Verdi’s life was the stuff operas are made of: sex scandals, political turmoil, creative pitfalls, testy divas, and meddling producers, but nothing stopped him from becoming the most famous opera c
In one of the early chapters of this handsome book—as visual and colorful as a magical mystery tour—the authors have a double-page spread titled “Before the Beatles.” It details all the different b
Paul Simon: The Life is not an autobiography but it might as well be. Simon sat for more than 100 hours of interviews with respected writer Robert Hilburn and made it possible for Hilburn
Bob Fosse was a choreographic creative force of nature who invented his own dance genre that changed American musical theater in his time and for generations of Broadway dancers to come.
Ann Powers is one of music’s enduring rock critics, emerging on VH1’s “Behind the Music” in the late ’90s with a shock of orange hair, an ironic yet warm affect, everybody’s cozy hipster big sis.
One of the pleasant interludes in the Cold War was the ecstatic reception that Van Cliburn received at Moscow’s first-ever Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in 1958.
British classical pianist James Rhodes is a rebel with a cause as he unleashes his iconoclastic view of the vaulted world of classical music in concert halls and on British TV and in the streets an
If anyone would question why musician Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, the answer is easily found by cracking the covers of The Lyrics: 1961–2012.
Seiji Ozawa was a gifted piano student studying at Toho Gakuen School of Music in Japan, but after he hurt his hand playing rugby, he switched to conducting and received a scholarship to study unde
Generally, books about the Beatles can be divided into two groups, either the all-encompassing history of the band (Tune In by Mark Lewisohn is of course the best example but far from the
Teenagers who heard the Wilson brothers—better known as the Beach Boys—harmonize on their big hits, “Surfin’ Safari,” “I Get Around,” “California Girls,” and “Good Vibrations” in the early 1960s, p
Every now and again a book falls into your lap that refuses to be ignored. Your fingers, seemingly with a mind of their own, open the cover and begin to turn the pages.
The journalist, biographer, and Rolling Stone contributing editor Rob Sheffield calls David Bowie a lot of names: tramp, vagabond, and “the most alien of rock artists” to name a few.
Without scholars and writers like Albert Murray, Sam Charters, Paul Oliver, John Work, and Alan Lomax—all of whom explored the essence of American blues, jazz, and traditional music—we would be a l
![Image of Paul Simon: The Life [Deckle Edge]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41HGcTuH6DL._SL160_.jpg "Paul Simon: The Life [Deckle Edge]")
