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The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles
by Bob GluckMiles Davis's Bitches Brew is one of the most iconic albums in American music, the preeminent landmark and fertile seedbed of jazz-fusion. Fans have been fortunate in the past few years to gain access to Davis's live recordings from this time, when he was working with an ensemble that has come to be known as the Lost Quintet. In this book, jazz historian and musician Bob Gluck explores the performances of this revolutionary group--Davis's first electric band--to illuminate the thinking of one of our rarest geniuses and, by extension, the extraordinary transition in American music that he and his fellow players ushered in. Gluck listens deeply to the uneasy tension between this group's driving rhythmic groove and the sonic and structural openness, surprise, and experimentation they were always pushing toward. There he hears--and outlines--a fascinating web of musical interconnection that brings Davis's funk-inflected sensibilities into conversation with the avant-garde worlds that players like Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane were developing. Going on to analyze the little-known experimental groups Circle and the Revolutionary Ensemble, Gluck traces deep resonances across a commercial gap between the celebrity Miles Davis and his less famous but profoundly innovative peers. The result is a deeply attuned look at a pivotal moment when once-disparate worlds of American music came together in explosively creative combinations.
The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles
by Bob GluckMiles Davis’s Bitches Brew is one of the most iconic albums in American music, the preeminent landmark and fertile seedbed of jazz-fusion. Fans have been fortunate in the past few years to gain access to Davis’s live recordings from this time, when he was working with an ensemble that has come to be known as the Lost Quintet. In this book, jazz historian and musician Bob Gluck explores the performances of this revolutionary group—Davis’s first electric band—to illuminate the thinking of one of our rarest geniuses and, by extension, the extraordinary transition in American music that he and his fellow players ushered in. Gluck listens deeply to the uneasy tension between this group’s driving rhythmic groove and the sonic and structural openness, surprise, and experimentation they were always pushing toward. There he hears—and outlines—a fascinating web of musical interconnection that brings Davis’s funk-inflected sensibilities into conversation with the avant-garde worlds that players like Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane were developing. Going on to analyze the little-known experimental groups Circle and the Revolutionary Ensemble, Gluck traces deep resonances across a commercial gap between the celebrity Miles Davis and his less famous but profoundly innovative peers. The result is a deeply attuned look at a pivotal moment when once-disparate worlds of American music came together in explosively creative combinations.
Miles Davis, Miles Smiles, and the Invention of Post Bop
by Jeremy YudkinFocusing on one of the legendary musicians in jazz, this book examines Miles Davis's often overlooked music of the mid-1960s with a close examination of the evolution of a new style: post bop. Jeremy Yudkin traces Davis's life and work during a period when the trumpeter was struggling with personal and musical challenges only to emerge once again as the artistic leader of his generation.A major force in post-war American jazz, Miles Davis was a pioneer of cool jazz, hard bop, and modal jazz in a variety of small group formats. The formation in the mid-1960s of the Second Quintet with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams was vital to the invention of the new post bop style. Yudkin illustrates and precisely defines this style with an analysis of the 1966 classic Miles Smiles.
Miles & Me: Miles Davis, the man, the musician, and his friendship with the journalist and poet Quincy Troupe
by Quincy TroupeAn intimate story of Miles Davis, the man, the musician, and his friendship with the young journalist and poet Quincy Troupe--soon to be a major motion picture.Poet, activist and journalist Quincy Troupe's candid account of his friendship with Miles Davis is a revealing portrait of a great musician and an engrossing chronicle of the author's own artistic and personal growth. Miles and Me describes in intimate detail the sometimes harrowing processes of Davis's spectacular creativity and the joys and travails Davis's passionate and contradictory temperament posed to the two men's friendship. Miles and Me shows how Miles Davis, both as an artist and as a black man, influenced Troupe and whole generations of Americans while forever changing the face of jazz.In 1985, Spin magazine hired Troupe to do an exclusive two-part interview with the by-then legendary jazz artist Davis. The hour-and-a-half scheduled interview stretched to ten hours. After it was published, Davis was so enamored of Troupe and the interview that he finally relented to a major publisher's request that he write his autobiography under the condition that they could get Quincy Troupe to write it. Miles: The Autobiography became an instant bestseller and opened up the entire field of popular music autobiography. Years later, Quincy went back to his notes of his time with Miles that had been so important to them both, and produced this more intimate book, Miles and Me, told from his side of their friendship. Miles and Me takes us from St. Louis, where both men grew up, to New York, where both men lived, to Malibu where Miles also kept a home. Troupe also takes us through the entire catalogue of Davis's recordings. Troupe calls his friend "irascible, contemptuous, brutally honest, ill-tempered when things didn't go his way, complex, fair-minded, humble, kind, and a son-of-a-bitch." The author's love and appreciation infuses Miles and Me with a rare quality of grace, and at the same time, throughout the book, Troupe's observations of his friend are keen, sometimes hilariously funny, and truthful, as he knows Miles would want him to be.
Miles on Miles: Interviews and Encounters with Miles Davis (Musicians in Their Own Words)
by Paul Maher Jr.; Michael K. DorrMiles Davis was not only a musical genius, but also an enigma, and nowhere else was he so compelling, exasperating, and entertaining as he was in his interviews, which vary from polite to outrageous, from straight-ahead to contrarian. Miles on Miles collects thirty of the most vital. Even his autobiography lacks the immediacy of the dialogues collected here. Many were conducted by leading journalists like Leonard Feather, Stephen Davis, Ben Sidran, Mike Zwerin, and Nat Hentoff. Other have never before seen print and are newly transcribed from radio and television shows. Until now, no book has brought back to life Miles's inimitable voice—contemplative, defiant, elegant, uncompromising, and humorous. Miles on Miles will long remain the definitive source for anyone wanting to really encounter the legend in print.
Miles, Ornette, Cecil: Jazz Beyond Jazz
by Howard MandelMiles Davis, Ornette Coleman, and Cecil Taylor revolutionized music from the end of the twentieth century into the twenty-first, expanding on jazz traditions with distinctly new concepts of composition, improvisation, instrumentation, and performance. They remain figures of controversy due to their border-crossing processes. Miles, Ornette, Cecil is the first book to connect these three icons of the avant-garde, examining why they are lionized by some critics and reviled by others, while influencing musicians across such divides as genre, geography, and racial and ethnic backgrounds. Mandel offers fresh insights into their careers from interviews with all three artists and many of their significant collaborators, as well as a thorough overview of earlier interpretations of their work.
Miles to Go
by Miley Cyrus Hilary LiftinThree years ago, Miley Cyrus was a virtual unknown. Her life in rural Tennessee was filled with family, friends, school, cheerleading, and the daily tasks of living on a farm. And then came a little show called Hannah Montana. Almost overnight, Miley would rocket to superstardom, becoming a television and singing phenomenon. Quiet days were replaced with sold-out concerts, television appearances, and magazine shoots. But through it all, Miley has remained close to her family and friends and has stayed connected to the Southern roots that made her so strong. In Miles to Go, Miley offers an honest, humorous, and often touching story of one girl's coming-of-age--from private moments with her pappy to off-roading with her dad, Billy Ray, to her run-ins with mean girls. Miley talks about suffering through drama and heartbreak and coming out the other end unscathed (relatively). And now for the first time, she will discuss it all-the milestones still left to reach (driver's license! voting!), dreams to live out (travel to Asia! find true love!), and the lessons to be learned (remembering to enjoy every moment!). This is a truly unique look inside the world of one of today's biggest and brightest stars as she tackles looking back and moving forward.
Milestones in Music Education (Milestones)
by Clint RandlesIn ten concise chapters, Milestones in Music Education introduces the key developments and issues that have shaped the field of music education. Designed for undergraduate students, each chapter of the book is written by a different expert, bringing together many leading voices in the field. The ten chosen milestones represent breakthroughs in the field of music education that are relevant to today’s educators, and enable teachers to understand the issues that have shaped the teaching of music over time. Topics covered include the origins of music education as a school subject, the impact of changing technology, the roles of popular music and notation, and racial justice in the music classroom. Featuring action suggestions and discussion questions in each chapter, this accessible book provides students with a foundation in the history and context of music education, and prepares them to engage with the social and philosophical aspects of teaching music as forward-thinking educators. Milestones are a range of accessible textbooks, breaking down the need-to-know moments in the social, cultural, political and artistic development of foundational subject areas. This book is ideal for undergraduate courses in music education.
Milton and Music (Routledge Focus on Literature)
by Seth HerbstMilton and Music is the first study to juxtapose John Milton’s poetry on music with later musical adaptations of his work. In Part I: Milton on Music, Seth Herbst shows that writing about music galvanized Milton’s intellectual development towards animist materialism, the belief that everything in the universe—even the human soul—is made of matter. The Milton who emerges is a forward-thinking visionary who leaped past his contemporaries in conceiving music as a material phenomenon that exists simultaneously as sound and metaphor. Part II: Milton in Music follows two daring composers in investigating whether Milton’s visionary concept of music can be realized in actual musical sound. In Samson, an oratorio adaptation of Milton’s Samson Agonistes, Handel resists Miltonic music theory, suggesting that music struggles to function as both sound and metaphor. By contrast, the twentieth-century Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki composes an iconoclastic opera of Paradise Lost that develops a soundworld of fractured dissonance in which music acts as both sound and metaphor. Recovering Milton’s own high estimation of music from a critical tradition that has subordinated it to the poet’s political and religious convictions, Herbst reveals Milton as an interdisciplinary thinker and overlooked figure in the study of words and music. Driven by bold claims about the comparative treatment of literature and music, Milton and Music revises our understanding of what makes this canonical poet an intellectual revolutionary.
A Mind Full of Music: Essays on Imagination and Popular Song
by Chris ForhanA Mind Full of Music contemplates and celebrates the mysterious, powerful, dynamic relationship between ourselves and the songs we love: the way in which songs work upon our minds and in which our minds, because of the inevitable creative force of our imaginations and memories, work upon them. The book does not propose or develop a unified argument, nor does it tell, chronologically, the story of the author's life of listening. Instead, in recognition of the varied, fluid, and ultimately mysterious ways in which our minds respond to songs, it is structured associatively, with one topic inspiring thoughts of another; the book begins with a song drifting into the author's mind, and it ends with that mind still in the midst of listening, waiting for a beat that will never come.
Mind Models
by Roger ReynoldsThis new edition of Mind Models reintroduces and renews a classic work on 20th century composition, one that has remained relevant for over a quarter century -- and should remain a central reading for decades to come.
Mingus Speaks
by Sy Johnson John F. GoodmanCharles Mingus is among jazz's greatest composers and perhaps its most talented bass player. He was blunt and outspoken about the place of jazz in music history and American culture, about which performers were the real thing (or not), and much more. These in-depth interviews, conducted several years before Mingus died, capture the composer's spirit and voice, revealing how he saw himself as composer and performer, how he viewed his peers and predecessors, how he created his extraordinary music, and how he looked at race. Augmented with interviews and commentary by ten close associates--including Mingus's wife Sue, Teo Macero, George Wein, and Sy Johnson--Mingus Speaks provides a wealth of new perspectives on the musician's life and career. As a writer for Playboy, John F. Goodman reviewed Mingus's comeback concert in 1972 and went on to achieve an intimacy with the composer that brings a relaxed and candid tone to the ensuing interviews. Much of what Mingus shares shows him in a new light: his personality, his passions and sense of humor, and his thoughts on music. The conversations are wide-ranging, shedding fresh light on important milestones in Mingus's life such as the publication of his memoir, Beneath the Underdog, the famous Tijuana episodes, his relationships, and the jazz business.
Ministry
by Al JourgensenMinistry is a memoir both ugly and captivating, revealing Al Jourgensen as a man who lived a hard life his own way without making compromises. He survived prolonged drug addiction--twenty-two years of chronic heroin, cocaine, and alcohol abuse, to be more precise--before cleaning up, straightening out, and finding new reasons to live.During his career, Jourgensen has engaged in all of the rock 'n' roll clichés regarding decadence and debauchery and invented new forms of previously unachieved nihilism. Despite this and his addictions, he created seven seminal albums, including the bonafide, hugely influential classic The Land of Rape and Honey, 1989's The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste, and 1992's blockbuster Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed.Ministry imparts the epic life of Al Jourgensen, a survivor who tempted fate, beat the odds, persevered, and put the pieces back together after unraveling completely.
Minor Ballet Composers: Biographical Sketches of Sixty-Six Underappreciated Yet Significant Contributors to the Body of West
by William E Studwell Bruce R SchuenemanWhile most music lovers are familiar with the famous scores of Tchaikovsky, Delibes, and Stravinsky, many other lesser-known composers also wrote for the ballet. Several of these composers wrote almost exclusively for the ballet--and all enriched the world of dance. Minor Ballet Composers presents biographical sketches of 66 underappreciated ballet composers of the 19th and 20th centuries from around the world, along with selected stories from the ballets they helped create. While the composers’contributions to ballet music are emphasized, all aspects of their lives and works are touched upon. Plot summaries and excerpts from reviews of many of the ballets are also provided. Other topics of interest you’ll find covered in Minor Ballet Composers include: Les Six: Darius Milhaud, Louis Durey, Georges Auric, Arthur Honegger, Francis Poulenc, and Germaine Tailleferre--and their relationship with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau how politics, revolutions, and wars have affected composers and their works who studied with whom; who collaborated with whom schools, movements, and musical renaissance the importance of opera to ballet music the relationship between film scores and ballet music which books, plays, stories, and folk tales certain ballets are based upon where many of these ballets premieredMinor Ballet Composers emphasizes the importance of second-tier composers and their influence on the rich tradition of music written for the dance (though in some cases the music was appropriated for the ballet from other original designs). The gathering of these composers in a single volume in appreciation of their ballet music, with a glossary of choreographers and an index of ballet titles, makes this book a useful volume for ballet aficionados, music librarians, musicians, and others interested in dance and dance music.
Minor Scale Guitar Licks: 10 Original Funk Blues Licks with Audio & Video (Modal Guitar Licks #6)
by Gareth Evans10 original funk blues guitar licks from the Minor scale in tablature and notation for the progressing guitarist at intermediate level and above. >> 55 bars of music over 10 licks (average lick length 5.5 bars) >> Video at full speed & Audio at full & half speed (Downloadable) >> Backing tracks at full and slower practise speeds (Downloadable) >> Scale diagrams with theory and technique tips for each lick >> Guitar tablature has picking directions & fretting finger guide numbers Please Note: This eBook has written music and is not suitable for smaller screens.
The Minstrel's Melody (American Girl History Mysteries #11)
by Eleanora E. TateIn 1904, twelve-year-old Orphelia follows her dream by running away from home to join an all-black minstrel show headed for the Saint Louis World's Fair, and learns about her family's troubled past in the process.
The Minstrel's Tale
by Berit HaahrThirteen-year-old Judith of Nesscliff is a talented musician. If she had her way, she’d spend her life composing and playing. But in the England of the fourteenth century, girls can’t be musicians. Besides, Judith’s stepfather has decided it’s time she was married. It doesn’t matter that her husband is at least thirty years her senior and already has five daughters— some of them older than Judith; her stepfather thinks it’s a good match. Judith doesn’t agree. Disguised in boy’s clothing, Judith becomes Jude and runs away from home. With only a falcon for company, she sets out on a 200-mile journey, hoping to become one of the King’s Minstrels. Along the way, she is attacked by thieves and forced to fend off the advances of a young woman who thinks “Jude” would make an ideal husband. Through it all, Judith must chart a path that will allow her to live the life she longs for--and find love as well. Set against the colorful backdrop of medieval England, Berit Haahr’s first novel introduces an independent heroine who refuses to give up her dreams no matter what others expect of her. Ages 12 and up
Miracle
by Karen S. ChowA glittering debut about life and loss that follows Amie as she learns to heal and move forward over the course of a life-changing year, for fans of When You Trap a Tiger and The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. Amie has spent her life perfectly in tune with Ba-ba, her father—she plays the violin, his favorite instrument; she loves all his favorite foods, even if he can&’t eat them during his cancer treatments; and they talk about books, including Amie&’s favorite series, Harry Potter. But after Ba-ba dies, Amie feels distanced from everyone close to her, like her mother and her best friends, Rio and Bella. More devastating still, she loses her ability to play the violin—the notes that used to flow freely are now stilted and sharp. Will Amie ever find her way back to the music she once loved? With hope and harmony lighting the way—and with help from the people who care about her most—Amie must find the strength to carry on. In the end, she&’ll learn that healing, while painful, can be its own miraculous song. Praise for Miracle: "A beautifully written debut about family, friendship, and life after loss. Miracle will be a miracle for the readers who need it." —Dusti Bowling, bestselling author of Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus and The Canyon's Edge "A symphony of loss and healing that's certain to tug at your heartstrings." —Cindy Baldwin, author of Where the Watermelons Grow "Genuine, sincere, authentic—this book is a gift to readers." —Mary E. Lambert, author of Family Game Night and Other Catastrophes
Mirror in the Sky: The Life and Music of Stevie Nicks
by Simon MorrisonA stunning musical biography of Stevie Nicks that paints a portrait of an artist, not a caricature of a superstar. Reflective and expansive, Mirror in the Sky situates Stevie Nicks as one of the finest songwriters of the twentieth century. This biography from distinguished music historian Simon Morrison examines Nicks as a singer and songwriter before and beyond her career with Fleetwood Mac, from the Arizona landscape of her childhood to the strobe-lit Night of 1000 Stevies celebrations. The book uniquely: Analyzes Nicks's craft—the grain of her voice, the poetry of her lyrics, the melodic and harmonic syntax of her songs.Identifies the American folk and country influences on her musical imagination that place her within a distinctly American tradition of women songwriters.Draws from oral histories and surprising archival discoveries to connect Nicks's story to those of California's above- and underground music industries, innovations in recording technology, and gendered restrictions.
Mirror to Mirror
by Rajani LaRoccaRajani LaRocca, recipient of a Newbery Honor and Walter Award for Red, White, and Whole, is back with an evocative novel in verse about identical twin sisters who do everything together—until external pressures threaten to break them apart.Maya is the pragmatic twin, but her secret anxiety threatens to overwhelm her.Chaya is the outgoing twin. When she sees her beloved sister suffering, she wants to tell their parents—which makes Maya feel completely betrayed. With Maya shutting her out, Chaya makes a dramatic change to give her twin the space she seems to need. But that’s the last thing Maya wants, and the girls just drift further apart.The once-close sisters can’t seem to find their rhythm, so they make a bet: they’ll switch places at their summer camp, and whoever can keep the ruse going longer will get to decide where they both attend high school—the source of frequent arguments. But stepping into each other’s shoes comes with its own difficulties, and the girls don’t know how they’re going to make it.This emotional, lyrical story will speak to fans of Ali Benjamin, Padma Venkatraman, and Jasmine Warga.
Mis pedazos rotos: Sanando las heridas del abuso sexual a través de la fé, la familia y el amor
by Rosie RiveraPor ser la más pequeña de los Rivera, Rosie estuvo rodeada de amor incondicional, apoyo y afecto, y no había nada que su familia no habría hecho por ella, en particular su hermana Jenni, quien, para Rosie, era lo más importante en el mundo. Con una fuerte voluntad y principios sólidos, Rosie estaba lista para conquistar el mundo. Sin embargo, su vida daría un vuelco drástico cuando Rosie fue marcada por el abuso sexual del que fue objeto dentro de su familia a una muy temprana edad. Viviendo con miedo y oprimida por secretos dolorosos, estuvo agobiada por amenazas constantes, confusión y dolor. No sólo le fue arrebatada su infancia, sino también su confianza y su autoestima. Sintiéndose completamente hecha pedazos y perdida, Rosie se hundió en un mundo de hábitos destructivos y en una profunda depresión.Por primera vez y con inquebrantable franqueza y valentía, Rosie comparte los traumáticos detalles de los abusos que sufrió, de su lucha diaria para salir adelante y de cómo gracias al cariño de su familia encontró, una vez más, el amor. Pero aún así, poco después la vida de Rosie sería duramente impactada otra vez cuando fue sacudida por la peor tragedia que podría haber imaginado y su más mayor miedo se hizo realidad: la muerte de su amada hermana.En la misma medida desgarradora y edificante, la historia de Rosie constituye un testimonio verídico sobre la superación de la adversidad y una muestra de que a pesar de vivir los peores momentos posibles y sin importar cuántos retos se presenten en la vida, es siempre posible sobreponerse a las desgracias y encontrar la fuerza y la voluntad necesarias para soñar y vivir nuevamente. CON FOTOGRAFÍASPrólogo de Mryka Dellanos.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Misogyny, Toxic Masculinity, and Heteronormativity in Post-2000 Popular Music (Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender)
by Glenn Fosbraey Nicola PuckeyThis book presents chapters that have been brought together to consider the multitude of ways that post-2000 popular music impacts on our cultures and experiences. The focus is on misogyny, toxic masculinity, and heteronormativity. The authors of the chapters consider these three concepts in a wide range of popular music styles and genres; they analyse and evaluate how the concepts are maintained and normalized, challenged, and rejected. The interconnected nature of these concepts is also woven throughout the book. The book also seeks to expand the idea of popular music as understood by many in the West to include popular music genres from outside western Europe and North America that are often ignored (for example, Bollywood and Italian hip hop), and to bring in music genres that are inarguably popular, but also sit under other labels such as rap, metal, and punk.
Miss Misery
by Andy GreenwaldOnce I started, I couldn't stop. It felt like falling down the stairs.... Meet David Gould: abandoned by his girlfriend, pushing the deadline for his first book, tormented by writer's block, and obsessed with the impossibly sexy, overwhelmingly alive diaries young people keep online. Outside it's a beautiful, Brooklyn summer. But inside his apartment David is sleeping in, screening calls, draining beer after beer, and dreaming of Miss Misery -- aka twenty-two-year-old provocateur Cath Kennedy -- a total stranger with impeccable music taste and an enviable nightlife. Now meet David Gould online. Here, in his fictional diary, he's a downtown DJ and an inveterate night owl, drinking and charming countless girls until the sun comes up. But when Miss Misery moves to New York City and begins canoodling with an insufferable hipster, David's diary mysteriously begins updating itself. The reason? David Gould has a doppelgänger, an obnoxious shadow set on claiming David's newly glamorous life as his own. Even worse for David, the phone calls from his editor are becoming increasingly desperate, and the voice mails from his girlfriend -- an ocean away -- are becoming more and more distant. And then there are all of the instant messages from seventeen-year-old Ashleigh Bortch, an emo kid in Salt Lake City with an inappropriate crush on David and a knack for showing up at precisely the wrong time. Forced out of his apartment, David Gould is facing the fight of his life. With humor, heart, and a vibrant, genre-jumping soundtrack, Andy Greenwald captures the essence of what it means to be young and struggling with identity in the new century. From cyberspace to nightclub bathrooms, from New York City to Utah, Miss Misery is a fast-paced, funny story about the timeless need to become the main character in your own life.
Miss O'Dell
by Chris O'Dell Katherine KetchamCHRIS O'DELL WASN'T FAMOUS. SHE WASN'T EVEN ALMOST FAMOUS. BUT SHE WAS THERE. * She was in the studio when the Beatles recorded The White Album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be, and she sang in the "Hey Jude" chorus. * She lived with George Harrison and Pattie Boyd and unwittingly got involved in Pattie's famous love story with Eric Clapton. * She's the subject of Leon Russell's "Pisces Apple Lady." * She worked for the Rolling Stones on their infamous 1972 tour and did a drug run for Keith Richards. * She's "the woman down the hall" in Joni Mitchell's song "Coyote," the "mystery woman" pictured on the Stones album Exile on Main Street, and the "Miss O'Dell" of George Harrison's song. The remarkable, intimate story of an ordinary woman who lived the dream of millions--to be part of rock royalty's inner circle--Miss O'Dell is a backstage pass to some of the most momentous events in rock history.
Miss Shirley Bassey
by John L. WilliamsFrom "Hot from Harlem" to "Goldfinger," the story of how a two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff became an immortal icon: In 1954, Shirley Bassey was seventeen years old. She had just returned from a cheesy revue tour called "Hot from Harlem". Depressed, disillusioned and four months' pregnant, she decided that her dream of being a professional singer was over. A mere ten years later, she was one of the biggest stars in the world. She had sold more records than any other British singer of the day, and was poised to conquer America. Her latest hit, "Goldfinger", was the theme tune to the year's blockbuster film. No longer the two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff, she was by now an international sex siren, as glamorous and unreal as Bond himself.Miss Shirley Bassey explores this remarkable transformation, both of an individual and of the British society and British psyche that made it possible. From the vibrant, multicultural oasis of Tiger Bay in the Cardiff docklands through the club-lands of Soho and Las Vegas to New York's Carnegie Hall, it is a journey from mere mortal to international icon. Along the way she would encounter homosexual husbands, predatory managers, newspaper scandals, and a range of friends and acquaintances from Sammy Davis Jr. to Reggie Kray.John L. Williams draws on original research and interviews to provide a portrait of a young woman on the cusp of stardom, whose rise to fame was in many ways symbolic of a changing world. Brilliantly written non-fiction in the style of David Peace's The Damned Utd or Nick Tosches' Dino, this is the story of a woman who set out to be extraordinary and--against all the odds--succeeded.