Although Big Star were together for less than four years and had little commercial success, the influence of their three original albums - #1 Record, Radio City, and Third - continues to grow. Big Star bucked all the musical trends of the 70s. In an era of glam and prog rock they wrote catchy, radio-friendly power-pop tunes that remain influential today. Artists as diverse as Primal Scream, R.E.M., The Bangles, The Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Jeff Buckley, and Wilco have spoken about the Big Star legacy. In the decade since the original version of this book was published, Big Star have made a belated fourth album, In Space, and released an acclaimed four-disc retrospective, Keep An Eye On The Sky. The band have also lost two original members, an influential producer, and the photographer of their iconic logo. But interest in the group is as high as ever in the 21st century, with new bands such as Yo La Tengo and Hot Chip - and even pop superstar Katy Perry - carrying the flame. Now fully updated, and drawing on firsthand interviews with the band, family members, friends, and the major players at Ardent Records, this is the definitive history of rock's forgotten band.

Big Star: The Story of Rock's Forgotten Band

Biographies & Memoirs

Rob Jovanovic

Arts & Literature

Fourth Estate

Kate Bush has written some of the most memorable songs in pop music history. Wuthering Heights, her debut single shot to number 1 in 1978 and she remains something of an enigma over a quarter of a century later. A singer, songwriter, musician, dancer, actress and director, Kate has inspired a devoted following around the world. Rob Jovanovic traces the story of Kate Bush's career, from her up-bringing in the Essex countryside through her first forays into music with a series of home recordings, to her number 1 debut album that propelled her to international stardom. Including exclusive interviews with studio musicians and choreographers, Jovanovic's biography emphasizes both her voracious talent and her intensely private personality. Over the last ten years, Kate Bush has taken time out from her hugely successful musical career to raise a family. In November 2005 however, she released Aerial, her first album in 12 years, to great critical acclaim.

Kate Bush

Portrait

Michael Stipe

For the last quarter of a century Michael Stipe has been the lead singer of R.E.M, who from their humble beginnings toured and built a steadily growing legion of fans before breaking into the mainstream during the early 1990s. Today Stipe is one of the most instantly recognisable faces in rock and R.E.M. are held in a respect that only 25 years of excellent song writing and hard work can justify. But Stipe is much more than just the singer. Michael Stipe: The Biography will explore his nomadic early years as the child in a military family, his early love of punk and photography, his relationship with his two sisters and the drive behind one of the hardest working men in music. When not working with R.E.M. Stipe has a keen interest in film making, from pop videos and independent shorts to producing big budget full-length movies; he is keenly interested in politics, he led high profile endorsements of the Democratic party in recent elections and for many years has been a champion of environmental concerns. Using first hand testimony from those who have worked closely with Stipe, Jovanovic presents a rounded picture of this most enigmatic of pop stars.

R.E.M. have been together for twenty years. From Athens, Georgia in the early 1980s through to world tours in the late nineties, Rob Jovanovic and Tim Abbott have closely followed their rise to global superstardom. Here, having unearthed a wealth of previously unseen photos and memorabilia, they chronicle the full story of twenty years of R.E.M. (Foreword with Peter Buck; introduction by Scott 'Spiral Stairs' Kannberg, ex-Pavement.)

Adventures in Hi-fi

Orion Publishing

The disappearance of Richey Edwards, troubled guitarist with the Manic Street Preachers, is one of rock and roll's great unresolved mysteries. His Vauxhall Cavalier was found abandoned in a service station car park near the Severn Bridge, a notorious suicide spot, in February 1995, a fortnight after Edwards had last been seen. The location of the car and the tape left in the deck - Nirvana's album In Utero - tended to point to one conclusion. However, it almost seemed too obvious a statement, and in A Version of Reason, Rob Jovanovic unravels the complicated life and final days of Richey Edwards. Piecing together testimony from those close to Edwards Jovanovic seeks to produce an authoritative account of the life and times of Richey Edwards.

A Version of Reason

Orion an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

Forest Giants : The Story of Nottingham Forest 1975-80

Sports & Outdoors

John McGovern

Football (American)

Pineapple Books Limited

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