Search results for ""author simon napier-bell""

Black Vinyl White Powder is the definitive story of the British music industry’s first five decades, as told by its ultimate insider. A key player since the 1960s – whether penning hits for Dusty Springfield, discovering Marc Bolan or managing a series of stellar acts ranging from the Yardbirds to Wham! – Simon Napier-Bell draws on his wealth of contacts and unparalleled personal experience to give an enthralling account of a business that became like no other.From the crazed debauchery of rock megastars like the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin to the ecstasy culture that shaped dance music in the 1980s, Napier-Bell charts the growth of a world in which bad behaviour is not only tolerated but encouraged; where drugs are as important as talent; and where artists are pushed to their mental and physical limits in the name of profit and ego.Filled with the voices of artists, producers, managers and record company execs, Black Vinyl White Powder is the most raucous, entertaining and revealing history of British pop ever written.

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Let legendary rock manager Simon Napier-Bell take you inside the (dodgy) world of popular music – not just a creative industry, but a business that has made people rich beyond their wildest dreams. He balances seductive anecdotes – pulling back the curtain on the gritty and absurd side of the industry – with an insightful exploration of the relationship between creativity and money. This book describes the evolution of the industry from 1713 – the year parliament granted writers ownership over what they wrote – to today, when a global, 100 billion pound industry is controlled by just three major players: Sony, Universal and Warner. Inside you will uncover some little-known facts about the industry, including: How a formula for writing hit songs in the 1900s helped create 50,000 of the best-known songs of all time. How infighting in the American pre-war music industry shut down traditional radio and created an opening for country music, race records and rock'n'roll. How Jewish immigrants and black jazz musicians dancing cheek-to-cheek created a template for all popular music that followed. How rock tours became the biggest, quickest, sleaziest and most profitable ventures the music industry has ever seen. After reading Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay, you'll never listen to music in the same way again.

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“A veteran manager of groups like the Yardbirds, Napier-Bell was just about ready to retire when Wham! fell into his lap…those interested in what goes on backstage and behind the scenes will find Napier-Bell's stories worthwhile and entertaining.” —Publishers WeeklyA gossipy, rollicking music memoir about bringing Wham! to communist China in the ‘80’s—now, in paperbackLondon, 1983. Pop impresario Simon Napier-Bell has had enough. Tired of managing groups, and sick of the constant grief at home, with his two ex-boyfriends bickering and bleeding him dry, he’s ready to give up the music business for good. But before he gets the chance, he falls in love with a new passion: a dynamic young duo, George and Andrew, jointly called Wham!.Soon, he finds himself offering to arrange for Wham! to be the first-ever Western pop group to play in communist China – a masterstroke of publicity which, in one swift move, would make them one of the biggest groups on the planet.What follows is an exciting and unpredictable globe-trotting adventure in the company of a cast of petulant pop stars, shady businessmen and a confusion of spies, students and officials, as Napier-Bell edges closer to inadvertently becoming one of the first Westerners to break down the walls of communist China.As one reviewer put it, “some of it reads like a big, gay Bond thriller.”

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Sour Mouth, Sweet Bottom is the book Simon Napier-Bell’s fans have always hoped he’d write. His previous bestsellers lifted the lid on the industry, combining brilliant analysis with unforgettable stories of fame and wild excess. But those books hardly scratched the surface. Now, at long last, he’s turned the spotlight on himself.From a childhood spent in the cinemas of post-war London and a brief spell playing trumpet in the seedy bars of Montreal, to getting stoned by the pool with Peter Falk and Jack Lemmon in Beverly Hills and co-writing a hit single for Dusty Springfield, this book is a kaleidoscopic sequence of more than sixty episodes drawn from Simon's life that makes most memoirs look like thin gruel by comparison.There are stories of the stellar acts Simon has managed – from the Yardbirds and Marc Bolan to Wham! and Sinéad O'Connor – and there’s also the wisdom gathered from a louche existence of clubs, restaurants, gigs, award ceremonies, bankruptcies, booze and sex, both gay and straight. You could call the book ‘How to Use the Music Industry to Create a Lifestyle’. You might equally call it ‘How to Use Your Lifestyle to Gain Access to the Music Industry’.Either way, Simon pulls no punches, and the result is a frank, funny and fascinating account of a life truly like no other.

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This is both the story of the 50-year battle for equal rights and deeply personal accounts from high profile politicians, comedians, actors and others in the public arena. The book features contributions from David Hockney, Stephen Fry, Julian Clary, Matt Lucas, Matthew Parrish, Simon Callow, Will Young, Sir Derek Jacobi, Tom Robinson, Marc Almond, Sir Elton John, Alain Judd, Simon Callow, Angela Eagle, Baroness Barker, Dan Gillespie Sells, Evan Davis, Jake Graf, Jason Prince, Jon Savage, Lee Tracy, Lord Browne, Lord Cashman, Lord Paddick, Lord Smith, Manny, Mark Mcadam, Mark Wardell, Mathew Todd, Olly Alexander, Paris Lee, Paul Gambaccini, Peter Tachell, QBoy, Shon Faye, Stephanie Hirst, Stephen Amos, Steve Blame, The Reverend Andrew Foreshew-Cain, Tris Penna, Yotan Ottolenhgi and Zoe Lyons and more.

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Let legendary impresario Simon Napier-Bell take you inside the world of popular music: not just a cradle for talent and expression, but a business that has made people rich beyond their wildest dreams. He balances seductive anecdotes – pulling back the curtain on the gritty and absurd side of the industry – with an insightful exploration of the relationship between creativity and money.The Business describes the evolution of the industry from its birth in the eighteenth century to the huge global market it has become today. Inside you will uncover a treasure trove of musical facts, including how a formula for writing hits in the 1900s helped create 50,000 of the best-known songs of all time; how Jewish immigrants and Black jazz musicians dancing cheek-to-cheek established a template for all popular music that followed; and how rock tours became the biggest, quickest, sleaziest and most profitable ventures the industry had ever seen.Read it and you'll never listen to music in the same way again.

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