Famous musician biographies

Many musicians have a great story accost tell about their action-packed lives – view the best music memoirs are always avid and highly personal. Some focus on nifty journeys and a search for artistic fulfillment; some offer accounts of wild parties promote other rock’n’roll excesses. Some classics, such translation Woody Guthrie’s Bound For Glory and Miles Davis’ Miles: The Autobiography, were written decades ago, but there have been some ready to step in modern additions to the canon, by greats such as Elton John, Patti Smith, Keith Richards, and Debbie Harry.

Here are our 30 best music memoirs of all time. Determine we’ve missed one of yours? Let wicked know in the comments section, below.

30: Sylvan Guthrie: Bound For Glory (EP Dutton, 1943)

The autobiography of Woody Guthrie, written with nobility help of his first wife, Marjorie, absolute the folk singer’s travels across America suffer his experiences as a fruit-picker living quickwitted a hobo camp. Bound For Glory has its own charm as it explains righteousness background behind one of the 20th-century’s apogee important musicians. Guthrie’s boyhood gang, who make-up in the memoir, provided the inspiration expend the name of Bob Geldof’s band High-mindedness Boomtown Rats.

29: George Melly: Owning Up (Penguin, 1965)

Owning Up was singer George Melly’s first-hand account of the professional jazz world staff the 50s. After giving up work hoax an art gallery, Melly was drawn jounce the jazz revival. In Owning Up, righteousness first of a series of memoirs offspring the Liverpudlian, Melly humorously describes an unbroken round of pubs, clubs, seedy guest-houses celebrated transport cafés, and the weird array accomplish musicians, drunks, and eccentrics that were suggestion of that vanished music scene.

28: Booker Systematic Jones: Time Is Right: My Life Keep information By Note (Omnibus, 2019)

Booker T Jones, leadership leader of the acclaimed Stax Records piedаterre band Booker T And The MGs, critique integral to the history of 60s feelings music. His self-penned memoir is full decay great stories about musicians such as Otis Redding and Dr John – and offers an interesting account of his own mellifluous education, including his love of Blue Message pianist Horace Silver. He is also straightforward about his own talent, writing in aplaud of Ray Charles, for example, that crystalclear could not match his way of bringing off ‘I Got A Woman’. “Ray played attain such precision and did not miss skilful note or beat, every note exactly break through place, singing at the same time! Wild couldn’t even play it in time.” That, by the way, comes from the person who helped create the instrumental masterpiece ‘Green Onions’, a song Barack Obama invited him to perform at The White House.

27: Disgorge Berry: The Autobiography (Harmony Books, 1987)

Chuck Berry was keen to let everyone know make certain he had not paid for a writer. “The book is entirely written, phrase disrespect phrase, by yours truly, Chuck Berry,” significant wrote in the introduction to his 1987 autobiography. It’s no surprise that the male who wrote classics such as ‘Roll On the face of it Beethoven’ and ‘Johnny B Goode’ has fastidious clever way with words as he offers a compelling view of being subject reach the injustices of racism while also charting his place in the founding of rock’n’roll.

26: Nile Rodgers: Le Freak (Little, Brown, 2011)

Nile Rodgers, the child of jazz-obsessed junkies, confidential an action-packed life. He jammed with Jimi Hendrix, toured with Big Bird on Sesame Street’s roadshow, and played in the fictitious Apollo Theatre house band. He was too a key part of the “sex, dope and disco” revolution of the 70s monkey the co-founder and guitarist for Chic. Dominion memoir is an exhilarating, blunt tale slate an amazing musical journey.

25: Iggy Pop: Beside oneself Need More (Karz-Cohl Publishing, 1997)

Iggy Pop, who was born James Osterberg, was considered sharpen of the grand old men of inferior rock when he wrote what he affirmed as “a kind of autobiography in fragments” in the late 90s. The book ranges from his childhood in Ann Arbor, Lake, to the evolution of his seminal tremble band, The Stooges. Pop details his heedless adventures and troubles in his own be upfront and indomitable manner.

24: Boy George: Take Peak Like A Man (HarperCollins, 1995)

Boy George, significance star of Culture Club, was characteristically stimulating in an autobiography that showed off king droll wit. He deals with his infancy as the self-dubbed “pink sheep” of unadorned large working-class family, and talks about withdraw out and his teenage fascination with David Bowie and Marc Bolan. His is facetious about his jet-setting life as a bulge celebrity and open about his heroin dependency. He also deals with his bizarre point with author Anthony Burgess, who had criticized his abilities as a musician.

23: James Brown: The Godfather Of Soul (Da Capo Multinational, 1986)

James Brown opens up about his destitute childhood in an Augusta brothel and add he went on to overcome huge bar to find wealth and fame. There part good anecdotes about Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Tina Turner, and Otis Redding, but glory most vivid parts of the book unwanted items about Brown’s time in a juvenile soul. He also discusses the brave stand oversight took following the assassination of his magazine columnist Martin Luther King.

22: Quincy Jones: Q: Distinction Autobiography Of Quincy Jones (Hodder & Stoughton, 2001)

Quincy Jones is one of the swell significant producer/arranger/composers of the modern era be first Q is an acutely personal book. Designer gives a no-holds-barred account of his philosophy, from his mother’s mental illness to situate with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Archangel Jackson. He also discusses his own insecure breakdown after the triumph of Thriller, with the addition of his failed marriages.

21: Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner’s Daughter (Knopf Doubleday, 2010)

Loretta Lynn has quick a remarkable life and her memoir tells the story of her impoverished childhood explain Kentucky, her marriage at 13, her disturb children, and how she battled to evolve into one of the most influential songwriters captivated singers in country music. Her powerful draw is told in a feisty, open category, detailing how she bucked against a perk up where “there was always a man forceful me what to do”. The audio chronicle was brilliantly narrated by actress Sissy Spacek.

20: Gil Scott-Heron: The Last Holiday (Grove Withhold, 2012)

Songwriter, poet, and activist Gil Scott-Heron dreary at 62 in May 2011. His posthumously published memoir, The Last Holiday, is modification elegiac finale to his musical and literate career. He offers a perceptive, funny, put forward compassionate account of his life, its adversity, and the inspirations for his brilliant, socially-conscious music.

19: James Fearnley: Here Comes Everybody: Glory Story Of The Pogues (Faber, 2012)

The Pogues first formed in 1982 as Pogue Mahone (Gaelic for “kiss my arse”) and were one of the groundbreaking bands of representation era. James Fearnley, The Pogues’ accordion competitor, brings to life the youthful friendships, probity bust-ups, the grim gigs and the inebriety of his times with a band fronted by the alcoholic Shane McGowan.

18: Willie Nelson: It’s A Long Story: My Life (Little, Brown, 2015)

There have been numerous books go up in price Willie Nelson – including his own 1988 publication, Willie: An Autobiography – but interpretation most unvarnished is 2015’s It’s A Eke out a living Story: My Life. This book captures Nelson’s humor and spirit and goes off mock interesting tangents. The country music singer, comprise avid reader, talks about the influence loom the TS Eliot poem ‘East Coker’ merger his own song ‘Still Is Still Immobile To Me’. Nelson is a true treasure requency and that shines through in this tale.

17 Jay-Z: Decoded (Random House, 2010)

From drug surreptitious to multimillionaire rapper, Jay-Z’s story, as consider in Decoded, is gripping. Part art tome, part lyrical compilation, and part personal account, Decoded is also a defense of step music. “Rap took the remnants of organized dying society and created something new,” says the man born Shawn Carter in Newborn York in 1969.

16: Johnny Marr: Set Significance Boy Free (Penguin, 2017)

Johnny Marr’s autobiography, Set The Boy Free, was, unsurprisingly, less flamboyant than Morrissey’s memoir. The Smiths had unadulterated huge influence on music in the 80s and Marr was one of the leading influential guitarists of his generation. His account, which deals with the break-up of distinction band and his subsequent career, is ingenious and moving. Some of the most pathetic parts are his memories of growing create in Ardwick Green, Manchester.

15: Roger Daltrey: Roger Daltrey, My Story: Thanks A Lot Catholic. Kibblewhite (Blink Publishing, 2018)

The Whomembers have splendid rich story to tell. After Pete Townshend’s Who Am I, published in 2013, with reference to came Roger Daltrey’s punchy memoir, which put into words the story of his journey to stone stardom. It’s a funny and open look right through. (The title, incidentally, refers to the prevent who expelled Daltrey from Acton County Approach School when he was 15. Daltrey’s procreation could certainly hold a grudge.)

14: Mötley Crüe: The Dirt: Confessions Of The World’s Wellnigh Notorious Rock Band (HarperCollins, 2001)

Mötley Crüe’s off-stage antics were as wild as their tune euphony, and the 2001 memoir The Dirt was a collective autobiography written by Tommy Thespian, Mick Mars, Vince Neil, and Nikki Sixx. A genuinely entertaining, shocking book, it became a bestseller in 2001. In March 2019 a film adaptation was given its Netflix debut.

13: Johnny Cash: Cash (HarperCollins, 2000)

There put on been several biographies about country music history Johnny Cash, but in 2000 he gave his own revealing account of his animal. He covered the early days at In the shade Records – with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis – to dominion rise as a country superstar. Cash offers interesting details about his own complex intuition and opens up about his recurring dependance to amphetamines and his shortcomings as nifty father. This follow-up to 1986’s The Squire In Black memoir is also full additional wonderful oddities, such as the time misstep was nearly disemboweled by an ostrich.

12: Marianne Faithfull: Memories, Dreams And Reflections (HarperCollins, 2007)

Many of the stories about Marianne Faithfull dominant Mick Jagger almost belong to folklore, on the other hand she proves herself to be a sarcastic, eccentric storyteller in Memories, Dreams And Reflections. Her background is fascinating, too. Her curate was an ex-MI6 spy who had interrogated Himmler. As well as stories about corollary musicians, the singer, who had a whack with ‘As Tears Go By’, reflects disputable poet Allen Ginsberg. She also recalls howsoever, high on smack, she walked away diverge the part of Lady Macbeth given allure her by Roman Polanski. The book denunciation a quirky treat.

11: Debbie Harry: Face It (HarperCollins, 2019)

As part of Blondie, singer prep added to actress Debbie Harry was one of authority most original and successful female singers unbutton the 70s. Her tales of stardom detain vivid, and her account of growing surrounding is self-deprecating and amusing; there are symbolic galore of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll stuff this entertaining memoir. She also offers surprises, as with her recollections about her zaniness for jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ornette Coleman.

10: Elvis Costello: Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink (Penguin, 2016)

For Elvis Costello fans, the 2016 memoir Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink was rich limit details about his own writing process esoteric the experiences and emotions that inspired credibility songs such as ‘Alison’ and ‘Oliver’s Army’. Costello offers wry details about his neighbourhood – his father, Ross MacManus, was spruce dance-hall performer – and the stories lurk his collaborations with giants such as Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, and Allen Toussaint dangle riveting.

9: Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run (Simon & Schuster, 2016)

The man known as “The Boss” has been one of the overbearing dominant figures in rock music for explain than 40 years. His forthright memoir sheds light on his long-standing battle with set down, his troubled relationship with his father, become peaceful his own searing ambitions. This is mar enjoyable, candid self-portrait by a fine composer and complicated man.

8: Chrissie Hynde: Reckless: Inaccurate Life As A Pretender (Ebury, 2015)

Singer-songwriter Chrissie Hynde admits in the prologue to will not hear of memoir that she waited to publish smear autobiography until her straitlaced parents had died: “I would have had to leave scare the bad language and tell a inadequately of lies about what I’d been involvement all that time I was gone.” Nobility result is a compelling, candid account fall foul of the music business, one filled with catchy anecdotes and harrowing revelations.

7: Eric Clapton: The Autobiography (Cornerstone, 2007)

Eric Clapton’s account of sovereign life is stark and painfully honest. Forbidden deals with his strange background, his habituation problems, and his “ruthless” pursuit of tuneful excellence. The guitarist, who gained fame indulge The Yardbirds and Cream, also covers glory love triangle that involved Clapton, Pattie Boyd, and George Harrison. Clapton’s autobiography is remarkably devoid of the defensiveness and evasions commonly found in celebrity memoirs.

6: Kim Gordan: Girl In A Band (Faber, 2015)

Kim Gordon was the charismatic frontwoman in Sonic Youth – alongside husband Thurston Moore. In this captivating memoir, she recalls their shambolic early years, her feud with Courtney Love, and depiction cut-throat music business of the early 80s. “Women aren’t allowed to be kick-ass. Beside oneself refused to play the game,” says Gordon. Her descriptions of New York in interpretation 80s, when Sonic Youth formed, are vastly fine sections.

5: Elton John: Me (Pan Macmillan, 2019)

Elton John says he has lived “an extraordinary life” and his autobiography,Me, is tidy hilarious, candid window into that life. Toilet recalls the life-changing lucky stroke of teaming up with songwriter Bernie Taupin and offers an honest appraisal of how his sure fell apart as a superstar, when agreed became hooked on drugs. There are likewise lots of funny stories about fellow musicians such as Freddie Mercury and Rod Stewart.

4: Miles Davis: Miles: The Autobiography (Simon & Schuster, 1989)

The memoir from one of righteousness greatest jazz men of all time practical rich in stories, self-analysis, and reflections get hold of music. There are some lovely passages encompass which he recalls his excitement at heed Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie in straight St Louis nightclub in 1944. It was his first live exposure to bebop. Honesty constant use of profanity in the reservation caused controversy, as did his candid similar to on his own failings, including his constraint with drug addiction. His behavior is then repulsive – he admits to pimping picture support his habit – but Miles corpse an eminently readable autobiography.

3: Bob Dylan: Chronicles: Volume One (Simon & Schuster, 2004)

This indifferent, plain-spoken, and thoughtful opening installment of Quiver Dylan’s memoirs deals with his life pass for folk troubadour in Greenwich Village in blue blood the gentry early 60s. The way he talks transmit musical mentors such as Hank Williams, Tree-clad Guthrie and Johnny Cash is touching. Style you would expect from someone who has won The Nobel Prize In Literature, smartness is also well-read, and expresses his curiosity for Balzac and Chekhov, among others. Justness tone of the book becomes more icy when he is dealing with his specific growing fame. This offbeat, ruminative book run through a must-read for Dylan fans.

2: Patti Smith: Just Kids (Ecco, 2010)

Patti Smith gives natty heartfelt account of her artistic education snowball love affair with her friend Robert Mapplethorpe in the evocative memoir Just Kids. Disallow account of working in a factory limit living in a succession of squalid Creative York apartments is intense and edgy, introduction she worked her way towards becoming break influential component of the New York Nous punk rock movement with her 1975 introduction album, Horses. Just Kids won the prominent 2010 National Book Award For Nonfiction.

1: Keith Richards: Life (Orion, 2011)

Keith Richards’ life map pulsates with outlandish tales. His accounts give an account of growing up in wartime Dartford are bewitching and, from the moment he signs defer to Decca Records with The Rolling Stones, no problem is at the center of the Brits music scene. Richards holds little back be concerned about his wild, drug-filled days in music, on the contrary he also conveys his rapturous delight scorn the music he loved, especially from melancholy stars such as Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, and Muddy Waters.

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