Music

From the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us....

In honor of the 10-year anniversary of The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx’s definitive and bestselling memoir on drug addiction is now available on audio for the first time, read by Nikki Sixx....

A smart, funny, and refreshingly candid memoir from Mark Hoppus, the vocalist, bassist, and founding member of pop-punk band blink-182. Narrated in his own voice, the audiobook offers an intimate and immersive experience that fans won’t want to miss.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney knew each other for twenty-three years, from 1957 to 1980. This book is the myth-shattering biography of a relationship that changed the cultural history of the world.

A sweeping and evocative memoir from the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Grammy Award-winning, platinum selling singer-songwriter Michael McDonald, written with his friend, Emmy Award-nominated actor, comedian, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Paul Reiser....

A fast-paced, tender-hearted rock ’n’ roll memoir for the ages, Mike Campbell’s Heartbreaker is part rags-to-riches story and part raucous, seat-of-the-pants adventure, recounting Campbell’s life and times as lead guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

In this intimate and open account—nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you’ve ever read—Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and band mate.

Dave Grohl’s The Storyteller created a sensation when it was initially published, becoming a global bestseller and thrilling fans and critics alike....

A no-nonsense and helpful guide on how to cope with a slew of mental-health issues that are hell-bent on ruining the lives of millions of people worldwide....

A rollicking, effusive, and candid memoir by the heavy metal musician and founding member of Black Sabbath, Into the Void covers his years as the band’s bassist and main lyricist through his later-career projects, and detailing how one of rock’s most influential bands formed and prevailed....

In this incisive memoir, Steve Lukather tells the complete Toto story. Frank, engaging, and often hilarious, The Gospel According to Luke is no ordinary rock memoir. It is the real thing....

Jessica reveals for the first time her inner monologue and most intimate struggles. Guided by the journals she's kept since age 15, and brimming with her unique humor and down-to-earth humanity, Open Book is as inspiring as it is entertaining....

Celebrate over 30 years of the world's most notorious rock band with the audiobook edition of The Dirt - the outrageous, legendary, no-holds-barred autobiography of Mötley Crüe....

In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl's halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it....

A stunningly candid and inspiring memoir of recovery from addiction and the '90s, by Hole drummer Patty Schemel....

All You Need to Know About the Music Business has been universally regarded as the definitive guide to the music industry. Now Passman leads novices and experts alike through what has been the most profound change in the music business since the days of wax cylinders and piano rolls: streaming....

Now at last, Keith Richards pauses to tell his story in the most anticipated autobiography in decades....

Filled with never-before-seen photos and art throughout, the much-anticipated autobiography from rock icon and lead singer of Blondie Debbie Harry....

As a member of Big in Japan, The Slits and, most famously, Siouxsie and The Banshees and The Creatures, 'Budgie' became one of the era-defining drummers in the much-mythologised post punk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Geddy Lee is one of rock and roll's most respected bassists. For nearly five decades, his playing and work as co-writer, vocalist and keyboardist has been an essential part of the success story of Canadian progressive rock trio Rush....

In his first and only official autobiography, music icon Elton John reveals the truth about his extraordinary life, from his roller-coaster lifestyle as shown in the film Rocketman, to becoming a living legend....

Singer-songwriter. Trailblazer. Mastermind. The Beatles of her generation. From her genre-busting rise in country music as a teenager to the economic juggernaut that is the Eras Tour, Taylor Swift has blazed a path that is uniquely hers.

An inspirational audiobook by self-made musical superstar Russ, reminding you that it starts with you, to believe in yourself, and to get out of your own way....

A Recorded Books Audio Original production of songs and stories performed by Dolly herself, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics goes beyond the glitz, glamour, and rhinestones to the warmth, heart, and soul of a treasured pop-culture icon....

Lead singer-lyricist of Grammy award-winning metal band System Of A Down Serj Tankian presents listeners with a memoir that is far more than just a rock 'n' roll fable. It's an immigrant's tale, it’s an activist's awakening, and it's a spiritual journey from darkness toward light....

As a member of Big in Japan, The Slits and, most famously, Siouxsie and The Banshees and The Creatures, 'Budgie' became one of the era-defining drummers in the much-mythologised post punk scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. A man and musician whose creativity and singular style came to define the goth-pop 1980s as much as any other individual, Budgie's life is both fabulously glamorous and a tawdry cautionary tale. For the first time the story of this most exalted and mysterious of bands has been told by one who survived inside the belly of the beast.

Blood Harmony: The Everly Brothers Story is the first biography that’s focused on the dramatic, complicated relationship of these two famous and strikingly talented brothers, and explores how the evolution of their relationship played out in the much- loved music they created—through some sixty years of performing. Their story is the story of American music, from their rural Kentucky origins to massive international fame, falling out of fashion in the wake of the rise of rock bands and singer-songwriters, and their many comebacks.

When Paul McCartney closed Live Aid in July of 1985, we thought he was rock's Grand Old Man. He was forty-three years old. As the forty years since have shown, he—and many others of his generation—were just getting started. This was the time when live performance took over from records. The big names of the '60s and '70s exploited the Age of Spectacle that Live Aid had ushered in to enjoy the longest lap of honor in the history of humanity, continuing to go strong long after everyone else in the business had retired.

Before recordings, before microphones, before jazz had a name—there was Butler “String Beans” May. Standing Up Singing is a bold, lyrical excavation of one of America’s greatest unsung performers. At just 24 years old, May had already conquered Black vaudeville, redefined piano comedy, and ignited stages from New Orleans to Chicago. He was wild, brilliant, hilarious, and unrecorded. And then—he vanished. No grave. No obituary. Just whispers. Told through the voice of a weathered jazz sideman who saw it all, this book is a rhythm-driven, soul-deep biography that swings between ...

Jelly Roll Morton was the diamond-toothed pianist from New Orleans who claimed, loudly and often, to be the sole inventor of jazz. Critics dismissed him. Musicians mocked him. Historians forgot him. But Morton’s music—composed with ruthless precision and built on syncopated genius—never lied. Jelly Roll Morton: The Making and Unmaking of America's First Composer of Jazz is the definitive portrait of a man both glorified and ghosted by history. Drawing from over a hundred sources, including Library of Congress recordings, out-of-print interviews, court documents, and rare session logs,...

Stan Getz was more than the saxophone's answer to velvet. He was a man whose tone could make silence ache—and whose life left scorched earth behind every melody. Stan Getz is a hauntingly intimate portrait of one of jazz’s most seductive and self-destructive figures. Drawing from eyewitness accounts, out-of-print interviews, tour diaries, and unreleased session logs, this book strips away the mythology to reveal the man behind the horn: brilliant, broken, cruel, and human. From the Bronx tenements to Parisian clubs, from the cool jazz scenes of L.A. to the fevered studios of Rio, Getz ...

Ghost Notes: The Life and Death of Kansas City Frank unearths one of jazz history’s most mysterious and overlooked figures—Frank Melrose, the gifted sideman who played in the shadows of legends like Jelly Roll Morton, Billie Holiday, and Bix Beiderbecke. While his brothers built music empires, Frank chased down smoke-filled stages, cut bootleg recordings, and lived out a raw, itinerant life that ended violently and anonymously in 1941. Born into a family that shaped the early recording industry, Melrose rejected commerce for pure expression. Under the misleading pseudonym “Kansas City...

Chasing the Eight Bar Rest isn’t a celebration—it’s a confession. It’s the sound of a sideman remembering the years he spent chasing two things: the perfect solo and the next fix. Set during the raw, unruly zenith of American jazz, this memoir takes you inside the rehearsal rooms, flophouses, emergency rooms, and after-hours clubs that defined a generation of players who burned fast and lived between sets, nodding off while the world clapped. This is the real jazz age—not the cleaned-up version. This is Bird strung out backstage. This is a trumpet wrapped in pawn tickets. This is ...

1 BOOK BUT IN 2 PARTS! THIS "HOW TO" BOOK is PART 2!: Guitar Effects—Everything You Wanted to Know in One Book—PART 2: Guitar Effects and Stomp Boxes: How to Use Them and Get the Most Out of Them PART 1 "EFFECT HISTORY, MAKERS, ARTISTS" NOT THIS BOOK BUT ANOTHER, SEPARATE BOOK: Guitar Effects—Everything You Wanted to Know in One(??) Book—PART 1: Effects, Pedals, Stomp Boxes, Rack Mounts, Talk Boxes, Wahs, Vocoders, Preamps, Amp Simulators/Modelers— History, Makers, Artists—is a separate—book(!?) Yeah, yeah, we know—“Everything You Wanted to Know in ONE Book.” Technically...

Philly Joe Jones was more than a drummer—he was the pulse that powered an entire movement. In Papa Jo: The Hi-Hat Prophet Who Swung the Future, dive deep into the explosive, elegant, and often volatile life of one of jazz’s most influential and underappreciated timekeepers. As the rhythmic engine of the Miles Davis Quintet and a defining architect of hard bop, Jones reshaped modern drumming with a signature blend of swagger, structure, and swing. From his tap-dance beginnings in Philadelphia’s street corners to the smoke-filled studios of New York, from addiction and exile to an ...

Louie Bellson wasn’t just a drummer—he was a system. A visionary timekeeper who rewrote the rules from the back of the bandstand, Bellson shaped the sound of American jazz from behind twin bass drums and a quietly radical mind. Precision and Power: The Drumming Gospel of Louie Bellson is the definitive biography of one of the most structurally important drummers of the 20th century—unheralded by the mainstream but revered by the masters. From his teenage design of the double bass drum kit to his groundbreaking work with Duke Ellington’s orchestra, Bellson fused precision, ...

Sid Catlett was never the loudest name in jazz, but he was the pulse behind the greatest to ever play it. Big Sid: The Bridge Between Beats is a deep, unsentimental dive into the life and legacy of one of jazz drumming’s most influential yet overlooked figures. From the streets of Indianapolis to Carnegie Hall, Sid Catlett shaped the language of swing and laid the rhythmic foundation for bebop—not by dominating the stage, but by making every band around him sound better. This richly detailed biography cuts through the clichés and mythologizing to reveal Catlett’s role behind Louis ...

Roy Haynes was never the loudest player onstage, but his silence could swing harder than most drummers’ fills. In Roy Haynes: Precision, Pulse, and the Avoidance of Excess, readers are taken deep into the rhythmic revolution of one of jazz’s most enduring architects. From backing Charlie Parker to subbing for Elvin Jones, Haynes’s career didn’t follow trends—it created them. This biography isn’t a puffed-up tribute or mythologized portrait. It’s a sharp, groove-driven exploration of a drummer who played across nine decades, rewrote the role of the ride cymbal, and refused to ...

Shelly Manne was never the loudest name in jazz, but he was the pulse behind its most essential transformations. From smoky Bronx clubs to the glinting studios of Hollywood, Shelly Manne: The Pulse of the Pacific uncovers the life and legacy of one of modern music’s most quietly revolutionary drummers. This definitive biography explores how Manne redefined what it meant to be a jazz drummer—anchoring bold experiments in West Coast jazz while becoming an invisible architect behind countless film scores, from The Pink Panther to Peter Gunn. Backed by Miles, Monk, and Kenton, and revered ...

Klook: The Blueprint of Bop is the definitive portrait of Kenny Clarke—the quiet revolutionary who redefined jazz drumming from the back of the bandstand. Known simply as “Klook,” Clarke wasn’t just another timekeeper. He was the architect behind bebop’s rhythmic evolution, shifting time from the bass drum to the ride cymbal, and dropping bass bombs that exploded the role of the drummer in modern music. From the smoky clubs of Pittsburgh to the after-hours crucible of Minton’s Playhouse, Clarke forged a new language alongside Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker....

Twist a Knob, Stomp a Switch, & Crank It to Eleven — This Is the Guitar Effects Book You’ve Been Waiting For Ever wonder where fuzz came from? Why Hendrix used the same four effects every night (Fuzzface, Octavia, Uni-vibe, Vox Wah)? (Or why he set his strat on fire?) What the heck a Klon Centaur even is—& why some folks would trade their car for one?? Whether you're a guitarist, tone-chaser, collector, music historian, or just someone who’s stared at a pedalboard & muttered “what does THAT do?”—this book is your all-access pass to the gear, creators, & legends that ...

He played like a machine gun, lived like a prizefighter, and demanded perfection from everyone—especially himself. "Buddy Rich: The Life and Fury" is the definitive biography of the most explosive drummer in history. From child vaudeville prodigy to wartime Marine, from Tommy Dorsey's iron discipline to trading eights with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich carved a path through jazz history on sheer speed, rage, and technical dominance. This unflinching book dives deep into the contradictions of a man both revered and feared—an artist who transformed the drum solo into a ...

Art Blakey didn’t just play the drums—he commanded them like artillery. Hard Bop General: The Rhythm Doctrine of Art Blakey is a thunderous biography written in the voice of a 1950s Black jazz drummer who lived the life, not just watched it. This is not a sanitized museum piece. It’s a front-row seat to the chaos, genius, and ferocity of one of jazz’s most uncompromising bandleaders. From the smoke-filled clubs of Pittsburgh to the world stages of Paris and Tokyo, Blakey turned the drum kit into a pulpit and trained an army of jazz greats along the way. Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, ...

Before Gene Krupa, the drummer was background noise. After Krupa, he was the main event. "Krupa: The Man Who Made Drums Loud Enough to Matter" traces the seismic shift sparked by a restless Polish kid from Chicago’s South Side who turned percussion into performance and rhythm into cultural currency. From his early rebellion against Catholic conservatism to the invention of the modern drum set, Krupa's journey runs through mob-run speakeasies, the seismic swing of Benny Goodman’s orchestra, and the explosive 1938 Carnegie Hall concert that changed jazz forever. The book tracks Krupa’s ...

Rock isn't just music. It's a universal language that has crossed geographical, cultural, and generational boundaries, becoming the heartbeat of modernity. From Chuck Berry's first distorted chord in 1955 to Kurt Cobain's grunge riffs in the '90s, rock has told the story of contemporary humanity with a sincerity and emotional force that no other medium has managed to equal. This book traces forty-six years of musical, social, and technological evolution—a period when rock transformed from a rebellious youth phenomenon into a dominant cultural force. This isn't just about telling the story...

"WHY IS IT THAT SOME PEOPLE PROGRESS IMMENSELY FASTER VS. THE MAJORITY?" The majority, often even with hard practice, can't get half as much done, not even in twice the time, or worse, with no progress at all… ...Now, whatever physical skill you want to drastically improve, like mastering a sport, dancing, or playing an instrument... you’ve probably asked yourself that question. And you might be at a point knowing already that hard work alone and simply doubling your efforts in practice won't necessarily bring you the results you're after. If that’s you... I'm Laido, a Cirque du ...

You don’t have to be young, famous, or even coordinated—just willing to find your rhythm. In And the Beat Goes On, Harold and Carmen Laski take you on a drumming journey like no other. It’s not about perfect technique or music theory jargon. It’s about buckets and joy, soup cans and soul, heartbeat and backbeat. The book starts right in with technique and the foundation of drumming. Throughout the first section of this book, you’ll learn how to drum—clearly, simply, and without intimidation. But as you read on, you'll discover that learning to drum is only the beginning. With ...

There are moments throughout our lives when we discover an artist, an album, a film, or a cultural artifact that leaves a lasting impression, helping inform how we understand the world, and ourselves, moving forward. In No Sense in Wishing, Lawrence Burney explores these profound interactions with incisive and energizing prose, offering us a personal and critical perspective on the people, places, music, and art that transformed him.

Getting High is an illuminating, funny, sometimes shocking reminder of how big a band can get, and how quickly the insanity sets in. Oasis have today sold in excess of 70 million records worldwide. Hewitt's intimate account of this explosive and beloved band, in their prime, is a rock classic and a riveting narrative.

Seattle band, The Gits and their charismatic front person Mia Zapata were on the verge of international rock stardom but on July 7, 1993, days before their third United States tour, Mia Zapata, The Gits twenty-seven-year-old singer-songwriter, was brutally assaulted and murdered by a stranger. Zapata's death sent chilling ripples through progressive communities throughout the United States. She became a cause-celebre for women's rights activists outraged by the brutal killing and lack of law enforcement support.