He's known the world over for his heyday with Dawn, but that glittering 1970's whirl was just one chapter in Tony Orlando's rich life. Orlando began his showbiz career as a teen heartthrob with the single "Halfway to Paradise" and had a second successful act as a record company A&R man before he was lured back into the limelight as a performer. Fans from the l960s to the present day have loved his voice, his stage presence and his hits, like "Knock Three Times" and "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree." Now, Tony has written an autobiography as warm and heartfelt as his songs. Halfway to Paradise is rich with stories from the music world-from doo wop to the disco era, from early recording with Gerry Goffin and Carole King to recent concerts in Branson, Missouri and across the United States. It's also full of behind-the-scenes detail of how it felt to be at the top of the entertainment heap-with his #1-rated CBS show, Tony's life in front of and behind the camera was grand, but sometimes not all it seemed. Orlando succumbed to one of the familiar antidotes to the pressures of a big life: drug use, with its predictable toll on family and friendships. And even as his career was soaring, he was unable to save his best friend Freddie Prinze from a fatal downward spiral. With a return to roots-and to the close-knit family that has always sustained him-Tony restored the order and creativity that have allowed him to thrive through four decades of exuberant entertaining. Halfway to Paradise is a wise, funny and spirited life story, and a must-read memoir for fans.

This hugely different biography starts with the Amazing Audition that propelled Billy Fury from unknown to pop star. Marty Wilde discloses new poignant information, Michael Parkinson describes promoting Billy Fury Shows with 200 dancers and narrators. Robert worked with young Ronald Wycherley who showed songs that he was writing. Ann used her artistic ability to become a friend. Avril accommodated Billy, Marty and other performers at no charge because they were so badly paid. Christine watched filming of ‘Ive Gotta Horse’. Colin Paul is a tribute singer with a big story. Billy visited Marion in hospital leading to a lifelong friendship. Myra writes a heart wrenching story of male jealousy. Pauline became a dedicated fan club worker. Peter has produced a guitar instrumental tribute to Billy. Sandra describes meeting Billy Fury when she was 15 and wrote about his shyness. One hundred and twenty pictures accompany the stories to make this a very interesting compilation.

From the emergence of Bill Haley and his Comets to the meteoric rise of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Halfway to Paradise is an extraordinary photographic tribute to the forces that invented rock. From the 1950s until the early 1960s, photographer Harry Hammond's camera captured rock 'n' roll's most famous names--The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Animals, Dusty Springfield, and many other icons. Now, from the legendary Harry Hammond Archive comes this exciting collection of 250 previously unpublished photographs of British and American musicians. Alwyn W. Turner captures the energy of this explosive period in music history as he tells the story of Britain's embrace--and sometime domination--of rock 'n' roll.

Drawing on archival sources and oral testimony, Keith Gildart examines the ways in which popular music played an important role in reflecting and shaping social identities and working-class cultures and - through a focus on rock 'n' roll, rhythm & blues, punk, mod subculture, and glam rock - created a sense of crisis in English society.

A VIBRANT MEMOIR OF A CHILDHOOD IN THE HEART OF LIVERPOOL The sixties: a new dawn for Britain - a kaleidoscopic crossroads where social upheaval, artistic revolution and excitement for the future rubbed up against urban poverty, inequality and post-war recovery. For comedian Crissy Rock, born in 1958, the following two decades would be the backdrop for a childhood and youth full of adventure, turbulence and discovery, with the city of Liverpool her crucible. In this evocative and nostalgic memoir, Crissy recalls, with extraordinary clarity, growing up in working-class Liverpool, in an era when traditional values of community, family and hard work still counted for everything, even as bold changes in culture, fashion and music swept through the city. In a series of snapshots, she paints a vivid picture of an iconic place in a revolutionary time: from a world of playing by the docks and in the tenements, to the rise of mods and rockers, Beatlemania and dancing in the Cavern Club, and the birth of all-consuming crazes like space hoppers and miniskirts. Written with all Crissy's trademark wit and honesty, Scouse, Choppers & Space Hoppers is at once a nostalgic recollection of a rough-and tumble working-class sixties and seventies childhood, and a celebration of Liverpool itself - a fond glimpse into the heartbeat of the North West from one of its best-loved daughters.

The most famous pop band in the world, even today The Beatles hold centre stage. Anyone who lived through the 1960s remembers them and the digital remastering of their output has ensured that younger generations know them too. How could they not? The songs will live forever and are regularly reused in film or TV scores, on adverts, and on radio channels everywhere. With such coverage and interest, how can there be anything new to say about the band? The Beatles: The Days of their Life manages to do so thanks to the remarkable collection of photographs housed in Mirrorpix, the library of the Daily Mirror, Britain's premier popular daily newspaper. Mirrorpix has a sensational collection of material taken to feed an insatiable desire to see the band, its families, hangers on and what they did. Record launches, publicity events, holidays, flights in and out of the country, TV broadcasts, film work, births, deaths and marriages: everything was photographed. With this sort of coverage, unsurprisingly much material was not published and it is this treasure trove that is exploited in The Bealtes: The Days of their Life. Compiled by Richard Havers, who has a great pedigree in the music business and in music publishing, the book combines great photographs with memorabilia to provide a series of visual snapshots of the Beatles' life and career as Britain's number 1 band.