The sequel to the popular graphic novel featured in Rolling Stone! Rock music has taken over the airwaves for decades. David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Freddie Mercury and Bon Jovi are just some of the iconic figures that have formed the rock music genre. This jam session of biographies showcases these trailblazers in this unique illustrated graphic novel.

The sequel to the popular graphic novel featured in Rolling Stone! Rock music has taken over the airwaves for decades. David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Freddie Mercury and Bon Jovi are just some of the iconic figures that have formed the rock music genre. This jam session of biographies showcases these trailblazers in this unique illustrated graphic novel.

Focusing on the variety of genres that make up pop music, Roy Shuker explores key subjects which shape our experience of music such as music production, the music industry, music policy, fans, audiences and subcultures.

A concise yet comprehensive account of the origins and evolution of rock music, emphasizing its interaction with social change and cultural trends. The narrative begins with ``the birth of the blues'' and proceeds to discuss the major (and mention the minor) performers and to identify the significant styles. These include Fifties rockabilly, folk/protest, the British Invasion, acid rock, punk/New Wave, and Eighties revivalism. Using a lively, anecdotal approach and pertinent quotes, the author examines the appropriate political, economic, technological, or psychological context of each topic, e.g., the relationship between Dylan's music and JFK's New Frontier. A primary focus throughout is on the contributions of blacks and the role of racism. Paul Feehan, Univ. of Miami Lib., Coral Gables, Fla. - Library Journal.

Freddie Mercury was rock’s most dazzling showman, a legendary entertainer who in 1991, at the age of just forty-five, became the first major music star to die of AIDS. Mercury’s soaring four-octave voice was a defining element in Queen’s unique sound, crucial to the success of the band’s fifteen studio albums, from Queen (1973) to Made in Heaven (1995). He was also a supremely talented songwriter and musician who wrote many of the band’s greatest hits, including ‘Killer Queen’, ‘We Are the Champions’ and their biggest triumph, the epic anthem ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. As a solo artist he released two acclaimed albums: Mr. Bad Guy in 1985 and the operatic 'Barcelona' with Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé in 1988. Mercury’s extraordinary charisma was perhaps best seen in his imperious live performances, in which he’d hold vast stadium crowds to rapturous attention. His outrageous theatrics, physicality and over-the-top costumes led one commentator to describe him as ‘a performer out to tease, shock, and ultimately charm his audience with various extravagant versions of himself’. He pushed the limits of camp in everything he did. His extreme behaviour, in a society in which being gay was only starting to be accepted, just added to Freddie Mercury’s allure. With expert understanding, Mark Blake traces Mercury’s life from his childhood in Zanzibar and India to his untimely death, and charts his astonishing achievements including in Queen’s world-conquering performance at Live Aid in 1985. In the year that marks what would have been his seventieth birthday, Freddie Mercury: A Life celebrates a remarkable life, lived to the fullest. Featuring revealing interviews with fellow musicians, producers and collaborators, and a detailed discography and timeline, this is a memorable tribute to a unique recording artist and an irreplaceable performer who rocked the world.

'EYEWITNESS GOLD' SUNDAY TIMES WHO - OR WHAT - WAS THE REAL LOVE OF FREDDIE MERCURY'S LIFE? THE SENSATIONAL NEW BIOGRPHAY OF QUEEN'S FRONTMAN Millions of Queen and screen fans who watched the Oscar-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody believe that Mary Austin, the woman he could never quite let go of, was the love of Freddie Mercury's life. But the truth is infinitely more complicated. Best-selling biographer and music writer Lesley-Ann Jones explores the charismatic frontman's romantic encounters, from his boarding school years in Panchgani, India to his tragic, final, bed-ridden days in his magnificent London mansion. She reveals why none of his love interests ever perfected the art of being Freddie's life partner. In Love of My Life, the author follows him through his obsessions with former shop girl Mary, German actress Barbara Valentin and Irish-born barber boyfriend Jim Hutton. She explores his adoration of globally fêted Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé. She delves into his intimate friendship with Elton John, and probes his imperishable bonds with his fellow band members. She deconstructs his complicated relationship with the 'food of love' - his music - and examines closely his voracious appetite for - what some would call his fatal addiction to - sex. Which of these was the real love of Freddie Mercury's life? Was any of them? Drawing on personal interviews and first-hand encounters, this moving book brings to the fore a host of Freddie's lesser-known loves, weaving them in and out of the passions that consumed him. The result, a mesmerising portrait of a legendary rock star, is unputdownable. Love of My Life, published during the year of the 30th anniversary of his death and that would have seen his 75th birthday, is Lesley-Ann's personal and compassionate tribute to an artist she has revered for as long as she has written about music and musicians.

A spirited and intimate look at American icon and activist Pete Seeger. Throughout his life, Pete Seeger transformed a classic American musical style into a form of peaceful protest against war, segregation, and nuclear weapons. Drawing on his extensive talks with Seeger, Alec Wilkinson delivers a first hand look at Seeger's unique blend of independence and commitment, charm, courage, energy, and belief in human equality and American democracy. We see Seeger as a child, instilled with a love of music by his parents; as a teenager, hearing real folk music for the first time; as a young adult, singing with Woody Guthrie. And finally, Seeger the man marching with the Rev. Martin Luther King in Selma, standing up to McCarthyism, and fighting for his beloved Hudson River. The gigantic life captured in this slender volume is truly an American anthem.