Behind our most beloved song is a fascinating story spanning continents, cultures, and centuries. Inspired by the way "Amazing Grace" continues to change and grow in popularity, acclaimed music writer Steve Turner embarks on a journey to trace the life of the hymn, from Olney, England, where it was written by former slave trader John Newton, to tiny Plantain Island off the coast of Africa, where Newton was held captive for almost a year, to the Kentucky-Tennessee border and other parts of the South, where the hymn first began to spread.
As a young man, John Newton was pressed into the Royal Navy, but was such a rebellious sailor that he was moved to a slave ship in Madeira and eventually became a "servant of slaves in Africa." He was rescued from Africa by a merchant ship, but on the voyage back to England his ship endured an eleven-hour storm on the Atlantic -- after which, reflecting on his miraculous survival and on his wretched state in Africa, he converted to Christianity. Back in England, he eventually became a minister and, still later, a vocal abolitionist. During his time as a Church of England parish priest, he and a friend, the poet William Cowper, began experimenting with what was then a relatively new form of religious song, the Protestant hymn, when he wrote "Amazing Grace" for use among his congregation.
The hymn made its way across the Atlantic to South Carolina, where the lyrics were published for the first time with a tune. Through the nineteenth century it appeared in more and more hymnals, and in the twentieth century it rose to become a gospel and folk standard, then exploded into pop music with Judy Collins's masterful 1970 a capella recording, which took over the charts. The majority of the more than 450 recordings held by the Library of Congress were made after 1970 and include versions by artists as varied as Elvis Presley, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tiny Tim, A] Green, Johnny Cash, Rod Stewart, Chet Baker, and Destiny's Child. Amazing Grace closely examines this modern history as Turner traces the hymn through the American gospel tradition in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and interviews contemporary artists to reveal why they were compelled to record the hymn.
From John Newton's incredible life story to the hymn's role in American spirituality and culture, Amazing Grace is an illuminating, thorough, and unprecedented musical history.

Amazing Grace : The Story of America's Most Beloved Song

Biographies & Memoirs

TURNER, Steve

Arts & Literature

Ecco

Behind our most beloved hymn is a fascinating story spanning continents, cultures, and centuries. Inspired by the way "Amazing Grace" continues to change and grow in popularity, acclaimed music writer Steve Turner embarks on a journey to trace the life of the hymn, from Olney, England, where it was written by former slave trader John Newton, to tiny Plantain Island off the coast of Africa, where Newton was held captive for almost a year, to the Kentucky-Tennessee border and other parts of the South, where the hymn first began to spread.
 Newton had been rescued from Africa by a merchant ship when, during an eleven-hour storm on the Atlantic, he converted to Christianity. Years later, as a minister, he wrote the hymn for use among his congregation. Through the nineteenth century, "Amazing Grace" appeared in more and more hymn books, and in the twentieth century it rose to a gospel and folk standard before exploding into pop music. It has been recorded by artists as varied as Elvis Presley, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tiny Tim, Al Green, Johnny Cash, Rod Stewart, Chet Baker, and Destiny's Child. Amazing Grace closely examines this modern history of the hymn through personal interviews with recording artists.
 From John Newton's incredible life story to the hymn's role in American spirituality and culture, Amazing Grace is an illuminating, thorough, and unprecedented musical history.

Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song

Community & Culture

An insightful chronicle of the triumphant artistic career and troubled and, ultimately, tragic personal life of one of soul music's greatest legends, honestly depicts the drug addictions, disturbed relationships, and financial woes that beset Marvin Gaye's life.

Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye

Humor & Entertainment

A lavishly illustrated, rollicking account of the real people and events that inspired the Beatles' lyrics.
Who was "just seventeen" and made Paul's heart go "boom"? Was there really an Eleanor Rigby? Where's Penny Lane? In A Hard Day's Write, music journalist Steve Turner shatters many well-worn myths and adds a new dimension to the Fab Four's rich legacy by investigating for the first time the ordinary people and events immortalized in the Beatles' music and now occupying a special niche in popular culture's collective imagination.
 Arranged chronologically by album, the book breaks new ground by exploring how private incidents influenced the group's writing and how their music evolved. Turner reveals that Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was really a drawing by Julian Lennon of his childhood friend; Bungalow Bill was an all-American tiger hunter; Doctor Robert was a New York 'speech doctor'; and much more. A longtime Beatles admirer, Turner tracked down and interviewed the real-life subjects of the songs, probed public records and newspaper archives, and spoke in depth to the people closet to the Beatles to unearth tales that have never before been made public. The result is a book that chronicles an untold story of the Beatles themselves.
 Illustrated with over 200 photographs, A Hard Day's Write is a visually alluring and highly entertaining journey to the land stretching just beneath your conscious mind, mapped out with strawberry fields, fool-topped hills, and long and winding roads.

A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song

It Books

A lavishly illustrated, rollicking account of the real people and events that inspired the Beatles' lyrics.

Harper-perennial

A lavishly illustrated, rollicking account of the real people and events that inspired the Beatles' songs, now fully updated and revised by renowned Beatles expert and music journalist Steve Turner—the definitive analysis of the music and influences of the world's most successful and popular rock-and-roll band and the only volume that contains a complete set of printed lyrics to all of the Beatles' songs.
Who was "just 17" and made Paul's "heart go boom"?
Was there really an Eleanor Rigby?
Where's Penny Lane?
What inspired "Happiness is a Warm Gun"?
Why was Paul the "walrus"?
What inspired the lyrics to Ringo's "Octopus's Garden"?
Arranged chronologically by album, The Complete Beatles Songs examines the inspiration behind the group's writing and discusses every song created by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Steve Turner shatters well-worn myths and adds a new dimension to the Fab Four's rich legacy by investigating events immortalized in The Beatles' music, which has influenced numerous contemporary artists and continues to endure in popular culture.
Fully revised and updated (originally published as A Hard Day’s Write), The Complete Beatles Songs is the only volume that contains a complete set of printed lyrics to all of the Beatles' songs, used with exclusive permission from the band's music publisher SonyATV. It also includes new information on many songs, plus brand-new stories and revelations, as well as 200 black-and-white and color photographs-many exclusive to the book. The result is a unique, authoritative, and compelling masterpiece that chronicles the untold story of the Beatles themselves, for faithful fans and new generations discovering their music for the first time.

The Complete Beatles Songs: The Stories Behind Every Track Written by the Fab Four

Dey Street Books

A riveting look at the transformative year in the lives and careers of the legendary group whose groundbreaking legacy would forever change music and popular culture.
They started off as hysteria-inducing pop stars playing to audiences of screaming teenage fans and ended up as musical sages considered responsible for ushering in a new era. 
The year that changed everything for the Beatles was 1966—the year of their last concert and their first album, Revolver, that was created to be listened to rather than performed. This was the year the Beatles risked their popularity by retiring from live performances, recording songs that explored alternative states of consciousness, experimenting with avant-garde ideas, and speaking their minds on issues of politics, war, and religion. It was the year their records were burned in America after John’s explosive claim that the group was "more popular than Jesus," the year they were hounded out of the Philippines for "snubbing" its First Lady, the year John met Yoko Ono, and the year Paul conceived the idea for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. 
On the fiftieth anniversary of this seminal year, music journalist and Beatles expert Steve Turner slows down the action to investigate in detail the enormous changes that took place in the Beatles’ lives and work during 1966. He looks at the historical events that had an impact on the group, the music they made that in turn profoundly affected the culture around them, and the vision that allowed four young men from Liverpool to transform popular music and serve as pioneers for artists from Coldplay to David Bowie, Jay-Z to U2. 
By talking to those close to the group and by drawing on his past interviews with key figures such as George Martin, Timothy Leary, and Ravi Shankar—and the Beatles themselves—Turner gives us the compelling, definitive account of the twelve months that contained everything the Beatles had been and anticipated everything they would still become.

Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year

Harper Large Print

A lavishly illustrated, rollicking account of the real people and events that inspired the Beatles' lyrics. 
 Who was "just seventeen" and made Paul's heart go "boom"? Was there really an Eleanor Rigby? Where's Penny Lane? In A Hard Day's Write, music journalist Steve Turner shatters many well-worn myths and adds a new dimension to the Fab Four's rich legacy by investigating for the first time the ordinary people and events immortalized in the Beatles' music and now occupying a special niche in popular culture's collective imagination. 
 Arranged chronologically by album, the book breaks new ground by exploring how private incidents influenced the group's writing and how their music evolved. Turner reveals that Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was really a drawing by Julian Lennon of his childhood friend; Bungalow Bill was an all-American tiger hunter; Doctor Robert was a New York 'speech doctor'; and much more. A longtime Beatles admirer, Turner tracked down and interviewed the real-life subjects of the songs, probed public records and newspaper archives, and spoke in depth to the people closet to the Beatles to unearth tales that have never before been made public. The result is a book that chronicles an untold story of the Beatles themselves. 
 Illustrated with over 200 photographs, A Hard Day's Write is a visually alluring and highly entertaining journey to the land stretching just beneath your conscious mind, mapped out with strawberry fields, fool-topped hills, and long and winding roads.

A Hard Day's Write, Revised Edition: The Stories Behind Every Beatles' Song

Arts & Photography

Music

Collins

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

Books by TURNER, Steve

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

Amazing Grace : The Story of America's Most Beloved Song

Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song

Trouble Man: The Life and Death of Marvin Gaye

A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song

A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song

The Complete Beatles Songs: The Stories Behind Every Track Written by the Fab Four

Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year

Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year

Beatles '66: The Revolutionary Year

A Hard Day's Write, Revised Edition: The Stories Behind Every Beatles' Song