Zoë Howe

A celebration of the career and achievements of the iconic rock-and-roll artist traces her Midwest childhood and explosion onto the music scene through her collaborations with Fleetwood Mac and her gold and quadruple-platinum solo albums.

Visions, Dreams, and Rumors

Stevie Nicks

Musically, culturally and in terms of sheer attitude, The Jesus and Mary Chain stand alone. Their seminal debut album Psychocandy changed the course of popular music with its iconic blend of psychotic white noise, darkly surreal lyrics and pop sensibility, and the band continue to enchant and confound.This fierce, frank and often funny tale begins in the faceless new town of East Kilbride, near Glasgow, at the dawn of the 1980s with two chronically shy brothers, Jim and William Reid, listening to music in their shared bedroom. What follows charts the formation of The Jesus and Mary Chain, their incendiary live performances, their relationship with Alan McGee's Creation Records and those famous fraternal tensions that prepared McGee for the onslaught of the Gallaghers, with plenty of feedback, fighting and, most importantly, perfectly crafted pop along the way. It is time this vastly influential group and sometime 'public enemy' had their say.

The Jesus and Mary Chain Story

Barbed Wire Kisses

barbed wire kisses

The Jesus and Mary Chain

"Witchful Thinking is a fresh, fun, empowering guide to life from a magical perspective. From stirring your tea to beating the patriarchy, Witchful Thinking infuses every day with magic, creating a joyful - charmed - life. And you don't have to be a witch to benefit from a little witchful thinking... Editor: Wade"--

The Wise Woman's Handbook for Creating a Charmed Life

Witchful Thinking

What's it like growing up as the offspring of rock royalty? Living through bizarre backstage – and onstage – experiences, unconventional childhoods, drugs, debts and mad babysitters, the subjects of this book may have grown up quickly but their backgrounds shaped them in very different ways. In this frank and affectionate book, Zoë Street Howe meets the children of iconic music figures and discovers if a rock star parent really is a blessing or a curse.

How's Your Dad?: Living in the Shadow of a Rock Star Parent

“A new relationship; the prescient mingling of two record collections. A stark, sonic reflection of your partnership’s potential, or lack of. Never mind compatibility tests and first date small talk, whether or not someone is a suitable prospect can be divined by a glance across the spines of well-loved jewel cases and battered LPs.” Shine On, Marquee Moon, the debut novel of respected music writer Zoë Howe, is a rock ‘n’ roll love story that celebrates the extremes of life in the music business and challenges the myth of sex, drugs and rock n’ roll with plenty of wry humour, strong characters and sharp dialogue along the way. Never mind chick lit. This is rock chick lit. Sylvie is a dresser working for a New Romantic band currently enjoying a 21st century revival. Sylvie becomes romantically involved with Nick – reluctant heart-throb and the least unhinged member of the band – after bonding amid the chaos of touring life over a shared obsession with Television’s seminal album ‘Marquee Moon’. However, a dark secret threatens to destroy their future together and much more besides. Shine On, Marquee Moon exposes the hilarious, heart-wrenching and often bizarre reality of life on and off the road, where the most unlikely people become family, and ‘friends’ aren't always who they appear to be. "A great story, full of sharp and funny observations. Someone needs to form a Concierge tribute band." – Gideon Coe, BBC 6Music "Shine on, Marquee Moon is everything you'd expect from Zoë Howe: warm, wry, evocative and unconventional. This is an author who knows the idiosyncrasies of the music business and captures them all with candour and affection in a novel that is funny, fierce and better than most comeback tours.” – Jane Bradley, founder and director of For Books’ Sake. "Zoë Howe is one of our favourite music writers – a great writer who is in love with rock 'n' roll and a writer who can make the essence and magic of the dark stuff seem so alive…" – John Robb, Louder Than War "Tangled romance, ripe idiocy, monstrous self-delusion and 'that familiar backstage smell - hairspray, sweat, alcohol, dust burning on lightbulbs' ... Zoë Howe's crackling account of life around a rock band is fast, funny and superbly well-observed" – Mark Ellen, renowned music journalist and editor (Smash Hits, The Word, Select, Mojo, Q), broadcaster and author of Rock Stars Stole My Life "Heroin, and a fine heroine – Zoë Howe knows exactly how it'll pan out. Classic, clever, funny tale of what happens in the covens around those all boy-clubs of bands…" – Kirsty Allison, founder and editor of Cold Lips, books/arts editor of DJ Magazine "Hilarious and poignant, a rock ’n' roll love story about a woman seeking her own place in a cock-centric industry. A stylish ride through band-life, written by a woman well-versed in music's tricks and secrets... Lots of fun." – Emma Jane Unsworth, bestselling author of Animals and Hungry, The Stars & Everything Shine On, Marquee Moon is shortlisted for the Virginia Prize For Fiction 2016.

Shine On, Marquee Moon

Wild, defiant and startlingly inventive, The Slits were ahead of their time. Although they created some unique hybrids - dub reggae and pop-punk, African rhythms, funk and free jazz - they were dismissed as being unable to play. Their lyrics were witty and perceptive while their influential first album challenged perceptions of punk and of girl bands... but they were still misunderstood. And that infamous debut album cover, with the band appearing topless and mud-daubed, prompted further misreadings of the first ladies of punk. Author Zoë Street Howe speaks to The Slits themselves, to former manager Don Letts, mentor and PIL guitarist Phil Levene and many other friends and colleagues to discover exactly how The Slits phenomenon came about and to celebrate the legacy of a seminal band long overdue its rightful acclaim. Too long seen as a note in the margin of the history of rock, The Slits at last get a fair hearing in this revealing biography.

Typical Girls? The Story of the Slits

This biography takes us on her journey from peripatetic Midwest childhood to her explosion onto the music scene as chiffon-swathed rock goddess, right up to present day.

Zoë Howe

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