Christopher Sandford Livres

Drawing from exclusive sources - including interviews with former members of Eric Clapton's bands - this biography of one of rock's most enigmatic figures explores Clapton's troubled childhood, drug addiction and alcoholism, and many glamorous affairs.

A fresh account of one of history's most notorious con artists by an acclaimed biographer

Following a successful career with The Police in the 1970s and 80s, Sting (born Gordon Sumner) has forged an equally successful solo career. This biography considers his life and work, including his film and Broadway roles, and his support for social and environmental causes.

A full and frank portrait of the complex man behind the icon of cool.

When he first came before a judge in the 1960s, Keith Richards heard himself described as "a moron" and read newspaper headlines announcing UGLY LOOKS! UGLY SPEECH! UGLY MANNERS! Yet Richards's strangely flamboyant personality, filled with eccentricities and contradictions, suggested a more complex character than the "elegantly wasted" junkie who wrote and played the Rolling Stones' best-known songs. In an industry notorious for its high burnout rate, Keith Richards remains a legendary survivor. This candid look at the Rolling Stones legend is being published in conjunction with Richard's sixtieth birthday celebration. Keith Richards: Satisfaction looks at the career of a man who was as admired as he was feared. In this behind-the-scenes story, employing dozens of new sources, the author charts the life and music of the shy, half-educated boy from Dartford, the writer of pop classics like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Ruby Tuesday," and "Brown Sugar"; the kohl-eyed drug addict slumped on his mattress throne at the Ritz Hotel, and the more recently contented family man who nonetheless continues to be rock's most indomitable living practitioner. It's a hard, fast, sometimes shocking saga of a flawed but wildly creative life.

The definitive story of the most controversial and longest-surviving band in music history In order to accurately chronicle the human drama at the center of the Rolling Stones story, the author of this book has carried out interviews with band members; close family members, including Mick's parents; and the group's fans and contemporaries. He has even examined their previously unreleased FBI files. In 1962 Mick Jagger was a bright, well-scrubbed boy planning a career in the civil service, while Keith Richards was learning how to smoke and swivel a six-shooter. Add the mercurial Brian Jones—who'd been effectively run out of Cheltenham for theft, multiple impregnations, and playing blues guitar—and the wryly opinionated Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, and the potential was obvious.During the 1960s and '70s the Stones were polarizing figures, alternately admired and reviled for their flamboyance, creativity, and salacious lifestyles. Confidently expected never to reach 30, they now approach their seventies having been together for 50 years. Like no other book before, this history makes sense of the rich brew of clever invention and opportunism; talent, good fortune, insecurity, and self-destructiveness; and drugs, sex, and other excess that made the Stones who they are.

Sir Paul McCartney first picked up a guitar as a bereaved teenager in 1956. In the fifty years since he's become the most successful pop music composer in history, enjoying a virtual season ticket to the Guinness Book of Records. McCartney's ballad Yesterday, which he wrote in his sleep, has since been covered by 2,400 other artists - making it the most popular song of all time.Now Christopher Sandford reveals the man behind the myth... Among the eye-opening stories is the surprising love-hate relationship with John Lennon, not to mention with Lennon's widow, as well as an insider's account of McCartney's controversial marriage to Heather Mills. Likeswise, Sir Paul's restless creativity - both mainstream and avant-garde - his second group and his marriage to the late Linda McCartney are seen here in fresh and stunning detail.This behind the scenes story takes readers right up to today, as Sir Paul passes his 64th birthday. It's a hard, fast, sometimes shocking saga of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll - the true adventure of the last showbiz superstar.

Touted by fans for his charisma and scorned by critics for his egomania, Sting is one of the most commercially successful and most controversial rock artists performing today. A schoolteacher from Newcastle, Sting soared to international fame and the top of the seventies rock charts with The Police, one of the most popular bands on the planet. After the band folded, he emerged as a solo start with hit singles, critically acclaimed albums, worldwide sell-out tours, and a host of Grammys. Yet Sting's career has been turbulent — an accomplished jazz bassist and vastly talented musician, he has been charged with playing punk and reggae for careerist convenience. He has been accused of single-handedly breaking up The Police at the peak of its rock band powers. In this updated edition of the first full-length biography of Sting, Christopher Sandford examines the substance behind the cliché: the creative disagreements — and physical violence — among The Police; the musical intelligence that produced such albums as Nothing Like the Sun and Ten Summoner's Tales; Sting's ecological campaigning and financial dealings; and his numerous sexual entanglements. Here is Sting, the legend, the man, the political activist, the performer who continues to fascinate the world.

This biography of David Bowie looks at his life from his deprived and manic childhood through to international stardom via androgyny, drug addiction and finally, critical acclaim. His various personae, including Ziggy Stardust and the Thin White Duke are explored.

Here is the first biography to explore, with shocking detail, the drama that formed this troubled, tragic rock star. Neither an apology nor a condemnation, Kurt Cobain presents a vivid insider's view of the life and death of a man who galvanized a generation and gave birth to the "grunge" revolution with his band Nirvana. Sandford portrays the provocative, small-town rebel with the talent of John Lennon, and then shows him at work on concert stages in Seattle, New York, and London. Readers follow the struggles of Cobain's emotional life—his tumultuous relationships with family and his fellow band members, his drug addiction and sexual appetite, his stormy marriage to Courtney Love, and the birth of his daughter, who, as Cobain wrote in his suicide note, "reminds me too much of who I used to be." During his research, Sandford has had access to Cobain's family, his colleagues, his former friends and lovers, and even author William S. Burroughs, whom Cobain considered to be his "greatest influence." The result is a graphic account of the life that led to the day in April 1994 when Cobain turned a shotgun on himself and became a martyr to disaffected youth around the world.

Nel 1975 un ragazzo amante del pop ha fatto il suo ultimo tentativo di raggiungere la fama con un album chiamato BORN TO RUN! Da quel momento, Bruce Springsteen ha mantenuto il suo posto come icona culturale. I suoi album rivoluzionari come BORN IN THE USA continuano a ricevere ampio airplay. Nel frattempo, Springsteen ha costruito una seconda carriera come critico sociale, cantautore e fornitore di colonne sonore. Il suo lavoro, che è stato reinterpretato da artisti come Frank Sinatra e Sonic Youth, vende annualmente un totale di 15 milioni di album. I suoi concerti sono immediatamente sold out in tutto il mondo. Gli inconfondibili inni di Springsteen e la sua voce potente sono tra i suoni più duraturi della musica pop. Da figura di culto a icona (noto come 'The Boss') a guru delle vendite, Springsteen è l'ultimo vero rock star. La biografia di Christopher Sandford è la prima biografia completa in dieci anni.

Kromě výpovědí samotného Jaggera, líčení drogových afér a milostných skandálů, strhujícího popu "odvrácené tváře" života rockových muzikantů - vyčerpávající dřiny šňůr koncertů a klubových vystoupení - v ní zazní unikátní vzpomínky Jaggerových rodičů, spolužáků, manažera, Keitha Richardse a jiných... Zvědavci se tu dočtou o Jaggerových aférách s Brigitte Bardotovou a Tinou Turnerovou, mrazivé je svědectví o chátrání a smrti Briana Jonese....

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