Daryl Easlea

Relive the incredible history of the King of Pop - in reverse - with Michael Jackson: Rewind. By the time Michael Jackson passed away in 2009, he had sold an estimated 750 million records worldwide over his career; He had won 26 American Music awards and 13 Grammy awards as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and was ranked number three, after The Beatles and Elvis Presley, of best-selling music artists. Five years after his death, the net worth of his estate is more than 600 million dollars. He is, without a doubt, one of the most popular - and controversial - artists of all time. Now, for the first time ever, author Daryl Easlea will explore the life and history of Michael Jackson...in reverse. Starting with his tragic death and rewinding to his early hits with the Jackson 5 and life in Gary, Indiana, this is a complete illustrated history of the King of Pop: his genius, his life, and his demons. Loaded with over 300 images, a timeline of his life, a complete discography, and more, this is the must-have book for any Michael Jackson fan.

The Life and Legacy of Pop Music's King

Michael Jackson: Rewind

He became famous with Genesis but simply to call Peter Gabriel a pop star would be to sell him very short indeed. A quintessential Englishman, he has since pursued several overlapping careers, bringing to each of them his trademark preoccupation with quality control and restless curiosity. In 1975, after leaving the band that made him famous he diversified into writing movie soundtracks, various audio-visual ventures, tireless charity work and supporting major peace initiatives. He also became world music’s most illustrious champion, launching the WOMAD festival and recording solo albums that featured musicians from every corner of the globe. These and several other careers make writing Peter Gabriel’s biography an unusually challenging task, but Daryl Easlea has undertaken hours of new interviews with key friends, musicians, aides and confidants to get to the very heart and soul of Peter Gabriel, his music and his complex life. The result is an extraordinary biography of an extraordinary man.

Without Frontiers: The Life & Music of Peter Gabriel

He became famous with Genesis but simply to call Peter Gabriel a pop star would be to sell him very short indeed. Peter Gabriel has pursued several overlapping careers; neither becoming a parody of his past self nor self-consciously seeking new images, he instead took his creativeness and perfectionism into fresh fields. In 1975 he diversified into film soundtracks and audio-visual ventures, while engaging in tireless charity work and supporting major peace initiatives. He has also become world music’s most illustrious champion since launching WOMAD festival. These, and several other careers, make writing Peter Gabriel’s biography an unusually challenging task, but Daryl Easlea has undertaken countless hours of interviews with key friends, musicians, aides and confidants. Updated and revised for 2018, Without Frontiers gets to the heart of the psychological threads common to so many of Gabriel’s disparate endeavours and in the end a picture emerges: an extraordinary picture of an extraordinary man. Extra features include integrated Spotify playlists, charting the best of Genesis’ output with Peter Gabriel, as well as an interactive digital timeline of his life, filled with pictures and videos of lives performances, interviews and more. ‘The peculiar, white-lipped dynamic between Gabriel and his erstwhile Charterhouse chums in Genesis is vividly evoked’ – Record Collector ‘A truly wonderful biography of one of the most amazing artists of our time. Highly recommended.’ – Douglas Harr, author of ‘Rockin’ the City of Angels’

When LA musicians Russell and Ron Mael moved to Britain in 1973, they hit the pop world as Sparks and looked like oddballs, even in the context of the glam rock movement that made them welcome. Soon defined by their weird and wonderful 1974 single This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us from the Kimono My House album, Sparks have now released 22 albums over four decades, each record inhabiting a bizarre world of its own. Their songs were peppered with puns and pop culture nods, as well as nostalgia and jokey images, all mixed up in a kaleidoscope of musical references ranging from rock to opera to disco. They remain one of pop music's truly original and uncompromising acts. The Sparks story is now celebrated in this unauthorised book, Daryl Easlea's exploration of their extraordinary drawing on hours of new interviews and research. Talent Is An Asset comes as close as possible to pinning down the quicksilver nature of two gifted musicians who have gone out of their way to remain unpredictable and elusive, forever entrenched behind a dazzling gallery of jokes, impersonations and musical eccentricities.

Talent Is An Asset: The Story Of Sparks

Darren Henley

The definitive, lavishly illustrated, history of one of the major record labels of all time Decca is one of the great global names in recorded music. From pioneering techniques that revolutionised classical recording, to the 1960s and 70s pop explosion, through to the classical revival in the 1990s and 2000s, the sheer diversity and range of Decca's story and its influence on 20th- and 21st-century music is unparalleled: from Vera Lynn to the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Luciano Pavarotti and the Three Tenors, to today's crossover superstars such as Andrea Bocelli and Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Featuring rare photography and never-seen-before archival material, this sumptuously produced history includes twelve chapters covering: Decca's Foundation (Andrew Stewart); American Decca (Lois Wilson); Decca and the Second World War (Dr Tony Wakeford); The Decca Sound (Michael Gray); Decca's Golden Years (Paul Moseley); The Pop Years 1956-68 (Jon Savage); Decca Beyond Pop and Classical (Louis Barfe); Stones, Smurfs, Splodgenessabounds (Daryl Easlea); The Three Tenors (Adam Sweeting); Russell Watson and the 21st Century (Sam Jackson); Decca Today and Tomorrow (Tom Lewis); Essential Recordings. Full of lively anecdotes and insights into the label's broader contribution to culture, Decca: The Supreme Record Company is a treat for collectors, aficionados, and anyone fascinated by the development of modern music.

The Supreme Record Company: the Story of Decca Records 1929-2019

Decca

You Haven't Seen the Last of Me

Cher

Crazy in Love explores the astonishing life and career of Beyoncé Knowles, the Texan teenager who rose from performing in hometown backyards to being the most recognisable face on the planet. Beyoncé now towers above the entertainment industry – Music, film, fashion. She has released critically acclaimed albums one after the other, and, alongside partner Jay-Z, forms half of one of the most powerful couples in the world. This exciting and revealing portrait delves into the key events of her life, her music and her marriage to uncover true person behind the persona. Crazy in Love is essential reading for any fan. “At this point, I really know who I am, and don’t feel like I have to put myself in a box. I’m not afraid of taking risks – no one can define me.” Beyoncé

Crazy in Love: The Beyoncé Knowles Biography

Colin Salter

Chris Charlesworth

Eddi Fiegel

Simon Spence

Bryan Reesman

Thirty homes are featured inside and their stars homeowners are history?s best from the 1950s through today. Elvis Presley, the Beatles, David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Prince, Sonny & Cher, Elton John plus more.

Rock Stars at Home

Chronicles Cher's career in show business, which spans over fifty years, from her breakthrough with Sonny Bono in the 1960s to her big-screen successes of the 1980s to her comeback in the 2010 motion picture "Burlesque."

All I Really Want to Do

Few narratives in pop encompass Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Madonna, Duran Duran, Diana Ross, Johnny Mathis and Led Zeppelin. This story is one of them. Chic, led by former Black Panther activist Nile Rodgers and down-home family man Bernard Edwards, are one of the most underrated and pivotal acts in African-American musical history. As artists, they created a discrete R&B sound that just happened to coincide with the disco movement. At the height of their fame, they either released or produced a string of era-defining records but when disco collapsed, so did Chic's popularity. The group quietly called it a day in 1983. However, Rodgers and Edwards individually produced some of the great pop-dance records of the 80s, working with David Bowie, Robert Palmer, Madonna, Duran Duran and ABC, among many others. Everybody Dance puts the rise and fall of Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, the emblematic disco duo behind era-defining records "Le Freak," "Good Times," and "Lost In Music," at the heart of a changing landscape, taking in sociopolitical and cultural events such as the Civil Rights struggle, the Black Panthers, and the U.S. oil crisis. There are drugs, bankruptcy, uptight artists, fights, and Muppets but, most importantly, an in-depth appraisal of a group whose legacy remains hugely underrated.

Chic and the Politics of Disco

Everybody Dance

His time as lead singer of Genesis from its inception until he left in 1975 for a successful solo career as a singer-songwriter, soundtrack composer and innovator in visual presentation of music, music videos and digital methods of recording and distributing music. How he became well known as an anti-Apartheid activist, for his efforts to bring different styles of international music to the attention of the West by establishing the WOMAD (World of Music, Arts and Dance) Festival, his own Real World label and recording studios as well as the addition of world music performers and styles into his own music. His extensive work for Amnesty International as well as many other humanitarian efforts, such as founding his own human rights organization Witness.

The Life and Music of Peter Gabriel

Without Frontiers

The life and times of the quintessential disco band.

Daryl Easlea

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