Biography & Autobiography : Composers & Musicians

The Voice is the profoundly inspiring memoir of one of the most sought after and admired classical singers in the world--a man who has arrived at the summit of his artistry by overcoming extraordinarily daunting odds. Thomas Quasthoff, the German bass baritone, stands a shade over four feet tall, his severely underdeveloped arms and hands the result of thalidomide poisoning while he was in his mother's womb. more...

Price: $17.95

From the New York Times bestselling author, the complete story of the last rock supergroup— from their drugfueled blast-off in the 1980s to the turbulent life of legendary singer Axl Rose and his fifteen-year, multimilliondollar effort to make the perfect hardrock album. With 90 million of the band’s records sold worldwide since 1987, Guns N’ Roses prolonged rock music past its sell-by date with controversial albums and immense, often riotous world tours. But the band’s complete story has never been fully told—until now. In his sixth major rock biography, Stephen Davis details the riveting story of a band that originated in the gutters of Sunset Strip and went on to set attendance records on the biggest stadiums on the planet. Watch You Bleed documents the improbable story of W. Axl Rose, the biggest rock star of his generation. Taken from an abusive father in his infancy, he was raised as “Bill Bailey” in a strictly religious Indiana household by a stepfather who beat him for playing Led Zeppelin songs on the family piano. After quitting high school, and on the run from the police in his hometown, Axl arrived in Los Angeles in the midst of the street battles for supremacy among the top music genres of the eighties—post-punk, thrash, hair metal, and glam. The book also charts the backgrounds of every band member, especially Slash, a Hollywood street kid whose designer mother dated David Bowie. Davis brilliantly captures the birth of Guns’ raw power, which—despite rape charges, drug-induced rampages, and a general appetite for destruction— launched the band into the pantheon of rock gods such as Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. With a wealth of detail, Davis looks at Axl’s unrelenting quest to release the long-awaited, mystery-shrouded Chinese Democracy album, as well as the further adventures of some of the Gunners under the banner of the hard-rocking band Velvet Revolver. For the first time, millions o more...

Price: $27.50

A celebrated French pianist's poignant story of her journey from her early days as a student in Paris to her life as the founder of a wolf conservation center in upstate New York. A gifted pianist from a young age, Hélène Grimaud made her first recording at the age of fifteen and won the French equivalent of a Grammy at sixteen. She is a classical music star whose concerts continue to draw sellout crowds all over Europe and North America. But it wasn't until she met her first wolf that she discovered there was something missing in her life. Late one night in 1991, Grimaud encountered a wolf-dog hybrid in Florida and felt an immediate, instinctual connection to the animal—one that the wolf also seemed to share. Determined to do what she could to protect this threatened species, she committed her time and resources to becoming certified to found her own wolf preserve on the grounds of her home in New York State. Today, the master pianist acts as a tireless advocate for wolves, a species she believes has been unfairly demonized throughout history. In turn, the animals have given her a sense of freedom that she has never before experienced, even as an artist. In a beautifully rendered personal story that weaves the tale of a musical prodigy's rise to stardom with one of an animal lover learning to communicate on a level as primal as music, Hélène Grimaud touches, astonishes, and delights with her remarkable insight and passion. more...

Price: $24.95

"You never know what's going to save you" -- for John Albert and his friends, after years of hard punk rock living, the savior was baseball. This group of former musicians, failed screenwriters, and wanna-be actors gave up their jockstraps fairly early in life in favor of music, drugs, whores, and all-around lawlessness. That was great for awhile, but many of these individuals found themselves stumbling into their 30s -- broken down, smack-addled, and financially destroyed. Taking some aimless stab at bringing order back into their lives, they started an amateur baseball team and joined a hardball league full of gang members, off-duty cops, and former jocks turned investment bankers. In this memoir of recovery (and relapse), John Albert chronicles his team, the Griffith Park Pirates, from the woeful early days to their emergence as one of the leagues most competitive forces. more...

Price: $17.99