Entertainment Memoir

With a career spanning over fifty years, Tom Waits remains one of rock’s great enigmas; a chameleon-like survivor who, like Bob Dylan and Neil Young, has achieved long-term success while retaining cult credibility and outsider mystique. Lowside of the Road, by Barney Hoskyns, offers a unique, affectionate and penetrating portrait of Waits spanning from Closing Time to Orphans, and beyond. Based on extensive research and deep critical insight, Hoskyns' definitive account of Waits' life and work is an outstanding exploration of this notoriously private artist and performer.

Everett True, the journalist credited with discovering Nirvana, Hole, Pavement, and Soundgarden, offers an exclusive, insider's account of one of rock's most influential bands. He famously introduced Kurt Cobain to Courtney Love, performed with Nirvana numerous times, and even pushed Kurt onto the stage at the 1992 Reading Festival in a wheelchair. This is the definitive story, told by the only journalist allowed into the Cobain home immediately after Kurt’s death.

As the son that worked by his dad’s side, Brian Proctor was often asked what it was like to grow up as Bob Proctor’s son. In My Father Knew the Secret, Brian answers that question by sharing stories, lessons, and deeply personal experiences, in an easy-to-listen conversation that lets you into the private world of Bob Proctor. You will find many benefits within this audiobook as you learn from behind-the-scenes wisdom and strength.

One of the most infamous names in music history steps forward to reclaim the truth behind the legend, in a raw exploration of the price of fame, the despair born of worldwide humiliation, and the unseen toll of chasing acceptance in a world built on illusion. You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli is the untold story of Fab Morvan, one half of the Grammy-winning pop duo Milli Vanilli, the group that skyrocketed to global superstardom before being consumed by one of the most explosive scandals in music history. For decades, Fab's story was told by others.

Chinatown is the Holy Grail of 1970s cinema. Its twist ending is the most notorious in American film and its closing line of dialogue the most haunting. Here for the first time is the incredible true story of its making. In Sam Wasson's telling, it becomes the defining story of the most colorful characters in the most colorful period of Hollywood history. Here is Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers, as compelling a movie star as there has ever been, embarking on his great, doomed love affair with Anjelica Huston.

One of the most successful music acts of all time, Dire Straits filled stadiums around the world. Their albums sold hundreds of millions of copies and their music - classics like “Sultans of Swing”, “Romeo and Juliet", “Money for Nothing”, and “Brothers in Arms” - is still played on every continent today. There was, quite simply, no bigger band on the planet throughout the '80s. In this powerful and entertaining memoir, founding member John Illsley gives the inside track on the most successful rock band of their time.

After years of gigging everywhere from suburban backyards to dive bars, Van Halen - led by frontman extraordinaire David Lee Roth and guitar virtuoso Edward Van Halen - had the songs, the swagger, and the talent to turn the rock world on its ear. The quartet's classic 1978 debut, Van Halen, sold more than a million copies within months of release and rocketed the band to the stratosphere of rock success.

Perhaps the most unconventional and literally breathtaking father-son story you'll ever read, My Friend Leonard pulls you immediately and deeply into a relationship as unusual as it is inspiring. The father figure is Leonard, the high-living, recovering coke addict, "West Coast Director of a large Italian-American finance firm" (read: mobster) who helped to keep James Frey clean in A Million Little Pieces.

“KnoWhutImean?!” For millions, that one unforgettable phrase defined a generation of laughter—and the man behind it was so much more than Ernest P. Worrell. In this comprehensive biography, Jim Varney’s nephew Justin Lloyd pulls back the curtain on the complex, wildly talented actor who became a pop culture icon. From his early days in Kentucky dreaming of Shakespeare to becoming a beloved fixture in homes across America, Jim’s journey is full of heart, humor, and heartbreak.

For the first time, Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor speaks directly to his fans and shares his worldview about life as a sinner. And Taylor knows how to sin. As a small-town hero in the early '90s, he threw himself into a fierce-drinking, drug-abusing, hard-loving, live-for-the-moment life. Soon Taylor's music exploded, and he found himself rich, wanted, and on the road. His new and ever-more-extreme lifestyle had an unexpected effect, however; for the first time, he began to actively think about what it meant to sin.

Until now there hasn't been a critical, authoritative, in-depth portrait of Metallica. Mick Wall's thoroughly researched, insightful work is enriched by his interviews with band members, record company execs, roadies, and fellow musicians. He tells the story of how a tennis-playing, music-loving Danish immigrant named Lars Ulrich created a band with singer James Hetfield and made his dreams a reality.

Having outlived his bandmates, Marky is the only person who can share the secrets and stories of the Ramones' improbable rise from obtuse beginnings to induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But it wasn't all good times and hit songs, and Marky doesn't shy away from discussing his own struggles.

The first biography to focus exclusively on Angus Young - from his remarkable rise from working-class Glasgow and Sydney to the biggest stages in the world. Angus Young, the cofounder and the last remaining original member of AC/DC, has for more than 40 years been the face, the sound and sometimes the exposed backside of the trailblazing rock band.

The Merchant of Venom traces Don Rickles's career from his rise in the 1950s to a late-in-life resurgence thanks to the Toy Story franchise, his role in Martin Scorsese's Casino, and scores of TV appearances from Carson to Seth Meyers. In the intervening decades, Rickles conquered every medium he worked in, including film, television, and on stage. He was idolized by a generation of younger comedians including Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, and Jay Leno, and performed in the shadow of a shocking open secret: he was the nicest man in town.

Unable to commit to his fiancée of nearly four years - and with no clear understanding of what’s holding him back - Andrew McCarthy finds himself at a crossroads, plagued by doubts that have clung to him for a lifetime. Something in his character has kept him always at a distance, preventing him from giving himself wholeheartedly to the woman he loves and from becoming the father that he knows his children deserve. So before he loses everything he cares about, Andrew sets out to look for answers.

Little Girl Blue is an intimate profile of Karen Carpenter, a girl from a modest Connecticut upbringing who became a Southern California superstar. Karen was the instantly recognizable lead singer of the Carpenters. The top-selling American musical act of the 1970's, they delivered the love songs that defined a generation. Little Girl Blue reveals Karen's heartbreaking struggles with her mother, brother, and husband; the intimate disclosures she made to her closest friends; and much more.

Ian Fraser Kilmister was born on Christmas Eve, 1945. Learning from an early age that chicks do appreciate a guy with a guitar, and inspired by the music of Elvis and Buddy Holly, Lemmy outgrew his local bands in Wales, choosing instead to head to Manchester to experience everything he could get his hands on. And he never looked back. White Line Fever, a headbanging tour of the excesses of a man being true to his music and his pleasures, offers a sometimes hilarious, often outrageous, but always highly entertaining ride with the frontman of the loudest rock band in the world.

The Notorious B.I.G. was one of the most charismatic and talented artists of the 1990s. Born Christopher Wallace and raised in Clinton Hill/Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, Biggie lived an almost archetypal rap life. Biggie released his first record, Ready to Die, in 1994, when he was only 22. Less than three years later, he was killed just days before the planned release of his second record Life After Death. Journalist Justin Tinsley’s It Was All a Dream is a fresh, insightful telling of the life beyond the legend.

Merging memoir, anecdotes, and masterclasses on guitar, songwriting, and the artist's mindset, Lay It on the Line offers insight and perspective into the many roles Rik Emmett took on. "It" was always a parboiling, psychological gumbo: and this book attempts to finally share the recipe.

Few actors in Hindi cinema have had Rishi Kapoor's sort of a career arc: from the gawky adolescent pining for his schoolteacher ( Mera Naam Joker, 1970) to the naughty 90-year-old ( Kapoor & Sons, 2016), Rishi Kapoor has regaled audiences for close to 50 years. He won a National Award for his debut, became an overnight sensation with his first film as a leading man ( Bobby, 1973), and carved a niche for himself with a string of romantic musical blockbusters.