Laura Jackson

biografie

Brian May

Published to coincide with Bon Jovi's twentieth anniversary, an intimate glimpse into the life of rock legend Jon Bon Jovi traces his humble origins in New Jersey to his rise to superstardom, detailing his relationships with fellow bandmates, the years of excess and indulgence, and his acting career.

Jon Bon Jovi

This fascinating biography of Freddie Mercury which received outstanding acclaim from Queen and rock fans worldwide, has now been updated for reissue to coincide with the release of the film about his life. Laura Jackson addresses topics including: * The reality behind Queen's flamboyant front man and lead singer * Mercury the star of mystery - amusing, loyal and generous, yet revealing a dark side to his personality * His frequent use of cocaine and how it heightened his tendency to excess - both on and off stage * The women in his life - his bizarrely enduring relationships with his first love, Mary Austin, and his long-time confidante, Barbara Valentin, who speaks for the first time in this book The book also includes new and intimate stories by those who knew him well, such as Tim Rice, Richard Branson, Cliff Richard, Bruce Dickinson, Mike Moran, Wayne Eagling, Zandra Rhodes and Susannah York.

The Biography

Freddie Mercury

With a career spanning three decades and album sales topping 150 million worldwide, they continue to fascinate fans and music lovers with their stories of legendary parties, outrageous lifestyles, turbulent affairs and outstanding musical achievements. Queen: The definitive biography is a comprehensive history of this important band. Laura Jackson has carried out exclusive interviews with members of Queen, many of their close friends, and several of the world's leading rock musicians including Sir Cliff Richard, Richie Sambora, Gary Glitter, John Peel, Malcolm McLaren, Bruce Dickenson, Peter Stringfellow, Richard Branson, Trevor Francis and Nigel Planer. She turns the spotlight onto the private lives, professional struggles and personal triumphs of all four band members, from Freddie Mercury's reckless affairs and flamboyantly gay lifestyle to the intensely private bass player John Deacon, and from Brian May's emotional excesses to Roger Taylor's sexual scandals. Laura Jackson includes a frank and compelling account of Mercury's illness and eventual death from AIDS and examines the impact this had on his friends and family and what it meant for the band.

The Definitive Biography

Queen

Lori De Mori

A lot has changed since Towpath first rolled up its shutters 10 years ago on the Regent’s Canal in Hackney and everything but the toasted cheese sandwich was cooked from home across the bridge. And a lot hasn’t. It is still as much a social experiment as a unique and beloved eatery. What happens when seasonality means you close every year in November, because England’s cold, dark winters are simply inhospitable to hospitality from a little perch beside a shallow, manmade waterway that snakes through East London? What if you don’t offer takeaway coffees in the hopes that people will decide to stay awhile and watch the coots skittering across the water? If you don’t have a phone or a website, because you’d rather people just show up like (hungry) kids at a playground? Towpath is a collection of recipes, stories and photographs capturing the vibrant cafe’s food, community and place throughout the arc of its season – beginning just before the first breath of spring, through the dog days of summer and culminating – with fireworks! – before its painted shutters are rolled down again for winter.

Recipes and Stories

Towpath

Bono is one of rock music's most exceptional figures. For more than two decades he has been the front man for U2, arguably the world's leading band. His powerful stage presence and distinctive voice have captivated the imaginations of thousands of loyal fans. In Bono: The Biography bestselling writer Laura Jackson examines closely the many aspects of this eternally restless singer's life. Drawing on many sources, including those who have know and worked with Bono over the years, this book brings to light the many qualities of this remarkable man. It gives an insight into his life and music, as well as his strong social conscience, his dedication to a variety of humanitarian causes and his passionate commitment to world issues. This fascinating biography provides a detailed portrait of a man who is much more than a rock star. It explores Bono's many contradictions to expose for the first time the vulnerability and strengths, the brilliance and the darkness of the man himself.

Bono

As the lead guitarist of Queen, Brian May is one of rock's most recognisable stars. Brian May: The Definitive Biography charts his life from his childhood, through his years studying astrophysics and teaching, to his success with Queen, his more recent projects and his volatile relationship with actress Anita Dobson. Bestselling writer Laura Jackson examines closely the many aspects of the May's life, detailing Queen's struggles to acheive success and what life at the top was really like. It charts the camaraderie and conflicts within Queen as well as the disintegration of May's first marriage, the death of his father and the profound professional and emotional effects of Freddie Mercury's illness and death. Packed with nearly seventy first-hand exclusive interviews with some of May's closest friends, colleagues and fellow musicians - including Iommi, Joe Elliott, Raul Rodgers, Cliff Richard and Spike Edney - this is an extraordinary, inimate portrait of a rock legend.

The definitive biography

Neil Diamond's superstardom has come at a personal cost. In this biography Laura Jackson explores the flip side of his success, the periods of crippling self doubt and his four-year self-imposed exile. It provides a definitive insight into one of the most enduring, creative and prolific singer-songwriters of his generation, exploring the complex man behind the glittering legend.

Neil Diamond

A fascinating glimpse into the life of U2's complex, genuine, and compassionate front man, from his origins in Dublin to his current status as an international rock icon, details his many personal and politcal causes, including speaking out against apartheid and nuclear testing. Reprint.

The Biography - His Life, Music, and Passions

The first biography of the notorious actor. Kiefer Sutherland's role as Jack Bauer in 24 has made him a household name.

Kiefer Sutherland

- First time in paperback.- Paul Simon, with Simon and Garfunkel, and as a solo artist has sold 50 million records in the United States alone.- Simon and Garfunkel were the opening act for the 2003 Grammy Awards.- Simon received a 2003 Oscar nomination for his song "Father and Daughter," from the animated The Wild Thornberrys Movie.- Simon is a 2002 Kennedy Center Honors winner.- Includes a discography and index.

Paul Simon

Alice Levine

'Occasionally a cookbook comes along that acts as an instruction manual for a generation... Laura Jackson and Alice Levine’s new book will define how millennials throw dinner parties' – The Times If you love planning menus, styling your home for a party and spending laidback time in your kitchen, then you need to come Round to Ours. Supper club superstars Jackson & Levine like to keep it simple. They do all the hard work for you, offering over 24 ready-made menu ideas that celebrate the pleasures of cooking for friends and family. This cookbook has the perfect combination of menu ideas and recipes for every occasion. It is the home cook's ultimate secret weapon; whether you're throwing a dinner party for six on a Friday night or are putting on a festive Boxing Day spread for the family, this one-stop-shop will tell you how to set the mood, cook the food and create a truly memorable gathering. There’s nothing faddy and no frippery – the key is good food and good company, with a secret touch of sparkle to make the meal really special. Featuring Alice and Laura’s advice on beautiful styling, smart tips on making a little go a long way, and even playlists, Round to Ours rewrites the dinner-party rulebook in style.

Setting the Mood and Cooking the Food: Menus for Every Gathering

Round to Ours

Biography of the Eagles from the early 70's through their career to their break up in 1982 and reform in 1994.

Flying High

The Eagles

« Brian Jones est mort »… Le 3 juillet 1969, en pleine période de vacances, la nouvelle affecta peu les francophones. Les Anglo-saxons, en revanche, tombèrent des nues. Le guitariste des Rolling Stones, quelques jours seulement après avoir été saqué du groupe qu’il avait fondé, était, officiellement, décédé de mort naturelle. Comme s’il était « naturel » de mourir à 27 ans ! Aucune investigation digne de ce nom ne fut diligentée. Jusqu’au manoir de Brian qui fut vidé sans qu’on n’ait jamais su à qui appartenaient les camions qui emportèrent ses effets. Beaucoup de fans l’adoraient mais beaucoup de gens le détestaient, alors… dès le début, on se posa des questions. Mais sans véritablement se permettre de les formuler. La richesse de la langue anglaise permit toutefois aux journalistes sceptiques de suggérer que la conclusion des autorités était peut-être hâtive : « Brian Jones found dead », ce n’est pas tout à fait la même chose que « Brian Jones is dead ». Laura Jackson a mené l’enquête…

BRIAN JONES Le Rolling Stone déchu

CAMION BLANC

Regarded by many as the finest actor of his generation, Daniel Day-Lewis has become one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. His diverse performances in roles such as cerebral palsy sufferer Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Butcher Bill in Gangs of New York have cemented his reputation as a chameleon method actor. Yet behind the on-screen personas and theatrical masks lies a complex figure about whom relatively little is really known. Acclaimed biographer Laura Jackson has spoken to many close friends of the actor, including Dame Judi Dench and Simon Callow, and has provided us with a fascinating insight into this intense and talented star. As well as a wonderful portrait of his creative life, this book also reveals Day-Lewis's past relationships with his co-stars and how he has found happiness with Arthur Miller's daughter Rebecca. There are very few books about this reclusive and chameleon-like actor despite his award winning film roles and ever increasingly popularity. His new Oscar & Bafta nominated movie Lincoln is scheduled for UK release early 2013.

Daniel Day-Lewis - The Biography

The Untold Life and Mysterious Death of Brian Jones

Golden Stone

Examines the life, loves, and career of one of the most controversial and enduring superstars

The Unauthorized Life of Mick Jagger

Heart of Stone

Gillian Ni Cheallaigh

Siobhan McIlvanney

Quand la folie parle presents a timely reinvigoration of the complex subject of madness and its literary manifestations. This stimulating study, authored by a range of young and talented international scholars, is of key importance in defining and refining our ongoing endeavours to theorise and analyse the literary representations of the problematics of mental health. By including discussions of texts that speak of madness as well as those that speak from madness, this volume demonstrates that, in fact, the non-sense of madness achieves a force of expression often more powerful than the usual order of logic. Embracing the scientific, the religious, the medical, the psychoanalytic, the historical, the erotic, and, of course, the properly literary, this wide-ranging, historically-informed collection is particularly significant in its exploration of both the “madwoman” and the “madman,” and exhibits an inclusiveness which extends to the genres and modes of the texts examined. The authors discussed, from Nerval and Houellebecq to NDiaye and Lê, provide a refreshingly “balanced” picture of mental illness, presenting madness or depression as a contestatory, creative stance against often mind-numbing social, racial or consumerist conventions, while refusing to play down the inevitable difficulties accompanying this isolating condition. The “dialectic effect” referenced in the title of the collection extends not only to the dynamics at work within the volume itself, as the different contributions implicitly dialogue with one another, but equally to the reader of these essays, who is engaged throughout in the debates put forward.

The Dialectic Effect of Madness in French Literature since the Nineteenth Century

Quand la folie parle

As the lead guitarist of Queen, Brian May is one of rock's most recognisable stars. Brian May: the definitive biography charts his life from his childhood, through his years studying astro physics and teaching, his success with Queen, his more recent projects and his volatile relationship with actress Anita Dobson. Bestselling writer Laura Jackson examines closely the many aspects of the musician's life revealing his true story for the first time. The book reveal's Queen's struggles to gain success and life at the top, throwing some of the most notorious and wildly salacious parties in the business. It charts the camaraderie and conflicts within Queen as well as Brian's difficult years throughout the disintegration of his first marriage, the death of his father and the profound professional and emotional effects of Freddie Mercury's illness and death. The book is packed with nearly 70 first-hand exclusive interviews with some of his closest friends, colleagues and fellow musicians. These include school and college friends, early band members and colleagues in the scientific world. Interviewees include, Tony Iommi, Joe Elliott, Raul Rodgers, Cliff Richard and Spike Edney.

This fascinating biography provides a detailed portrait of the high-energy, charismatic international superstar and frontman of the ever-popular band, Bon Jovi. The book charts Jon's relationship with the other band members who have their fair share of rock and roll stories - sex, booze, burnouts, health and women problems. Although rock music is Jon Bon Jovi's first love, he has more recently developed an interest in acting - starring in various hit TV shows such as Ally McBeal and Sex and the City and attracting critical acclaim for his role in World War II hit film, U-571. He has also scored film music, with his score for Young Guns earning him an Oscar nomination. Bestselling writer Laura Jackson explores the personality, character, drive and the determination that have taken him from playing New Jersey clubs through all the groupie excess and glamorous indulgence to where the band is today. Two new chapters in this updated edition detail his recent work for charity, his involvement in politics and football and also give an update on the band's new albums and tours.

Laura Jackson

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