t until she got sober and went to an open mic with a friend did she realize that she not only still wanted to write songs, she needed to. Today, Gauthier is a decorated musical artist, with numerous awards and recognition for her songwriting, including a Grammy nomination. In Saved by a Song, Mary Gauthier pulls the curtain back on the artistry of songwriting. Part memoir, part philosophy of art, part nuts and bolts of songwriting, her book celebrates the redemptive power of song to inspire and bring seemingly different kinds of people together.
Saving Marty
by Paul GriffinFans of Because of Winn Dixie will adore this warm and heart-wrenching story of the friendship between a boy and a pig who thinks it's a dog. <P><P>Eleven-year-old Lorenzo Ventura knows heroes are rare—like his father, who died in the war, or his friend Paloma Lee, who fearlessly pursues her dream of being a famous musician. Renzo would never describe himself as a hero, but his chance comes when he adopts Marty, a runt piglet. <P><P>Marty is extraordinary—he thinks he’s a dog and acts like one too—and his bond with Renzo is truly one of a kind. At first, the family farm seems like the perfect home for Marty, but as he approaches 350 pounds, it becomes harder for Renzo to convince his mom that a giant pig makes a good pet. <P><P>So when Marty causes a dangerous (and expensive) accident, Renzo knows Marty’s time is up. He’d do anything and everything for his best friend, but will everything be enough to save Marty? <P><P>Paul Griffin masterfully melds the heartrending and the hopeful in this unforgettable story about the power of friendship . . . and the unsung heroes all around us.
Sax Expat: Don Byas (American Made Music Series)
by Con ChapmanDon Byas (1913–1972) may be lesser known than the counterparts he played with—Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others—but he was an enigma. He never stayed with a band for long, and eventually went solo partly to make more money and partly due to his inability to work with bandleaders. Often drinking to excess, alcohol fueled his sometimes-erratic behavior on and off the bandstand. He went through at least thirteen different groups in fifteen years of professional play before leaving for Europe in 1946. Despite his fractious personality, in Europe he found peace and contentment as a family man in the Netherlands, where he lived out his days with his second wife and their four children. He learned at least seven languages during his years in Europe, and on traveling to a new country could pick up a few phrases in short order, soon speaking to the locals and even composing songs in their native tongue. In Sax Expat: Don Byas, author Con Chapman argues that Byas’s relative obscurity arises from his choice to live in Europe, where he missed out on recording opportunities and exposure in the US that would have made him renowned and wealthier. His numerous achievements, including his solo on Count Basie’s “Harvard Blues,” which is a model of restrained invention; his interpretation of the sentimental movie theme “Laura”; and his duets with bassist Slam Stewart were included in the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz and secured Byas’s place in jazz history. This biography brings to life an amazing jazz story.
Saxofon für Dummies (Für Dummies)
by Michael Villmow Denis GabelDenis Gäbel und Michael Villmow führen in "Saxofon für Dummies" in die Welt dieses einzigartigen Instruments ein. Sie zeigen, welche Saxofonarten es gibt und welche Art sich für wen eignet, wie Sie das Instrument optimal halten und richtig hineinblasen. Dann geht es auch schon los mit den ersten Tönen, Phrasen, ersten Melodien und kleinen Improvisationen. Dabei lernen Sie, wie Sie Verbindungen zwischen den Tönen meistern, die Töne richtig betonen und Soundeffekte gekonnt einsetzen. Außerdem geben die Autoren umfassende Tipps zum effektiven Üben, Equipment, sowie zur Pflege und Wartung des Instruments. Darüberhinaus empfehlen sie herausragende Aufnahmen von Meistern des Saxofons.
Saxophone Colossus: The Life and Music of Sonny Rollins
by Aidan Levy**Winner of the American Book Award (2023)** **Longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award (2023)** The long-awaited first full biography of legendary jazz saxophonist and composer Sonny Rollins Sonny Rollins has long been considered an enigma. Known as the &“Saxophone Colossus,&” he is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz improvisers of all time, winning Grammys, the Austrian Cross of Honor, Sweden&’s Polar Music Prize and a National Medal of Arts. A bridge from bebop to the avant-garde, he is a lasting link to the golden age of jazz, pictured in the iconic &“Great Day in Harlem&” portrait. His seven-decade career has been well documented, but the backstage life of the man once called &“the only jazz recluse&” has gone largely untold—until now. Based on more than 200 interviews with Rollins himself, family members, friends, and collaborators, as well as Rollins&’ extensive personal archive, Saxophone Colossus is the comprehensive portrait of this legendary saxophonist and composer, civil rights activist and environmentalist. A child of the Harlem Renaissance, Rollins&’ precocious talent landed him on the bandstand and in the recording studio with Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, or playing opposite Billie Holiday. An icon in his own right, he recorded Tenor Madness, featuring John Coltrane; Way Out West; Freedom Suite, the first civil rights-themed album of the hard bop era; A Night at the Village Vanguard; and the 1956 classic Saxophone Colossus. Yet his meteoric rise to fame was not without its challenges. He served two sentences on Rikers Island and won his battle with heroin addiction. In 1959, Rollins took a two-year sabbatical from recording and performing, practicing up to 16 hours a day on the Williamsburg Bridge. In 1968, he left again to study at an ashram in India. He returned to performing from 1971 until his retirement in 2012. The story of Sonny Rollins—innovative, unpredictable, larger than life—is the story of jazz itself, and Sonny&’s own narrative is as timeless and timely as the art form he represents. Part jazz oral history told in the musicians&’ own words, part chronicle of one man&’s quest for social justice and spiritual enlightenment, this is the definitive biography of one of the most enduring and influential artists in jazz and American history.
Saxophone For Dummies
by Michael Villmow Denis GäbelThe fast and easy way to play this popular woodwind instrumentSaxophone For Dummies offers the ideal introduction to this popular and versatile instrument, whether you lack any musical experience or are picking up the sax again after a hiatus. Covering both the alto and tenor sax, this friendly guide explains how to get a good sound, how to read music, and how to play songs in a variety of styles, including classical, pop, and jazz, all accompanied by the audio samples on the enclosed CD. With tips on how to buy or rent the best saxophone, and information on how to care for the instrument, Saxophone For Dummies is a comprehensive guide to playing this popular woodwind alone or in a group setting.Includes tips on buying or renting a new or used saxophoneAudio samples of classical, pop, and jazz music are available on the bonus CDAdvice on cleaning and maintaining a saxophoneIf you're picking up a saxophone for the first time or are looking to brush up on your skills, Saxophone For Dummies gives you everything you need to appreciate, understand, and excel at playing this popular instrument.
Say It Loud! The Story of Rap Music
by K. Maurice JonesExplores the origins and development of rap music.
Say No to the Devil: The Life and Musical Genius of Rev. Gary Davis
by Ian Zack<P>Who was the greatest of all American guitarists? <P> You probably didn't name Gary Davis, but many of his musical contemporaries considered him without peer. Bob Dylan called Davis "one of the wizards of modern music. " Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead--who took lessons with Davis--claimed his musical ability "transcended any common notion of a bluesman. " And the folklorist Alan Lomax called him "one of the really great geniuses of American instrumental music. " But you won't find Davis alongside blues legends Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. <P>Despite almost universal renown among his contemporaries, Davis lives today not so much in his own work but through covers of his songs by Dylan, Jackson Browne, and many others, as well as in the untold number of students whose lives he influenced. <P>The first biography of Davis, Say No to the Devil restores "the Rev's" remarkable story. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with many of Davis's former students, Ian Zack takes readers through Davis's difficult beginning as the blind son of sharecroppers in the Jim Crow South to his decision to become an ordained Baptist minister and his move to New York in the early 1940s, where he scraped out a living singing and preaching on street corners and in storefront churches in Harlem. <P>There, he gained entry into a circle of musicians that included, among many others, Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, and Dave Van Ronk. But in spite of his tremendous musical achievements, Davis never gained broad recognition from an American public that wasn't sure what to make of his trademark blend of gospel, ragtime, street preaching, and the blues. His personal life was also fraught, troubled by struggles with alcohol, women, and deteriorating health. <P>Zack chronicles this remarkable figure in American music, helping us to understand how he taught and influenced a generation of musicians.
Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon: A Geopolitical Prehistory of J-Pop (Asia Perspectives: History, Society, and Culture)
by Michael BourdaghsFrom the beginning of the American Occupation in 1945 to the post-bubble period of the early 1990s, popular music provided Japanese listeners with a much-needed release, channeling their desires, fears, and frustrations into a pleasurable and fluid art. Pop music allowed Japanese artists and audiences to assume various identities, reflecting the country's uncomfortable position under American hegemony and its uncertainty within ever-shifting geopolitical realities. In the first English-language study of this phenomenon, Michael K. Bourdaghs considers genres as diverse as boogie-woogie, rockabilly, enka, 1960s rock and roll, 1970s new music, folk, and techno-pop. Reading these forms and their cultural import through music, literary, and cultural theory, he introduces readers to the sensual moods and meanings of modern Japan. As he unpacks the complexities of popular music production and consumption, Bourdaghs interprets Japan as it worked through (or tried to forget) its imperial past. These efforts grew even murkier as Japanese pop migrated to the nation's former colonies. In postwar Japan, pop music both accelerated and protested the commodification of everyday life, challenged and reproduced gender hierarchies, and insisted on the uniqueness of a national culture, even as it participated in an increasingly integrated global marketplace. Each chapter in Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon examines a single genre through a particular theoretical lens: the relation of music to liberation; the influence of cultural mapping on musical appreciation; the role of translation in transmitting musical genres around the globe; the place of noise in music and its relation to historical change; the tenuous connection between ideologies of authenticity and imitation; the link between commercial success and artistic integrity; and the function of melodrama. Bourdaghs concludes with a look at recent Japanese pop music culture.
Scala Radio's A Soundtrack for Life: Classical Music to Take You Through the Day
by Scala RadioBringing together much-loved masterpieces with exciting new works, this accessible and inspiring guide is a celebration of classical music. With pieces ranging from Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending and Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony to the scores for Avatar and Assassin's Creed, each entry puts the piece of music into context, providing fascinating insights into the inspirations behind each work and enhancing your listening experience. Organised into Occasions and Themes, the book features music to accompany you through your day, from getting up and getting dressed to running, reading, walking the dog, cooking, taking a bath, going to sleep and everything in between. You'll also find expert curations of the world's most romantic music and the greatest Christmas choral works as well as compositions that celebrate the natural world and mark births and marriages. Perfect for classical music enthusiasts as well as anyone looking for an enjoyable introduction to this genre, this is the definitive modern guide to classical music.
Scala Radio's A Soundtrack for Life: Classical Music to Take You Through the Day
by Scala RadioBringing together much-loved masterpieces with exciting new works, this accessible and inspiring guide is a celebration of classical music. With pieces ranging from Vaughan Williams's The Lark Ascending and Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony to the scores for Avatar and Assassin's Creed, each entry puts the piece of music into context, providing fascinating insights into the inspirations behind each work and enhancing your listening experience. Organised into Occasions and Themes, the book features music to accompany you through your day, from getting up and getting dressed to running, reading, walking the dog, cooking, taking a bath, going to sleep and everything in between. You'll also find expert curations of the world's most romantic music and the greatest Christmas choral works as well as compositions that celebrate the natural world and mark births and marriages. Perfect for classical music enthusiasts as well as anyone looking for an enjoyable introduction to this genre, this is the definitive modern guide to classical music.
Scales for Guitar I
by Sebastian SalinasScales for Guitar I presents exercises to help you easily learn the major and minor pentatonic and diatonic scales. Learning the scales on a guitar is of the utmost importance for your skills of improvisation and composition. Each of the four scales covered in this book are shown in five positions on the fretboard of the guitar. The goal is that you will know and immediately see all five positions as a single great pattern that covers all strings on your guitar. Practicing these scales in the five positions will give you a deeper understanding of the fretboard and thus improve your guitar playing skills.
Scales to Scalpels
by Lisa WongA Simon & Schuster eBook. Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.
Scar Tissue
by Anthony KiedisIn SCAR TISSUE Anthony Kiedis, charismatic and highly articulate frontman of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, recounts his remarkable life story, and the history of the band itself. Raised in the Midwest, he moved to LA aged eleven to live with his father Blackie, purveyor of pills, pot, and cocaine to the Hollywood elite. After a brief child-acting career, Kiedis dropped out of U.C.L.A. and plunged headfirst into the demimonde of the L.A. underground music scene. He formed the band with three schoolfriends - and found his life's purpose. Crisscrossing the country, the Chili Peppers were musical innovators and influenced a whole generation of musicians. But there's a price to pay for both success and excess and in SCAR TISSUE, Kiedis writes candidly of the overdose death of his soul mate and band mate, Hillel Slovak, and his own ongoing struggle with an addiction to drugs.SCAR TISSUE far transcends the typical rock biography, because Anthony Kiedis is anything but a typical rock star. It is instead a compelling story of dedication and debauchery, of intrigue and integrity, of recklessness and redemption.
Scar Tissue: Der Sänger Der Red Hot Chili Peppers - Die Autobiographie
by Larry Sloman Anthony KiedisThe New York Times bestseller by one of rock's most provocative figuresScar Tissue is Anthony Kiedis's searingly honest memoir of a life spent in the fast lane. In 1983, four self-described "knuckleheads" burst out of the mosh-pitted mosaic of the neo-punk rock scene in L.A. with their own unique brand of cosmic hardcore mayhem funk. Over twenty years later, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, against all odds, have become one of the most successful bands in the world. Though the band has gone through many incarnations, Anthony Kiedis, the group's lyricist and dynamic lead singer, has been there for the whole roller-coaster ride.Whether he's recollecting the influence of the beautiful, strong women who have been his muses, or retracing a journey that has included appearances as diverse as a performance before half a million people at Woodstock or an audience of one at the humble compound of the exiled Dalai Lama, Kiedis shares a compelling story about the price of success and excess. Scar Tissue is a story of dedication and debauchery, of intrigue and integrity, of recklessness and redemption--a story that could only have come out of the world of rock.
Scarlatti Masterpieces for Solo Piano: 47 Works (Dover Classical Piano Music)
by Domenico ScarlattiBorn in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti strongly influenced subsequent trends in keyboard music through his uniquely elegant, embellished, fleet virtuoso style. This new compilation of popular selections by the great master presents favorites drawn from his more than 500 miniature sonatas.All of Scarlatti's familiar and best-loved masterpieces -- well-known worldwide from piano recitals and CDs -- appear here: tarantellas, Siciliennes, pastorals, and sparkling high-speed keyboard toccatas of the greatest ingenuity.According to legendary keyboard artist Wanda Landowska, "when we hear Scarlatti's music, we know that we are in the climate of sunlight and warmth. It is Italy, it is Spain -- the spirit of the Latin countries and the god of the Mediterranean." Pianists and all music lovers can discover the truth of that statement in this handsome and inexpensive compilation of exquisite pieces.
Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin
by Alice EcholsJanis Joplin was the skyrocket chick of the sixties, the woman who broke into the boys' club of rock and out of the stifling good-girl femininity of postwar America. With her incredible wall-of-sound vocals, Joplin was the voice of a generation, and when she OD'd on heroin in October 1970, a generation's dreams crashed and burned with her. Alice Echols pushes past the legary Joplin-the red-hot mama of her own invention-as well as the familiar portrait of the screwed-up star victimized by the era she symbolized, to examine the roots of Joplin's muscianship and explore a generation's experiment with high-risk living and the terrible price it exacted.A deeply affecting biography of one of America's most brilliant and tormented stars, Scars of Sweet Paradise is also a vivid and incisive cultural history of an era that changed the world for us all.
Scattered Musics
by Martha I. Chew Sánchez and David HendersonContributions by Nilanjana Bhattacharjya, Benjamin Burkhart, Ivy Chevers, Martha I. Chew Sánchez, Athena Elafros, William García-Medina, Sara Goek, David Henderson, Eyvind Kang, Junko Oba, Juan David Rubio Restrepo, and Gareth Dylan SmithIn Scattered Musics, editors Martha I. Chew Sánchez and David Henderson, along with a range of authors from a variety of scholarly backgrounds, consider the musics that diaspora and migrant populations are inspired to create, how musics and musicians travel, and how they change in transit. The authors cover a lot of ground: cumbia in Mexico, música sertaneja in Japan, hip-hop in Canada, Irish music in the US and the UK, reggae and dancehall in Germany, and more. Diasporic groups transform the musical expressions of their home countries as well as those in their host communities. The studies collected here show how these transformations are ways of grappling with ever-changing patterns of movement. Different diasporas hold their homelands in different regards. Some communities try to re-create home away from home in musical performances, while others use music to critique and redefine their senses of home. Through music, people seek to reconstruct and refine collective memory and a collective sense of place.The essays in this volume—by sociologists, historians, ethnomusicologists, and others—explore these questions in ways that are theoretically sophisticated yet readable, making evident the complexities of musical and social phenomena in diaspora and migrant populations. As the opening paragraph of the introduction to the volume observes, “What remains when people have been scattered apart is a strong urge to gather together, to collect.” At few times in our lives has that ever been more apparent than right now.
Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton and Me
by Bernie Taupin'This is the most glorious of books. I am besotted by the life I never knew he had.' -Elton John'Orgasmic. Every page of Scattershot is a delight, a joy, a name-dropper fan's delight. Divine. I couldn't put it down.' -Pete Townshend'In Bernie Taupin's miraculous memoir Scattershot you'll meet legends, cowboys, geniuses, unforgettable faces in the night, shady purveyors of outrageous fortune, warriors of the heart, and most of all, Taupin himself. Hilarious and so emotionally true, Scattershot is like a letter from a cherished friend. You'll want to keep it close, so you can read it again and again.' -Cameron Crowe'Touching. Charming. Humble. Witty. And exquisitely written. Taupin's words need no musical accompaniment. They sing with a poets voice.' -Gary Oldman'Eloquent and inspiring, Scattershot is a freewheeling memoir that is as warm and evocative as Bernie Taupin's most memorable lyrics. A born storyteller, Taupin gives us the life of an artist whose outlook was shaped by a rare but fascinating blend of lifelong innocence and endless intellectual curiosity.' -Robert Hilburn, author of Johnny Cash: The Life"I loved writing, I loved chronicling life and every moment I was cogent, sober, or blitzed, I was forever feeding off my surroundings, making copious notes as ammunition for future compositions. . . . The thing is good, bad or indifferent I never stopped writing, it was as addictive as any drug."This is the memoir music fans have been waiting for. Half of one of the greatest creative partnerships in popular music, Bernie Taupin is the man who wrote the lyrics for Elton John, who conceived the ideas that spawned countless hits, and sold millions and millions of records. Together, they were a duo, a unit, an immovable object. Their extraordinary, half-century-and-counting creative relationship has been chronicled in biopics (like 2019's Rocketman) and even John's own autobiography, Me. But Taupin, a famously private person, has kept his own account of their adventures close to his chest, until now.Written with honesty and candour, Scatterhot allows the reader to witness events unfolding from Taupin's singular perspective, sometimes front and center, sometimes from the edge, yet always described vibrantly, with an infectious energy that only a vivid songwriter's prose could offer. From his childhood in the East Midlands of England whose imagination was sparked and forever informed by the distinctly American mythopoetics of country music and cowboys, to the glittering, star-studded fishbowl of '70s and '80s Beverly Hills, Scattershot is simultaneously a Tom Jones-like picaresque journey across a landscape of unforgettable characters, as well as a striking, first-hand account of a creative era like no other and one man's experience at the core of it.An exciting, multi-decade whirlwind, Scattershot whizzes around the world as we ride shotgun with Bernie on his extraordinary life. We visit New York with him and Elton on the cusp of global fame. We spend time with him in Australia almost in residency at an infamous rock 'n' roll hotel in an endless blizzard of drugs. And we spend late, late night hours with John Lennon, with Bob Marley, and hanging with Frank Sinatra. And beyond the world of popular music, we witness memorable encounters with writers like Graham Greene, painters like Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, and scores of notable misfits, miscreants, eccentrics, and geniuses, known and unknown. Even if they're not famous in their own right, they are stars on the page, and we discover how they inspired the indelible lyrics to songs such as "Tiny Dancer," "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie and The Jets," and so many more.Unique and utterly compelling, Scattershot will transport the reader across the decades and around the globe, along the way meeting some of the greatest creative minds of the 20th century, and in
Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton and Me
by Bernie Taupin'This is the most glorious of books. I am besotted by the life I never knew he had.' -Elton John'Orgasmic. Every page of Scattershot is a delight, a joy, a name-dropper fan's delight. Divine. I couldn't put it down.' -Pete Townshend'In Bernie Taupin's miraculous memoir Scattershot you'll meet legends, cowboys, geniuses, unforgettable faces in the night, shady purveyors of outrageous fortune, warriors of the heart, and most of all, Taupin himself. Hilarious and so emotionally true, Scattershot is like a letter from a cherished friend. You'll want to keep it close, so you can read it again and again.' -Cameron Crowe'Touching. Charming. Humble. Witty. And exquisitely written. Taupin's words need no musical accompaniment. They sing with a poets voice.' -Gary Oldman'Eloquent and inspiring, Scattershot is a freewheeling memoir that is as warm and evocative as Bernie Taupin's most memorable lyrics. A born storyteller, Taupin gives us the life of an artist whose outlook was shaped by a rare but fascinating blend of lifelong innocence and endless intellectual curiosity.' -Robert Hilburn, author of Johnny Cash: The LifeThis is the memoir music fans have been waiting for. Half of one of the greatest creative partnerships in popular music, Bernie Taupin is the man who wrote the lyrics for Elton John, who conceived the ideas that spawned countless hits, and sold millions and millions of records. Together, they were a duo, a unit, an immovable object. Their extraordinary, half-century-and-counting creative relationship has been chronicled in biopics (like 2019's Rocketman) and even John's own autobiography, Me. But Taupin, a famously private person, has kept his own account of their adventures close to his chest, until now.Written with honesty and candour, Scatterhot allows the reader to witness events unfolding from Taupin's singular perspective, sometimes front and center, sometimes from the edge, yet always described vibrantly, with an infectious energy that only a vivid songwriter's prose could offer. From his childhood in the East Midlands of England whose imagination was sparked and forever informed by the distinctly American mythopoetics of country music and cowboys, to the glittering, star-studded fishbowl of '70s and '80s Beverly Hills, Scattershot is simultaneously a Tom Jones-like picaresque journey across a landscape of unforgettable characters, as well as a striking, first-hand account of a creative era like no other and one man's experience at the core of it.An exciting, multi-decade whirlwind, Scattershot whizzes around the world as we ride shotgun with Bernie on his extraordinary life. We visit New York with him and Elton on the cusp of global fame. We spend time with him in Australia almost in residency at an infamous rock 'n' roll hotel in an endless blizzard of drugs. And we spend late, late night hours with John Lennon, with Bob Marley, and hanging with Frank Sinatra. And beyond the world of popular music, we witness memorable encounters with writers like Graham Greene, painters like Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, and scores of notable misfits, miscreants, eccentrics, and geniuses, known and unknown. Even if they're not famous in their own right, they are stars on the page, and we discover how they inspired the indelible lyrics to songs such as "Tiny Dancer," "Candle in the Wind," "Bennie and The Jets," and so many more.Unique and utterly compelling, Scattershot will transport the reader across the decades and around the globe, along the way meeting some of the greatest creative minds of the 20th century, and into the vivid imaginings of one of music's most legendary lyricists.
Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton, and Me
by Bernie Taupin**NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER** An evocative, clear-eyed, and revealing memoir by Bernie Taupin, the lyrical master and long-time collaborator of Elton John&“I loved writing, I loved chronicling life and every moment I was cogent, sober, or blitzed, I was forever feeding off my surroundings, making copious notes as ammunition for future compositions. . . . The thing is good, bad, or indifferent I never stopped writing, it was as addictive as any drug.&” This is the memoir music fans have been waiting for. Half of one of the greatest creative partnerships in popular music, Bernie Taupin is the man who wrote the lyrics for Elton John, who conceived the ideas that spawned countless hits, and sold millions and millions of records. Together, they were a duo, a unit, an immovable object. Their extraordinary, half-century-and-counting creative relationship has been chronicled in biopics (like 2019's Rocketman) and even John's own autobiography, Me. But Taupin, a famously private person, has kept his own account of their adventures close to his chest, until now. Written with honesty and candor, Scattershot allows the reader to witness events unfolding from Taupin's singular perspective, sometimes front and center, sometimes from the edge, yet always described vibrantly, with an infectious energy that only a vivid songwriter's prose could offer. From his childhood in the East Midlands of England whose imagination was sparked and forever informed by the distinctly American mythopoetics of country music and cowboy culture, to the glittering, star-studded fishbowl of &’70s and &’80s Beverly Hills, Scattershot is simultaneously a Tom Jones-like picaresque journey across a landscape of unforgettable characters, as well as a striking, first-hand account of a creative era like no other and one man&’s experience at the core of it. An exciting, multi-decade whirlwind told in a non-linear yet grounded narrative, Scattershot whizzes around the world as we ride shotgun with Bernie on his extraordinary life. We visit Los Angeles with him and Elton on the cusp of global fame. We spend time with him in Australia almost in residency at an infamous rock 'n' roll hotel in an endless blizzard of drugs. And we spend late, late night hours with John Lennon, with Bob Marley, and hanging with Frank Sinatra. And beyond the world of popular music, we witness memorable encounters with writers like Graham Greene, painters like Andy Warhol and Salvador Dali, and scores of notable misfits, miscreants, eccentrics, and geniuses, known and unknown. Even if they're not famous in their own right, they are stars on the page, and we discover how they inspired the indelible lyrics to songs such as &“Tiny Dancer,&” &“Candle in the Wind,&” &“Bennie and The Jets,&” and so many more. Unique and utterly compelling, Scattershot will transport the reader across the decades and around the globe, along the way meeting some of the greatest creative minds of the 20th century, and into the vivid imaginings of one of music's most legendary lyricists.