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The Rough Guide to the Blues
by Nigel WilliamsonThe Rough Guide to Blues gives you the complete lowdown on all the grittiest singers, bottleneck guitarists, belt-it-out divas and wailing harmonica players that made the most influential music of the last century. From music legend B.B. King to folk hero Robert Johnson, the guide includes detailed profiles of hundreds of artists and critical reviews of their best albums. The fascinating story is told in full--how the blues crawled from the Mississippi Delta, went electric in the big cities, and spread across the world--with feature boxes on topics like boogie woogie, gospel and the best blues record labels. Check out the ten greatest slide-guitar tracks or the ten most miserable 'woke up this mornin's. With the handy playlists that help you to pick 'n' choose quick 'best ofs' to download to your iPod or MP3 player.
A Matter of Facts: One Man's Journey into the Nation's Quiz Obsession
by Shaun WilliamsonA journey into the obsessive world of quizzing. Includes stories from Shaun's past such as tales from his time playing Barry in Eastenders; the discovery of a long-lost son; hiding from an angry Mike Reid in a broom cupboard; acting with Ricky Gervais and David Bowie, and the loss of his boyhood friend in 9/11.Actor and celebrity quizzer Shaun Williamson lifts the lid on a National drug that everyone hooked on: quizzing. A Matter of Facts is a personal journey into the world of quizzes. At the start Shaun enters the World Quiz Grand Prix, pitching his knowledge against the Nation's finest minds, including Eggheads and Chasers... he fails. Unperturbed, he sets out to improve his skills through memory training, practice and even hypnosis in an attempt to move himself up the rankings of the quizzing elite. Shaun's adventure sees him get his old quizzing 'band' back together to see if he can triumph in the leagues. As he does so, he meets many characters and experiences the wonderful vagaries of the pub quiz - discovering its place, not just in communities, but in people's lives. He also reminisces about his life before acting as an alcoholic postman, a stalled naval career,a Pontins blue coat and his journey to becoming Barry in EastEnders. Over the course of year Shaun aims to end his journey at a victorious return to the Grand Prix... can his experiences and new-found knowledge end in victory? A Matter of Facts is a fun, fascinating and heart-warming read that will be adored by those who enjoy a regular meeting of alcohol and trivia.
A Matter of Facts: One Man's Journey into the Nation's Quiz Obsession
by Shaun WilliamsonA journey into the obsessive world of quizzing. Includes stories from Shaun's past such as tales from his time playing Barry in Eastenders; the discovery of a long-lost son; hiding from an angry Mike Reid in a broom cupboard; acting with Ricky Gervais and David Bowie, and the loss of his boyhood friend in 9/11.Actor and celebrity quizzer Shaun Williamson lifts the lid on a National drug that everyone hooked on: quizzing. A Matter of Facts is a personal journey into the world of quizzes. At the start Shaun enters the World Quiz Grand Prix, pitching his knowledge against the Nation's finest minds, including Eggheads and Chasers... he fails. Unperturbed, he sets out to improve his skills through memory training, practice and even hypnosis in an attempt to move himself up the rankings of the quizzing elite. Shaun's adventure sees him get his old quizzing 'band' back together to see if he can triumph in the leagues. As he does so, he meets many characters and experiences the wonderful vagaries of the pub quiz - discovering its place, not just in communities, but in people's lives. He also reminisces about his life before acting as an alcoholic postman, a stalled naval career,a Pontins blue coat and his journey to becoming Barry in EastEnders. Over the course of year Shaun aims to end his journey at a victorious return to the Grand Prix... can his experiences and new-found knowledge end in victory?A Matter of Facts is a fun, fascinating and heart-warming read that will be adored by those who enjoy a regular meeting of alcohol and trivia.
The Essential It's a Wonderful Life: A Scene-By-Scene Guide to the Classic Film
by Michael WillianEven the most ardent fans of It's a Wonderful Life will be surprised and delighted by the insightful discussions of film details, cast anecdotes, curiosities, and gaffes found in this charming guide. Providing a fresh perspective, this companion includes a handy film chronology and an overview of the plot, a complete breakdown of the musical score, a fun and challenging quiz, a DVD bookmarking feature designed to give instant access to favorite scenes and other points of interest, informative historical sidebars, the complete lyrics to "Buffalo Gals," and never-before-seen maps and diagrams of downtown Bedford Falls, downtown Pottersville, the Building and Loan, and 320 Sycamore. In addition, film lovers will learn why George should have spent Christmas Eve in jail, who crashes the Bailey family Christmas Eve gathering, the story behind the sudden demise of Mr. Gower's son, how to make a flaming rum punch, the real-life site of the Bedford Falls High School "swim-gym," and other fascinating trivia related to the classic.
DVD, Blu-ray and Beyond: Navigating Formats and Platforms within Media Consumption
by Andy Willis Jonathan WrootThis book demonstrates, in contrast to statistics that show declining consumption of physical formats, that there has not been a mass shift towards purely digital media. Physical releases such as special editions, DVD box-sets and Blu-Rays are frequently promoted and sought out by consumers. And that past formats such as VHS, Laserdisc and HD-DVD make for sought-after collectible items. These trends are also found within particular genres and niche categories, such as documentary, education and independent film distribution. Through its case studies, this collection makes a distinctive and significant intervention in highlighting the ways in which the film industry has responded to rapidly changing markets. This volume, global in scope, will prove useful to those studying the distribution and exhibition of films, and the economics of the film industry around the world.
Metatheatrical Dramaturgies of Violence: Staging the Role of Theatre
by Emma WillisThis book examines a series of contemporary plays where writers put theatre itself on stage. The texts examined variously dramatize how theatre falls short in response to the demands of violence, expose its implication in structures of violence—including racism and gender-based violence—and illustrate how it might effectively resist violence through reconfiguring representation. Case studies, which include Jackie Sibblies Drury’s We Are Proud to Present and Fairview, Ella Hickson’s The Writer and Tim Crouch’s The Author, provide a range of practice-based perspectives on the question of whether theatre is capable of accounting for and expressing the complexities of structural and interpersonal violence as both lived in the body and borne out in society. The book will appeal to scholars and artists working in the areas of violence, theatre and ethics, witnessing, memory and trauma, spectatorship and contemporary dramaturgy, as well as to those interested in both the doubts and dreams we have about the role of theatre in the twenty-first century.
David O. Russell: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series)
by Holly WillisDavid O. Russell (b. 1958) boasts a diverse body of work as a writer and director, spanning multiple genres and featuring radically differing aesthetic styles. While his early work comically explored taboo subjects with unerring directness, he has also investigated politics with explosive satire. In his most recent films, including American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook, Russell examines characters and situations that are at once everyday and also extraordinary. Whatever the project, Russell is driven to explore the idiosyncrasies that make each character human, and he extends that curiosity to explore what makes each actor unique. His attentiveness to his cast members has earned him the label of "actor's director," due in no small part to the many nominations and awards earned by a long list of Hollywood stars in his movies.Russell has also become one of our era's most interesting formal stylists as he adopts a visual design appropriate to each of his film's thematic concerns. The result may be a color palette resembling the washed-out pages of a newspaper achieved by manipulating the film stock for Three Kings or the tumultuous opening of The Fighter when an audacious, roving camera plunges viewers straight into the story from the very first shots of the film. Rather than building a signature style, Russell has instead tested the varied possibilities of cinematic expression.This career-spanning volume features conversations with scholars and journalists as well as filmmakers. Speaking to directors like Alexander Payne and Spike Jonze, Russell contextualizes each of his films, offers an intimate account of his evolving writing and directing process, and opens his life to reveal how a remarkable body of work has come to be.
Fast Forward: The Future(s) of the Cinematic Arts
by Holly WillisCinema, the primary vehicle for storytelling in the twentieth century, is being reconfigured y new media in the twenty-first. Terms such as "worldbuilding," "virtual reality," and "transmedia" introduce new methods for constructing a screenplay and experiencing and sharing a story. Similarly, 3D cinematography, hypercinema, and visual effects require different modes for composing an image, and virtual technology, motion capture, and previsualization completely rearrange the traditional flow of cinematic production. What does this mean for telling stories? Fast Forward answers this question by investigating a full range of contemporary creative practices dedicated to the future of mediated storytelling and by connecting with a new generation of filmmakers, screenwriters, technologists, media artists, and designers to discover how they work now, and toward what end. From Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin's exploration of VR spherical filmmaking to Rebeca Méndez's projection and installation work exploring climate change to the richly mediated interactive live performances of the collective Cloud Eye Control, this volume captures a moment of creative evolution and sets the stage for imagining the future of the cinematic arts.
Fast Forward: The Future(s) of the Cinematic Arts
by Holly WillisCinema, the primary vehicle for storytelling in the twentieth century, is being reconfigured by new media in the twenty-first. Terms such as "worldbuilding," "virtual reality," and "transmedia" introduce new methods for constructing a screenplay and experiencing and sharing a story. Similarly, 3D cinematography, hypercinema, and visual effects require different modes for composing an image, and virtual technology, motion capture, and previsualization completely rearrange the traditional flow of cinematic production. What does this mean for telling stories? Fast Forward answers this question by investigating a full range of contemporary creative practices dedicated to the future of mediated storytelling and by connecting with a new generation of filmmakers, screenwriters, technologists, media artists, and designers to discover how they work now, and toward what end. From Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin's exploration of VR spherical filmmaking to Rebeca Méndez's projection and installation work exploring climate change to the richly mediated interactive live performances of the collective Cloud Eye Control, this volume captures a moment of creative evolution and sets the stage for imagining the future of the cinematic arts.
New Digital Cinema: Reinventing the Moving Image (Short Cuts)
by Holly WillisThis introduction to contemporary digital cinema tracks its intersection with video art, music video, animation, print design and live club events to create an avant-garde for the new millennium. It begins by investigating digital cinema and its contribution to innovations in the feature-film format, examining animation and live-action hybrids, the gritty aesthetic of the Dogme 95 filmmakers, the explosions of frames within frames and the evolution of the ‘ambient narrative’ film. This study then looks at the creation of new genres and moving-image experiences as what we know as ‘cinema’ enters new venues and formats.
Staging Science
by Martin WillisThis book considers scientific performances across two centuries, from the early nineteenth century to the present day. Performances include demonstrations of technologies, experiments that look like theatre, theatre that looks like science, tourist representations and natural history film-making. Its key aim is to open debate on how scientific activity, both historical and contemporary, might be understood in the context of performance studies and the imaginative acts required to stage engaging performances. Scientific performances have become increasingly of interest to historians of science, literature and science scholars, and in the field of science studies. As yet, however, no work has sought to examine a range of scientific performances with the aim of interrogating and illuminating the kinds of critical and theoretical practices that might be employed to engage with them. With scientific performance likely to become ever more central to scholarly study in the next few years this volume offer a timely, and early, intervention in the existing debates, and aims, too, to be a touchstone for future work.
High Contrast: Race and Gender in Contemporary Hollywood Films
by Sharon WillisIn High Contrast, Sharon Willis examines the dynamic relationships between racial and sexual difference in Hollywood film from the 1980s and 1990s. Seizing on the way these differences are accentuated, sensationalized, and eroticized on screen--most often with little apparent regard for the political context in which they operate--Willis restores that context through close readings of a range of movies from cinematic blockbusters to the work of the new auteurs, Spike Lee, David Lynch, and Quentin Tarantino.Capturing the political complexity of these films, Willis argues that race, gender, and sexuality, as they are figured in the fantasy of popular film, do not function separately, but rather inform and determine each other's meaning. She demonstrates how collective anxieties regarding social difference are mapped onto big budget movies like the Die Hard and Lethal Weapon series, Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, Thelma and Louise, Terminator 2, and others. Analyzing the artistic styles of directors Lynch, Tarantino, and Lee, in such films as Wild at Heart, Pulp Fiction, and Do the Right Thing, she investigates how these interactions of difference are linked to the production of specific authorial styles, and how race functions for each of these directors, particularly in relation to gender identity, erotics, and fantasy.
The Poitier Effect
by Sharon WillisThe civil rights struggle was convulsing the nation, its violence broadcast into every living room. Against this fraught background, Sidney Poitier emerged as an image of dignity, discipline, and moral authority. Here was the picture-perfect black man, helping German nuns build a chapel in The Lilies of the Field and overcoming the prejudices of recalcitrant students in To Sir with Love, a redneck sheriff in In the Heat of the Night, and a prospective father-in-law in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. In his characters' restrained responses to white people's ignorance and bad behavior, Poitier represented racial reconciliation and reciprocal respect--the "Poitier effect" that Sharon Willis traces through cinema and television from the civil rights era to our own.The Poitier effect, in Willis's account, is a function of white wishful thinking about race relations. It represents a dream of achieving racial reconciliation and equality without any substantive change to the white world. This notion of change without change conforms smoothly with a fantasy of colorblindness, a culture in which difference makes no difference. Willis demonstrates how Poitier's embodiment of such a fantasy figures in the popular cinema of the civil rights era--and reasserts itself in recent melodramas such as The Long Walk Home, Pleasantville, Far from Heaven, and The Help. From change without change to change we can believe in, her book reveals how the Poitier effect, complicated by contemporary ideas about feminism, sexuality, and privilege, continues to inform our collective memory as well as our visions of a postracial society.
My Mom and Other Mysteries of the Universe
by Gina Willner-PardoWhen her parents go away for a month-long business trip, Arlie Metcalfe and her little brother, Michael, get to stay with their fun-loving aunt, Isabel. It seems as if it's going to be a month-long vacation, particularly for Arlie, who's looking forward to the time away from her demanding mother. But only a few days into the trip, Arlie's parents are seriously injured in a car accident, and her mother falls into a coma. On the very same day, a new girl arrives in Arlie's fifth-grade class. Casey has the same short brown hair, the same stubbornness, and the same bossiness as Arlie's mother. Is it possible that she is actually Arlie's mother as an eleven-year-old girl? Can Arlie somehow help her mother by befriending Casey? Or is this a gift from the universe for Arlie: a strange and wonderful way to know her mother before she was her mother?
Reflections: The Sunday Times bestselling book of life lessons from superstar presenter Holly Willoughby
by Holly WilloughbyTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'From the heart. It feels so authentic . . . Encompassing and inclusive . . . Reads beautifully and fluidly and feels like having a chat with your best friend' - Elizabeth Day on HOW TO FAIL'The book is a triumph...an accessible insight into the woman behind the brand' Grazia________________________Have you ever found yourself in that moment where you just wonder - what's next? I could carry on as I am but there's a yearning for something else. That's where this book started for me...Presenter. Fashion icon. Wife. Mother. Holly Willoughby lights up the nation's TV screens every day but, like all of us, she has struggled with moments of self-doubt, feelings of guilt, anger and detachment. Here she shares how she has learned to reconnect with herself in order to face her fears head on. With her trademark warmth, Holly shows how listening to her inner voice and celebrating life's little moments of beauty and joy - like looking up at the moon or finding the perfect red lipstick - helped her feel whole again. Reflections is an empathetic, encouraging book that will inspire you to live your most beautiful, authentic life.WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:-'I rarely read and read this book in two days! Much of what Holly wrote about resonated with me and I've taken so much practical advice away with me.'-'Like little snippets of therapy'-'This book is brilliant. Holly addresses many things that we all face in life and gives her best advice on how to overcome them. Fantastic for anyone but mostly anyone who suffers any kind of anxieties or self consciousness. -'Amazing . . . Holly is just fabulous and I can't put it down, so nice to know we aren't in this journey alone' -'So beautifully written and relatable in lots of ways. It will be a book that I am sure I will keep taking off of my book shelf to keep going back to read for a long time'
Running the Race: The “Public Face” of Charlton Heston
by Brian Steel WillsThundering across the screen, Judah Ben-Hur’s iconic chariot race against his former friend turned bitter foe remains an indelible part of cinematic history and established Charlton Heston as an international superstar. In many ways the race was a metaphor for the actor’s dynamic life, symbolizing his struggle to establish himself in his profession. Brian Steel Wills’ captures for the first time a comprehensive view of the actor’s climb to fame, his search for the perfect performance, and the meaningful roles he played in support of the causes he embraced in Running the Race: The “Public Face” of Charlton Heston. The actor was born and raised in the Michigan woodlands and suburbs of Chicago, where he found his love of acting in the books he read and the movies he saw. “Chuck” Heston’s introduction to the craft that would become his life’s work began at New Trier High School and spilled over into Northwestern University. The Second World War interrupted his journey when he served his country, after which he and his wife Lydia headed to Asheville, North Carolina, where they both acted and directed in theater. The lights of New York City and Broadway beckoned, and live television offered an important platform, but Hollywood and feature films were his destiny. His roles were as varied as they were powerful, and included stints as Moses, Ben-Hur, El Cid, Michelangelo, Mike Vargas, and Charles “Chinese” Gordon under legendary directors like Cecil B. DeMille, William Wyler, Franklin Schaffner, and Orson Welles. He shifted to science fiction in Planet of the Apes and Soylent Green, a wide range of action and disaster films, and more nuanced roles such as Will Penny. Over his decades of performance Heston defined and redefined his “public face” in a constant quest for an audience for his work. He undertook wide-ranging public service roles for the government, the arts, and other causes. His leadership in the Screen Actors Guild and American Film Institute carried him from Hollywood to the halls of Congress. He became an outspoken advocate of the arts and other public and charitable causes, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Washington, and supported Second Amendment rights with the National Rifle Association. He did so even when his positions often clashed with other actors on issues ranging from nuclear arms, national security, and gun rights. The proud independent shifted decidedly to the Republican Party and appeared at political rallies and conventions, but rebuffed calls to run for office in favor of assuming similar roles on the big screen. Award-winning historian Brian Steel Wills dug deep to paint a rich portrait of Heston’s extraordinary life—a mix of complications and complexities that touched film, television, theater, politics, and society. His carefully crafted “public face” was impactful in more ways than the ordinarily shy and private family man could have ever imagined.
Audrey: (Apple FF)
by David WillsA stunning photographic compilation showcasing Audrey Hepburn’s iconic career in the 1950s—the decade that solidified her place as one of the world’s greatest stars in film and fashion.Devoted to her most influential decade, Audrey: The 50s brings together in one volume the allure and elegance that made Audrey Hepburn the most iconic figure in modern fashion history. Photographed during the early days of her career, both on the sets of Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, and other classic films, and in fashion photo shoots by top photographers who adored and immortalized her, these beautiful black-and-white and color images radiate with Audrey’s waifish charm, ethereal beauty, and effortless style.Renowned author, curator and photographic preservationist David Wills has carefully selected this collection of two hundred museum-quality photos that capture Audrey in her prime as never before. Audrey: The 50s displays this star at her brightest, and brings her legacy into perfect focus.Among the highlights:Rare and classic images digitally restored from vintage photographic prints, original studio negatives and transparencies.Never-before-seen publicity photos, scene stills and work shots from the sets of Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, Love in the Afternoon, and The Nun’s Story.Previously unpublished "posed candids" of Audrey at home.Beautifully restored advertisements, fan magazine layouts, international film posters and lobby cards.Quotes from photographers, directors, and costars, including William Holden, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Billy Wilder, King Vidor, William Wyler, Edith Head, Hubert de Givenchy, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, and Audrey herself.
Hollywood Beach Beauties: Sea Sirens, Sun Goddesses, and Summer Style 1930-1970
by David WillsA glamorous and nostalgic celebration of the summer through stunning retro photographs of Hollywood beautiesThe author of the acclaimed photo compilations Vegas Gold, Hollywood in Kodachrome, Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosis, and Audrey: The 60s, now presents a glamorous and nostalgic celebration of summer at the beach, captured in 150 stunning vintage photographs featuring beloved female celebrities, models, and starlets from the 1930s through the 1970s.Renowned independent curator and photographic preservationist David Wills commemorates the allure and joy of the sun, the sand, the ocean, and the fashions of endless summer with this sizzling collection. Hollywood Beach Beauties includes more than one-hundred vibrant color images of some of Hollywood’s most timeless stars lounging and playing at one of the most iconic settings: the beach.Hollywood Beach Beauties highlights the sexy, carefree attitude of the summer, the elegant seaside couture, and the enchanting and alluring beauty of the female form. Included here are candid and stylish photographs featuring stars of yesterday such as Elizabeth Taylor, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Sharon Tate, Raquel Welch, Sophia Loren, Dorothy Dandridge, and Nancy Sinatra.A treasure trove for classic movie mavens, vintage photography enthusiasts, and pop culture aficionados, this stunning theme-driven compendium taps into nostalgia for the joys of summer and captures the dazzling beauty of the seaside and some of the most stylish stars of the big screen in a fresh, unique, and captivating way.
John Wayne's America
by Garry WillsThe Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lincoln at Gettysburg brings his eloquence, wit, and on-target perceptions of American life and politics to this fascinating, well-drawn protrait of a twentieth-century hero. In this work of great originality-the biography of an idea-Garry Wills shows how John Wayne came to embody Amercian values and influenced our cultoure to a degree unmatched by any other public figure of his time. In Wills's hands, Waynes story is tranformed into a compelling narrative about the intersection of popular entertainment and political realities in mid-twentieth-century America.
Orientalism and Musical Mission: Palestine and the West
by Rachel Beckles WillsonOrientalism and Musical Mission presents a new way of understanding music's connections with imperialism, drawing on new archive sources and interviews and using the lens of 'mission'. Rachel Beckles Willson demonstrates how institutions such as churches, schools, radio stations and governments, influenced by missions from Europe and North America since the mid-nineteenth century, have consistently claimed that music provides a way of understanding and reforming Arab civilians in Palestine. Beckles Willson discusses the phenomenon not only in religious and developmental aid circles where it has had strong currency, but also in broader political contexts. Plotting a historical trajectory from the late Ottoman and British Mandate eras to the present time, the book sheds new light on relations between Europe, the USA and the Palestinians, and creates space for a neglected Palestinian music history.
Hello, Molly!: A Memoir
by Sean Wilsey Molly ShannonA candid, compulsively readable, hilarious, and heartbreaking memoir of resilience and redemption by comedic genius Molly Shannon. <p><p>At age four, Molly Shannon’s world was shattered when she lost her mother, baby sister, and cousin in a car accident with her father at the wheel. Held together by her tender and complicated relationship with her grieving father, Molly was raised in a permissive household where her gift for improvising and role-playing blossomed alongside the fearlessness that would lead her to become a celebrated actress. <p><p>From there, Molly ventured into the wider world of New York and Los Angeles show business, where she created her own opportunities and developed her daring and empathetic comedy. Filled with behind-the-scenes stories involving everyone from Whitney Houston to Adam Sandler to Monica Lewinsky, many told for the first time here, Hello, Molly! spans Molly’s time on Saturday Night Live—where she starred alongside Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Cheri Oteri, Tracy Morgan, and Jimmy Fallon, among many others. <p><p>At the same time, it explores with humor and candor her struggle to come to terms with the legacy of her father, a man who both fostered her gifts and drive and was left with the impossible task of raising his kids alone after the loss of her mother. <p><p>Witty, winning, and told with tremendous energy and heart, Hello, Molly!, written with Sean Wilsey, sheds new and revelatory light on the life and work of one of our most talented and free-spirited performers. <p> <b>New York Times Bestseller</b>
The Mask Handbook: A Practical Guide
by Toby WilsherThis book, from Europe’s leading Mask director and co-founder of the Trestle Theatre Company, provides a fascinating demystification of the process of using masks. Full of simple explanations, and collating over twenty-five years’ experience of writing for, directing and acting in masks, The Mask Handbook examines how masks have the ability to play the fundamental game of theatre – the suspension of disbelief. The Handbook includes: an introduction to the origin of masks advice on preparing, making and using masks tips on writing, devising and directing maskwork lots of fun and effective practical exercises. This accessible and inspiring handbook will empower teachers, directors and actors to fully explore the world of the mask.
Alexander McQueen
by Andrew WilsonWhen Alexander McQueen committed suicide in February 2010, aged just 40, a shocked world mourned the loss of its most visionary fashion designer. McQueen had risen from humble beginnings as the youngest child of an East London taxi driver to scale the heights of fame, fortune and glamour. He designed clothes for the world's most beautiful women including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. In business he created a multi-million pound luxury brand that became a favourite with both celebrities and royalty, most famously the Duchess of Cambridge who wore a McQueen dress on her wedding day. But behind the confident facade and bad-boy image, lay a sensitive soul who struggled to survive in the ruthless world of fashion. As the pressures of work intensified, so McQueen became increasingly dependent on the drugs that contributed to his tragic end. Meanwhile, in his private life, his failure to find lasting love with a string of boyfriends only added to his despair. And then there were the dark secrets that haunted his sleep... A modern-day fairy tale infused with the darkness of a Greek tragedy, this book will tell the sensational story of McQueen's rise from his hard East London upbringing to the hedonistic world of fashion. Those closest to the designer - his family, friends and lovers - have spoken for the first time about the man they knew, a fragmented and insecure individual, a lost boy who battled to gain entry into a world that ultimately destroyed him.
Alexander McQueen: Blood Beneath the Skin
by Andrew WilsonThe first, definitive biography of the iconic, notoriously private British fashion designer Alexander McQueen “offers new insights...and provides unprecedented access to a misunderstood soul” (The Boston Globe).When forty-year-old Alexander McQueen committed suicide in February 2010, a shocked world mourned the loss. McQueen had risen from humble beginnings as the son of an East London taxi driver to scale the heights of fame, fortune, and glamour. He created a multimillion-dollar luxury brand that became a favorite with celebrities, including Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. He designed clothes for the world’s most beautiful women and royalty, most famously the Duchess of Cambridge, who wore a McQueen dress on her wedding day.But behind the confident facade and bad-boy image, lay a sensitive soul who struggled to survive in the ruthless world of fashion. As the pressures of work intensified, McQueen became increasingly dependent on the drugs that contributed to his tragic end. Meanwhile, his failure to find lasting love in a string of boyfriends only added to his despair. And then there were the secrets that haunted his sleep…A modern-day fairy tale infused with the darkness of a Greek tragedy, Alexander McQueen provides “a thorough and emotionally compelling exploration…of a complex and enigmatic artist” (Publishers Weekly). Andrew Wilson’s “magnificent” (The Independent, UK) and “compelling and heavily researched bio” (Entertainment Weekly), featuring never-before-seen photographs and rare interviews, dispels myths, corrects inaccuracies, and shares new insights into McQueen’s private life and the source of his creative genius.
Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock and Roll
by Ann Wilson Nancy Wilson Charles R. CrossThe story of Heart is a story of heart and soul and rock ’n’ roll. Since finding their love of music and performing as teenagers in Seattle, Washington, Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson, have been part of the American rock music landscape. From 70s classics like “Magic Man” and “Barracuda” to chart- topping 80s ballads like “Alone,” and all the way up to 2012, when they will release their latest studio album, Fanatic, Heart has been thrilling their fans and producing hit after hit. In Kicking and Dreaming, the Wilsons recount their story as two sisters who have a shared over three decades on the stage, as songwriters, as musicians, and as the leaders of one of our most beloved rock bands. An intimate, honest, and a uniquely female take on the rock and roll life, readers of bestselling music memoirs like Life by Keith Richards and Steven Tyler’s Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? will love this quintessential music story finally told from a female perspective.