Autobiography & Biography & Memoir > Showbiz / Celebrity Biography

In November 1980, on the eve of John Lennon's untimely murder by a lone gunman, photographer Allan Tannenbaum had unique and total access to John and Yoko, who were emerging from five years of seclusion and avoiding the media. As one of the few photographers with whom John and Yoko were close, Tannenbaum was privileged to be able to capture many intimate moments between the two. The resulting photographs, many of which have never before been available to the public, portray a couple deeply in love--playful, spiritual, and remarkabl... read more

Christopher Ciccone's extraordinary memoir is based on his forty-seven years of growing up with, working with, and understanding the most famous woman of our time, who has intrigued, scandalized, and entertained millions for half a century. Through most of the iconic star's kaleidoscopic career, Christopher played an important role in her life: as her backup dancer, her personal assistant, her dresser, her decorator, her art director, her tour director. If you think you know everything there is to know about Madonna, you are ... read more

She revolutionized how women looked. She banned corsets, shortened skirts and scented the world with Chanel No.5. Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel was an icon. But how closely did her carefully moulded image match the truth? Born illegitimate and raised in an orphanage - not by the two aunts that she invented - Gabrielle Chanel fought constantly to escape the mundane. She rose from back-street milliner to become the head of a vast business empire, and socialised with Picasso, Stravinsky and Cocteau. Edmonde Charles-Roux also reveals one of ... read more

Richard Burton was a man of contradictions. He wanted to escape the mining community of Wales, yet his heart never left it. He wanted to achieve greatness, but he would have been as happy to have achieved it on a rugby pitch as on a stage. He wanted to live life to the full, but he came to know that he was driving himself to an early grave through drink. He was an avid reader and a lover of poetry; a scholar of life and culture. Yet he seemed to squander his talents and find happiness at the bottom of a beer glass, giving up all ho... read more

Ballet's first pop icon, Rudolf Nureyev revolutionised an old art form, bringing a new young audience to opera houses, and sparking Rudimania across the globe. From his birth on a train in Siberia at the height of Stalin's Terrors, Nureyev's life was extraordinary. His career was decided at the age of 8 and nine years later, leaving his Tatar peasant family behind him, he realised his dream of studying at the Kirov's school. The account of Nureyev's Leningrad years has never been more compellingly told, focusing on a teacher of gen... read more

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Around about August 1948, Mr and Mrs Cyril Wakeman had an early night and some time later, at Perivale in Middlesex, Mrs Wakeman produced a bonny baby son. They named him Richard, but he quickly became known as Rick. Rick was a likable little fellow who had a talent for the piano and for making trouble, and music became Rick's life. Later he joined a popular music group called Yes and became a legend. Much later he became a Grumpy Old Man who appears on "Countdown", hosts a hugely popular radio show on Planet Rock and performs a on... read more

Who was Frank Sinatra? And how did who he was lead to him creating such incomparable music? In FRANK, fans finally have a biography that goes more deeply into who he really was than any previous book about this extraordinary man. Sinatra was a bundle of contradictions. At once both spoiled and neglected by his tough, clever, insensitive parents, he grew up convinced of his special destiny and agonisingly lonely. He came to define modern manhood, yet in many ways he never grew up. In this book, we relive the years 1915 to 1954 in gl... read more

Set against the frenzied world of heavy metal superstardom, the co-founder of legendary Motley Crue offers an unflinching and gripping look at his own descent into drug addiction. When Motley Crue were at the height of their fame, there wasn't a drug Nikki Sixx wouldn't do. He spent days - sometimes alone, sometimes with others addicts, friends and lovers - in a coke- and heroin-fuelled daze. THE HEROIN DIARIES reveals Nikki's personal diary entries alongside commentary from the people who know Nikki best including band mates Tommy... read more

Peter Bowles was born in London to parents who were servants to two of the most influential families in Britain. From New York's Broadway in 1956 to London's Theatre Royal Haymarket in 2006, Peter has starred in many successful plays, whilst playing villains in such iconic TV series as THE SAINT, THE AVENGERS, THE PERSUADERS, SPACE 1999 and THE PRISONER. He has also starred in many hit TV series including RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY, ONLY WHEN I LAUGH, THE IRISH R.M., LYTTON'S DIARY and, of course, TO THE MANOR BORN. ASK ME IF I'M HAPPY... read more

California Schemin' is the remarkable real life story of how two rappers from Dundee pretended to be two rappers from California and duped the record industry out of hundreds of thousands of pounds. Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd - or Silibil N' Brains, as they became known - were two ordinary Scottish boys who shared an extraordinary dream: to become rap superstars. Creating new identities for themselves, they persuaded the music industry that they were the latest hot young talent from California. Silibil N' Brains then lived out that... read more

It was a strong face, certainly - the eyes pale grey and very cold, the mouth was hard, the dark hair - grey-streaked now - still fell in the authentic comma over the forehead.' This is how John Pearson reacted to his first encounter with the real James Bond, an encounter probably unique in the annals of thriller writing. He went on to write the bestselling authorised biography of Ian Fleming. At the time, like most of the world, he assumed that James Bond was nothing more than a character in Fleming's highly charged imagination. T... read more

DAWN FRENCH is one of the greatest comedy actresses of our time, with a career that has spanned nearly three decades, encompassing a vast and brilliant array of characters. Loved for her irreverent humour, Dawn has achieved massive mainstream success while continuing to push boundaries and challenge stereotypes. Here, in her autobiography, she describes the twists and turns of the journey that would eventually establish her as a, perhaps unlikely - but nevertheless genuine, national treasure. Dawn first appeared on the British e... read more

He is the Human Riff, guitarist with The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band in the World - and a man of Wildean sagacity and trenchancy...'I wouldn't warm to Chuck Berry if he was cremated next to me.''I've never had problems with drugs. Only with policemen.' On Elton John singing 'Candle in the Wind': 'Writes songs for dead blondes.''Rolling Stones, I have a question: will this be your last tour?' Keith Richards: 'Yes, and the next five.' On Ronnie Wood: 'I've known him stoned out of his brain, and I've known him straight sober. Quite ho... read more

One of the great opera stars of the two decades following World War Two, Joan Hammond established a wide international following as a soprano on stage and as a recording artist.

My Family Feast is a loving celebration of food, family and the stories of life. Each chapter invites you inside a family home for a meal that is being prepared to celebrate a special occasion. The vegetables are chopped, the spices are stirred and the meat is on slow roast. It's time to pour a glass of wine and exchange stories as we enjoy a fabulous family feast with ingredients that have been lovingly passed from generation to generation. The families we meet are from all around the globe - Cuba, China, Italy, Afghanistan and ma... read more

In WISHFUL DRINKING, Carrie Fisher tells the true and intoxicating story of her life with inimitable wit. Born to celebrity parents, she was picked to play a princess in a little movie called Star Wars when only 19 years old. "But it isn't all sweetness and light sabres." Alas, aside from a demanding career and her role as a single mother (not to mention the hyperspace hairdo), Carrie also spends her free time battling addiction, weathering the wild ride of manic depression and lounging around various mental institutions. It's an ... read more

A memoir by the iconic comedian, inspired by his 2003 imprisonment, describes how the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration attempted to make an example of him when they convicted him of supporting terrorist interests through his marijuana use.

Coco Chanel's genius for fashion may have been distilled in simplicity, but her life was an extravaganza. A brilliant array of luminaries fell under her spell - Picasso, Churchill, Cocteau; lovers included the Grand Duke Dmitri; the English roue, Boy Capel; a French poet; and, a German spy and the Duke of Westminster, who offered to leave his wife for her permanently, if she would only bear him an heir. Paradoxically, though she might have been regarded in some lights as a pioneering feminist - sacrificing marriage to a revolutiona... read more