Material Girl. Immaculate sexpot. Kabbalah enthusiast. British mum.
She has defied categorization for three decades and remained one of our greatest living pop icons
Madonna: Like an Icon is a groundbreaking biography that finally solves the mystery at the heart of Madonna's chameleonlike existence. Extensively researched and perceptively written by journalist Lucy O'Brien, it explores the complex personality and legendary drive that has made Madonna the most famous female pop artist of our time. O'Brien draws upon scores of interviews with producers, musicians, collaborators, lovers, and friends—many of whom have never spoken so candidly—to examine Madonna's fascinating life. From her mother's premature death to her dynamic arrival on the New York club scene to her training for Evita and beyond, every stage of her life is illuminated. 
Unlike any previous Madonna biographer, O'Brien deconstructs the stereotypes that have plagued the star, whether it was being labeled a self-indulgent siren for her book Sex or criticized for exploiting her celebrity status to adopt baby David in 2006. 
O'Brien provides an incisive portrayal, from Madonna's early days dancing at gay clubs in Detroit to the producers and musicians she both alienated and amazed in her uncompromising quest to seize on the next cultural wave.

Madonna: Like an Icon

O'BRIEN, Lucy

Humor & Entertainment

It Books

Material Girl . . . Immaculate sexpot . . . Superstar . . . Mother . . . Kabbalah enthusiast . . . For three decades she has defied categorization. . . . She remains one of our greatest living pop icons.
Here is the groundbreaking biography that finally solves the mystery at the heart of Madonna's chameleonlike existence. Drawing upon scores of candid interviews with producers, musicians, collaborators, lovers, and friends, Lucy O'Brien's Madonna: Like an Icon explores the complex personality and legendary drive that have made Madonna the most famous female pop artist of our time. From her mother's premature death to Madonna's dynamic arrival on the New York club scene, from "Like a Virgin" to Evita and beyond, every stage of this dazzling star's life and career is brilliantly illuminated—the stereotypes deconstructed, the lies exposed, the artist examined, the legend celebrated.

Popular music grew out of ragtime, vaudeville and the blues to become global mass entertainment. Yet nearly eighty years after Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith first blazed the trail, have their female successors achieved the recognition and affirmation they deserve? The first hands-on history of women in rock, pop and soul, She Bop tells it like it is - on stage, on camera and working in a male-dominated industry. Adding a feminist perspective to her incredibly detailed knowledge of the stars and their music, and including an abundance of personal interviews, Lucy O'Brien tells these women's stories and their struggle not only for acceptance, but also for recognition and success, in a culture they are still striving to call their own. She Bop traces the different stages of women's progress in the music industry, from the early years of ragtime and the Jazz Age up to the present.

She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop & Soul

Arts & Photography

Music

Penguin??Books

Self-Knowing Agents

Lucy O'Brien argues that a satisfactory account of first-person reference and self-knowledge needs to concentrate on our nature as agents. She considers two main questions. First, what account of first-person reference can we give that respects the guaranteed nature of such reference? Second, what account can we give of our knowledge of our mental and physical actions? Clearly written, with rigorous discussion of rival views, this book will be of interest to anyone working in the philosophy of mind and action.

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

Clarendon Press

Lucy O'Brien argues that a satisfactory account of first-person reference and self-knowledge needs to concentrate on our nature as agents. She considers two main questions. First, what account of first-person reference can we give that respects the guaranteed nature of such reference? Second, what account can we give of our knowledge of our mental and physical actions? Clearly written, with rigorous discussion of rival views, this book will be of interest to anyone working in the philosophy of mind and action.

Oxford University Press

Dusty Springfield's contribution to music over the last 25 years has been phenomenal. From her international hit "I Only Want to be With You", in 1963 through to the chart-topping single "What Have I Done to Deserve this", with the Pet Shop Boys in 1987, her musical career has been as varied as it has been important. As a presenter of the pioneering TV show "Ready Steady Go", she was credited as the person responsible for introducing Motown music to Britain, and her 1968 album "Dusty in Memphis" revolutionized the expected methods of production and delivery for white British singers. Suddenly, in 1974, at the very height of international success, she fled to Los Angeles, tired with the pop business and the constant invasion of her private life by tabloid press hounds. She became entangled in legal arguments with uninspiring managers and her old record company. It was only in the 1980s that she re-emerged as a major talent, achieving cult status among a younger generation of fans with her powerful voice and striking sicties-style appearance. There are comments in the book from personalities such as Cilla Black, Annie Lennox, Lulu and Alison Moyet, as well as Dusty herself and her longtime friend and current manager, Vicki Wickham.

Dusty

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Sidgwick and Jackson

Dusty Springfield's contribution to music over the last 25 years has been phenomenal. From her international hit "I Only Want to be With You", in 1963 through to the chart-topping single "What Have I Done to Deserve this", with the Pet Shop Boys in 1987, her musical career has been as varied as it has been important. As a presenter of the pioneering TV show "Ready Steady Go", she was credited as the person responsible for introducing Motown music to Britain, and her 1968 album "Dusty in Memphis" revolutionized the expected methods of production and delivery for white British singers. Suddenly, in 1974, at the very height of international success, she fled to Los Angeles, tired with the pop business and the constant invasion of her private life by tabloid press hounds. She became entangled in legal arguments with uninspiring managers and her old record company. It was only in the 1980s that she re-emerged as a major talent, achieving cult status among a younger generation of fans with her powerful voice and striking sicties-style appearance. There are comments in the book from personalities such as Cilla Black, Annie Lennox, Lulu and Alison Moyet, as well as Dusty herself and her longtime friend and current manager, Vicki Wickham.

Pan/Macmillan

Recounts the life and career of the Scottish singer best known as a member of the Eurythmics, and discusses how her gender-bending appearance opened a new approach for women rock performers

Annie Lennox: Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

St Martins Pr

This covers Dusty's time with the Lana Sisters in the 1950s, her relationship with her brother Tom, the rise of the Springfields and her solo career in the 1960s. It considers the downward spiral of drink and drugs in the 70s, followed by her return to the international pop scene in the 1980s.

Omnibus Press

Popular music grew out of ragtime, vaudeville and the blues to become global mass entertainment. Women like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith were the original pop divas, yet eighty years after they blazed a trail, have their successors achieved the recognition and affirmation they deserve? Or has the only was to success been to slot into saleable images of the cute baby or sexy chanteuse? Lucy O'Brien has written the ultimate hands-on history of women in rock, pop, and soul. Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Dusty Springfield, Patti Smith, Madonna, Joni Mitchell, whitney Houston, Courtney Love, Alanis Morissette, Destiny's child - all the key names are here. But She Bop II refuses to look at women artists simply as personalities, problems or victims. From dream babes to rock chicks, riot grrrls and ragamuffins, girlpower, Lilith Fair rock and the rise of the corporate diva, She Bop II is the uncompromising story of women as creators and innovators. Lucy O'Brien is the author of two previous books: the bestsellers Annie Lennox (1991) and Dusty (1989). She has contributed to the Guardian, Sunday Times, Observer, Marie Claire, New Musical Express and The Face, and worked extensively in TV and radio, as both guest pundit and producer.

She Bop II: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop and Soul (Bayou Press Series)

Continuum Intl Pub Group

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by O'BRIEN, Lucy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by O'BRIEN, Lucy

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by O'BRIEN, Lucy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Madonna: Like an Icon

Madonna: Like an Icon

She Bop: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop & Soul

Self-Knowing Agents

Self-Knowing Agents

Dusty

Dusty

Annie Lennox: Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

Dusty

She Bop II: The Definitive History of Women in Rock, Pop and Soul (Bayou Press Series)