Random House New Releases - Music - Performing Arts - Music Biographies - Entertainment Biographies

If Trouble Don't Kill Me by Ralph Berrier

2010-07-27T00:30:00-05:00

If Trouble Don't Kill Me A Story of Family, Brotherhood, and Bluegrass
Written by Ralph Berrier

eBook | Crown | Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians | $25.00 | 978-0-307-46308-1 (0-307-46308-7)

If Trouble Don't Kill Me by Ralph Berrier

2010-07-27T00:30:00-05:00

If Trouble Don't Kill Me A Story of Family, Brotherhood, and Bluegrass
Written by Ralph Berrier

Hardcover, 272 pages | Crown | Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians | $25.00 | 978-0-307-46306-7 (0-307-46306-0)

The Making of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back by J. W. Rinzler

2010-07-20T00:30:00-05:00

The Making of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back The Definitive Story Behind the Film
Written by J. W. Rinzler

Hardcover, 372 pages | LucasBooks | Performing Arts - Film; Fiction - Science Fiction | $85.00 | 978-0-345-50961-1 (0-345-50961-7)

The New Face of Jazz by Ned Radinsky

2010-07-13T00:30:00-05:00

The New Face of Jazz An Intimate Look at Today's Living Legends and the Artists of Tomorrow
Written by Cicily Janus
Photographed by Ned Radinsky

Trade Paperback, 336 pages | Billboard Books | Music - Jazz; Music - Individual Composer & Musician | $21.99 | 978-0-8230-0065-4 (0-8230-0065-6)

Star Wars Generations by Peter Vilmur

2010-07-13T00:30:00-05:00

Star Wars Generations A Celebration of Fandom
Written by Bonnie Burton, Mary Franklin and Peter Vilmur

Trade Paperback, 256 pages | LucasBooks | Performing Arts - Film; Fiction - Science Fiction | $22.00 | 978-0-345-51162-1 (0-345-51162-X)

His Way by Anna Fields

2010-06-29T00:30:00-05:00

His Way The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra
Written by Kitty Kelley
Read by Anna Fields

Unabridged Audiobook Download | Random House Audio | Biography & Autobiography - Entertainment & Performing Arts | $30.00 | 978-0-7393-8482-4 (0-7393-8482-1)

This is the book Frank Sinatra failed to stop, the unauthorized biography of one of the most elusive public figures of our time. Celebrated journalist Kitty Kelley spent three years researching government documents (Mafia-related material, wiretaps and secret testimony) and interviewing more than 800 people in Sinatra's life (family, colleagues, law-enforcement officers, personal friends). Fully documented, highly detailed and filled with revealing anecdotes, here is the penetrating story of the explosively controversial and undeniably multi-talented legend who ruled the entertainment industry for more than fifty years.

From the Paperback edition.

The Protest Singer by Alec Wilkinson

2010-06-01T00:30:00-05:00

The Protest Singer An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger
Written by Alec Wilkinson

Trade Paperback, 176 pages | Vintage | Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians | $14.00 | 978-0-307-39098-1 (0-307-39098-5)

A true American original is brought to life in this rich and lively portrait of Pete Seeger, who, with his musical grace and inextinguishable passion for social justice, transformed folk singing into a high form of peaceful protest in the second half of the twentieth century. Drawing on his extensive talks with Seeger, New Yorker writer Alec Wilkinson lets us experience the man’s unique blend of independence and commitment, charm, courage, energy, and belief in human equality and American democracy.

We see Seeger instilled with a love of music by his parents, both classically trained musicians; as a teenager, hearing real folk music for the first time; and as a young man, singing with Woody Guthrie and with the Weavers. We learn of his harassment by the government for his political beliefs and his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1949. And we follow his engagement with civil rights, the peace movement, and the environment—especially his work saving the Hudson River and building the ship Clearwater. He talks ardently about his own music and that of others, and about the power of music to connect people and bind them to a cause. Finally, we meet Toshi, his wife of nearly sixty years, and members of his family, at the house he built on a mountainside in upstate New York.

The Protest Singer is as spirited and captivating as its subject—an American icon, celebrating his ninetieth birthday.

From the Hardcover edition.

What a Wonderful World by Ricky Riccardi

2010-05-18T00:30:00-05:00

What a Wonderful World The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years
Written by Ricky Riccardi

Hardcover, 304 pages | Pantheon | Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians; Biography & Autobiography - People of Color | $27.50 | 978-0-307-37844-6 (0-307-37844-6)

The first account—prodigiously researched, richly detailed—of the last remarkable twenty-five years of the life and art of one of America’s greatest and most beloved musical icons.

Much has been written about Louis Armstrong, but most of it focuses on the early and middle stages of his long career. Now, Ricky Riccardi—jazz scholar and musician—takes an in-depth look at the years in which Armstrong was often dismissed as a buffoonish, if popular, entertainer, and shows us instead the inventiveness and depth of expression that his music evinced during this time.

These are the years (from after World War II until his death in 1971) when Armstrong entertained crowds around the world and recorded his highest-charting hits, including “Mack the Knife” and “Hello, Dolly”; years when he collaborated with, among others, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, and Dave Brubeck; when he recorded with strings and big bands, and, of course, with the All-Stars, his primary performing ensemble for more than two decades. And Riccardi makes clear that these were years in which Armstrong at once burnished and enhanced his legacy as one of jazz’s most influential figures.

Here, finally, is a book—eminently readable, informative, and insightful—that enlarges, and completes, our understanding of a peerless musical genius of commanding influence as both an instrumentalist and a vocalist.

What a Wonderful World by Ricky Riccardi

2010-05-18T00:30:00-05:00

What a Wonderful World The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years
Written by Ricky Riccardi

eBook, 304 pages | Pantheon | Biography & Autobiography - Composers & Musicians; Biography & Autobiography - People of Color | $27.50 | 978-0-307-37923-8 (0-307-37923-X)

Lowside of the Road by Barney Hoskyns

2010-05-11T00:30:00-05:00

Lowside of the Road A Life of Tom Waits
Written by Barney Hoskyns

Trade Paperback, 640 pages | Broadway | Biography & Autobiography - Entertainment & Performing Arts | $19.99 | 978-0-7679-2709-3 (0-7679-2709-5)

With his trademark growl, carnival-madman persona, haunting music, and unforgettable lyrics, Tom Waits is one of the most revered and critically acclaimed singer-songwriters alive today. After beginning his career on the margins of the 1970s Los Angeles rock scene, Waits has spent the last thirty years carving out a place for himself among such greats as Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Like them, he is a chameleonic survivor who has achieved long-term success while retaining cult credibility and outsider mystique. But although his songs can seem deeply personal and somewhat autobiographical, fans still know very little about the man himself. Notoriously private, Waits has consistently and deliberately blurred the line between fact and fiction, public and private personas, until it has become impossible to delineate between truth and self-fabricated legend.

Lowside of the Road is the first serious biography to cut through the myths and make sense of the life and career of this beloved icon. Barney Hoskyns has gained unprecedented access to Waits’s inner circle and also draws on interviews he has done with Waits over the years. Spanning his extraordinary forty-year career from Closing Time to Orphans, from his perilous “jazzbo” years in 1970s LA to such shape-shifting albums as Swordfishtrombones and Rain Dogs to the Grammy Award winners of recent years, this definitive biography charts Waits’s life and art step by step, album by album.

Barney Hoskyns has written a rock biography—much like the subject himself—unlike any other. It is a unique take on one of rock’s great enigmas.

Like Me by Chely Wright

2010-05-04T00:30:00-05:00

Like Me
Written by Chely Wright

Hardcover, 256 pages | Pantheon | Biography & Autobiography - Entertainment & Performing Arts; Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs | $25.95 | 978-0-307-37886-6 (0-307-37886-1)

The award-winning country music artist—songwriter and singer (Single White Female, Shut Up and Drive, and others)—writes movingly and candidly about her life, her career, her extraordinary journey.

From her childhood in Wellsville, Kansas, high school homecoming queen, determining at a young age to become a country music star, being cast in Country Music USA Opryland, making a pact with God—to keep her "sinning" to a minimum if he'd get her to the stage of the Grand Ole Opry—and her dream coming true at eighteen . . .

She writes about the record contracts and bus tours; the concerts and TV videos; the critical acclaim and industry awards; the #1 hits on the Billboard charts; the fans; the friendships and the working collaborations with Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, and others. . .

We see the vortex of success taking its toll on her life, and then her finding a new voice in her music, with music flowing naturally from her that never came so easily.

Like Me is a book of revelation: honest, inspiring and true.

Like Me by Chely Wright

2010-05-04T00:30:00-05:00

Like Me
Written by Chely Wright

eBook, 256 pages | Pantheon | Biography & Autobiography - Entertainment & Performing Arts; Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs | $25.95 | 978-0-307-37926-9 (0-307-37926-4)

Paul Newman by Shawn Levy

2010-05-04T00:30:00-05:00

Paul Newman A Life
Written by Shawn Levy

Trade Paperback, 496 pages | Three Rivers Press | Biography & Autobiography - Entertainment & Performing Arts | $16.00 | 978-0-307-35376-4 (0-307-35376-1)

Paul Newman, the Oscar-winning actor with the legendary blue eyes, achieved superstar status by playing charismatic renegades, broken heroes, and winsome antiheroes in such revered films as The Hustler, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Verdict, The Color of Money, and Nobody’s Fool. But Newman was also an oddity in Hollywood: the rare box-office titan who cared about the craft of acting, the sexy leading man known for the staying power of his marriage, and the humble celebrity who made philanthropy his calling card long before it was cool.

The son of a successful entrepreneur, Newman grew up in a prosperous Cleveland suburb. Despite fears that he would fail to live up to his father’s expectations, Newman bypassed the family sporting goods business to pursue an acting career. After struggling as a theater and television actor, Newman saw his star rise in a tragic twist of fate, landing the role of boxer Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me when James Dean was killed in a car accident. Though he would joke about instances of “Newman’s luck” throughout his career, he refused to coast on his stunning boyish looks and impish charm. Part of the original Actors Studio generation, Newman demanded a high level of rigor and clarity from every project. The artistic battles that nearly derailed his early movie career would pay off handsomely at the box office and earn him critical acclaim.

He applied that tenacity to every endeavor both on and off the set. The outspoken Newman used his celebrity to call attention to political causes dear to his heart, including civil rights and nuclear proliferation. Taking up auto racing in midlife, Newman became the oldest driver to ever win a major professional auto race. A food enthusiast who would dress his own salads in restaurants, he launched the Newman’s Own brand dedicated to fresh ingredients, a nonprofit juggernaut that has generated more than $250 million for charity.

In Paul Newman: A Life, film critic and pop culture historian Shawn Levy gives readers the ultimate behind-the-scenes examination of the actor’s life, from his merry pranks on the set to his lasting romance with Joanne Woodward to the devastating impact of his son’s death from a drug overdose. This definitive biography is a fascinating portrait of an extraordinarily gifted man who gave back as much as he got out of life and just happened to be one of the most celebrated movie stars of the twentieth century.

From the Hardcover edition.

Coal to Diamonds by Michelle Tea

2010-04-27T00:30:00-05:00

Coal to Diamonds A Memoir
Written by Beth Ditto and Michelle Tea

Hardcover, 192 pages | Spiegel & Grau | Music - Rock; Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs | $22.00 | 978-0-385-52591-6 (0-385-52591-5)

Coal to Diamonds by Michelle Tea

2010-04-27T00:30:00-05:00

Coal to Diamonds A Memoir
Written by Beth Ditto and Michelle Tea

eBook | Spiegel & Grau | Music - Rock; Biography & Autobiography - Personal Memoirs | $22.00 | 978-0-385-52974-7 (0-385-52974-0)

The Ninth by Harvey Sachs

2010-04-27T00:30:00-05:00

The Ninth Beethoven and the World in 1824
Written by Harvey Sachs

Hardcover, 240 pages | Random House | History - Europe; Music - Classical | $26.00 | 978-1-4000-6077-1 (1-4000-6077-X)

How to Wreck a Nice Beach by Dave Tompkins

2010-03-30T00:30:00-05:00

How to Wreck a Nice Beach
Written by Dave Tompkins

Hardcover | Melville House | Music - History & Criticism | $35.00 | 978-1-933633-88-6 (1-933633-88-3)

The Musician's Guide to Licensing Music by Daylle Deanna Schwartz

2010-02-16T00:30:00-05:00

The Musician's Guide to Licensing Music How to Get Your Music into Film, TV, Advertising, Digital Media & Beyond
Written by Darren Wilsey and Daylle Deanna Schwartz

Trade Paperback, 304 pages | Billboard Books | Music - Business Aspects | $19.99 | 978-0-8230-1487-3 (0-8230-1487-8)

Try to Tell the Story by David Thomson

2010-02-09T00:30:00-05:00

Try to Tell the Story
Written by David Thomson

Trade Paperback, 224 pages | Vintage | Biography & Autobiography - Entertainment & Performing Arts | $15.00 | 978-0-307-47317-2 (0-307-47317-1)

From one of our most celebrated film critics and historians now comes a beautifully written memoir about his first eighteen years, growing up as an only child in south London in the midforties and late fifties. Told with elegance and restraint, partly from the point of view of a child, partly from that of an adult, it is the story of a lonely, stammering boy cared for by a matriarchy of his mother, grandmother, and an upstairs tenant, Miss Davis, to which he adds an imaginary sister, Sally. At the heart of this story is David Thomson’s profound sadness at being abandoned by a cold and distant father who visits only on weekends and keeps, as Thomson later discovers, another household.

Thomson gives a vivid picture of London in the aftermath of the war, whether it is his grandmother bringing him to a street corner to see Churchill or the bombed-out houses that still smelled of acrid smoke where, though forbidden, he played. Movies became his great escape, and the worlds revealed in Henry V, Red River, The Third Man, and Citizen Kane were part of his rich imaginative life, one that gained him a scholarship to public and eventually film school. And though his father could never tell his son he loved him, he spent the first part of vacations with him and he came back most weekends, taking Thomson to everything from boxing to cricket matches. But as Thomson admits, “I am still, years after his death, bewildered and pained by my father, and trying to love him—or find his love for me.”

Try to Tell the Story is a haunting and unsentimental look at the fragility of family relationships, a memoir of growing up in the absence of a full-time father, with movies and sports heroes as one’s only touchstones.

From the Hardcover edition.

You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried by Susannah Gora

2010-02-09T00:30:00-05:00

You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation
Written by Susannah Gora

Hardcover, 384 pages | Crown | Performing Arts - Film | $26.00 | 978-0-307-40843-3 (0-307-40843-4)

You can quote lines from Sixteen Candles (“Last night at the dancemy little brother paid a buck to see your underwear”), your iPod playlist includes more than one song by the Psychedelic Furs and Simple Minds, you watch The Breakfast Club every time it comes on cable, and you still wish that Andie had ended up with Duckie in Pretty in Pink. You’re a bonafide Brat Pack devotee—and you’re not alone.

The films of the Brat Pack—from Sixteen Candles to Say Anything—are some of the most watched, bestselling DVDs of all time. The landscape that the Brat Packmemorialized—where outcasts and prom queens fall in love, preppies and burn-outs become buds, and frosted lip gloss, skinny ties, and exuberant optimism made us feel invincible—is rich with cultural themes and significance, and has influenced an entire generation who still believe that life always turns out the way it is supposed to.

You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried takes us back to that era, interviewing key players, such as Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson, Andrew McCarthy, and John Cusack, and mines all the material from the movies to the music to the way the films were made to show how they helped shape our visions for romance, friendship, society, and success.

Random House New Releases - Music - Performing Arts - Music Biographies - Entertainment Biographies

If Trouble Don't Kill Me by Ralph Berrier

If Trouble Don't Kill Me A Story of Family, Brotherhood, and BluegrassWritten by Ralph Berrier

If Trouble Don't Kill Me by Ralph Berrier

If Trouble Don't Kill Me A Story of Family, Brotherhood, and BluegrassWritten by Ralph Berrier

The Making of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back by J. W. Rinzler

The Making of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back The Definitive Story Behind the FilmWritten by J. W. Rinzler

The New Face of Jazz by Ned Radinsky

The New Face of Jazz An Intimate Look at Today's Living Legends and the Artists of TomorrowWritten by Cicily Janus Photographed by Ned Radinsky

Star Wars Generations by Peter Vilmur

Star Wars Generations A Celebration of FandomWritten by Bonnie Burton, Mary Franklin and Peter Vilmur

His Way by Anna Fields

His Way The Unauthorized Biography of Frank SinatraWritten by Kitty Kelley Read by Anna Fields

The Protest Singer by Alec Wilkinson

The Protest Singer An Intimate Portrait of Pete SeegerWritten by Alec Wilkinson

What a Wonderful World by Ricky Riccardi

What a Wonderful World The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later YearsWritten by Ricky Riccardi

What a Wonderful World by Ricky Riccardi

What a Wonderful World The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later YearsWritten by Ricky Riccardi

Lowside of the Road by Barney Hoskyns

Lowside of the Road A Life of Tom WaitsWritten by Barney Hoskyns

Like Me by Chely Wright

Like Me Written by Chely Wright

Like Me by Chely Wright

Like Me Written by Chely Wright

Paul Newman by Shawn Levy

Paul Newman A LifeWritten by Shawn Levy

Coal to Diamonds by Michelle Tea

Coal to Diamonds A MemoirWritten by Beth Ditto and Michelle Tea

Coal to Diamonds by Michelle Tea

Coal to Diamonds A MemoirWritten by Beth Ditto and Michelle Tea

The Ninth by Harvey Sachs

The Ninth Beethoven and the World in 1824Written by Harvey Sachs

How to Wreck a Nice Beach by Dave Tompkins

How to Wreck a Nice Beach Written by Dave Tompkins

The Musician's Guide to Licensing Music by Daylle Deanna Schwartz

The Musician's Guide to Licensing Music How to Get Your Music into Film, TV, Advertising, Digital Media & BeyondWritten by Darren Wilsey and Daylle Deanna Schwartz

Try to Tell the Story by David Thomson

Try to Tell the Story Written by David Thomson

You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried by Susannah Gora

You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a GenerationWritten by Susannah Gora

If Trouble Don't Kill Me A Story of Family, Brotherhood, and Bluegrass
Written by Ralph Berrier

If Trouble Don't Kill Me A Story of Family, Brotherhood, and Bluegrass
Written by Ralph Berrier

The Making of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back The Definitive Story Behind the Film
Written by J. W. Rinzler

The New Face of Jazz An Intimate Look at Today's Living Legends and the Artists of Tomorrow
Written by Cicily Janus
Photographed by Ned Radinsky

Star Wars Generations A Celebration of Fandom
Written by Bonnie Burton, Mary Franklin and Peter Vilmur

His Way The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra
Written by Kitty Kelley
Read by Anna Fields

The Protest Singer An Intimate Portrait of Pete Seeger
Written by Alec Wilkinson

What a Wonderful World The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years
Written by Ricky Riccardi

What a Wonderful World The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years
Written by Ricky Riccardi

Lowside of the Road A Life of Tom Waits
Written by Barney Hoskyns

Like Me
Written by Chely Wright

Like Me
Written by Chely Wright

Paul Newman A Life
Written by Shawn Levy

Coal to Diamonds A Memoir
Written by Beth Ditto and Michelle Tea

Coal to Diamonds A Memoir
Written by Beth Ditto and Michelle Tea

The Ninth Beethoven and the World in 1824
Written by Harvey Sachs

How to Wreck a Nice Beach
Written by Dave Tompkins

The Musician's Guide to Licensing Music How to Get Your Music into Film, TV, Advertising, Digital Media & Beyond
Written by Darren Wilsey and Daylle Deanna Schwartz

Try to Tell the Story
Written by David Thomson

You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried The Brat Pack, John Hughes, and Their Impact on a Generation
Written by Susannah Gora