53 Biographies about musicians

3 Kings: Diddy, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z and Hip-Hop's Multibillion-Dollar Rise is a non-fiction book by Zack O'Malley Greenburg published by Little, Brown in March 2018.

All Gates Open: The Story of Can is a book about the German experimental rock band Can, written by British writer and editor Rob Young and Can founding member Irmin Schmidt. It was published in May 2018 in the United Kingdom by Faber and Faber in two editions, a trade edition in hardback, and a handbound and autographed limited edition.

Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas is a 2005 book by music journalist Michka Assayas. The format is an extended interview that Assayas had with Bono over a period of several years. Bono discusses his upbringing, U2's beginnings, his band mates, his personal life, his faith and the effects of his celebrity status.

The first major biographies of Johann Sebastian Bach, including those by Johann Nikolaus Forkel and Philipp Spitta, were published in the 19th century. Many more were published in the 20th century by, among others, Albert Schweitzer, Charles Sanford Terry, Christoph Wolff and Klaus Eidam.

Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work is an early 19th-century biography of Johann Sebastian Bach, written in German by Johann Nikolaus Forkel, and later translated by, among others, Charles Sanford Terry.

Nekrolog is the name with which Johann Sebastian Bach's obituary, which appeared four years after the composer's death, is usually indicated.

The Beatles: The Biography is the name of a 2005 biography of the 1960s rock band The Beatles written by Bob Spitz. It was first published by Little, Brown and Company on November 1, 2005.

Beethoven: A Life in Nine Pieces is a biographical book written by Laura Tunbridge and published by in 2020. Each chapter uses one of nine compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven in chronological order. The publishing year was intended to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the composer's birth.

Bowie: A Biography is a biography on the life and times of musician David Bowie, a twentieth century music and cultural icon. The book is written by Marc Spitz and was released on October 27, 2009, by the Crown Publishing Group.

Britten's Children is a scholarly 2006 book by John Bridcut that describes the English composer Benjamin Britten's relationship with several adolescent boys. Bridcut has been praised for treating such a sensitive subject in "an impeccably unsensational tone". The Britten-Pears Foundation described the book as having been "enthusiastically received as shedding new light on one of the most interesting aspects of Britten's life and career, in a study that is thoroughly researched, wonderfully readable and thought-provoking". Bridcut's book followed his television documentary Britten's Children shown on BBC2 in June 2004.

Can't Buy Me Love, subtitled The Beatles, Britain, and America, is a book by American author Jonathan Gould that was published in October 2007. A biography of the English rock band the Beatles, it provides a musicological assessment of their work and a study of the cultural impact they had during the 1960s. It was first published in the United States by Harmony Books and took Gould seventeen years to complete, after he had begun working on the project with editor William Shawn for the Farrar, Straus and Giroux publishing company. It was the first book by Gould, who was formerly a professional musician.

Cheryl: My Story is an autobiography written by the British recording artist Cheryl, who was known at the time as Cheryl Cole, co-written with Rachel Murphy. It was published by Harper on 11 October 2012. In addition to dealing with her childhood and her rise to fame as a member of the girl group Girls Aloud, Cheryl also discusses her volatile marriage with the footballer Ashley Cole, her life-threatening battle with malaria and her relationship with The X Factor boss Simon Cowell. While Cheryl was the subject of criticism for some of the book's content, Cheryl: My Story was well received by entertainment critics, who complimented the candid nature of the autobiography. It topped The Sunday Times Bestseller list, selling an average of 2,000 copies a day in its first five months of release.

Dino: Living High in the Dirty Business of Dreams is a biography of Dean Martin written by Nick Tosches. It draws heavily from interviews Tosches did with Jerry Lewis, and with Martin's second wife and lifelong friend Jeanne Biegger. The story begins with the births of Martin's grandparents in Italy and follows his entire life up to the point of publication. It also includes sections in which Tosches writes in the first person from the point of view of Martin, a gonzo journalism style which would be used more frequently in his later non-fiction works.

Don't All Thank Me At Once: The Lost Pop Genius of Scott Miller is a 2015 biography of pop musician Scott Miller, written by Brett Milano.

Elvis and Gladys (ISBN 1-57806-634-4) is a biography of rock and roll singer Elvis Presley by author and film industry insider, Elaine Dundy. The book recounts Presley's early life, the role his mother Gladys played in his formative years, and his beginnings in recorded music and film.

Elvis: What Happened? is a book about the personal life of singer Elvis Presley. The book, which is based on the personal accounts of three of Elvis' former bodyguards, went into detail on the singer's dangerous drug-dependence. His death, only two weeks after the book's publication in July 1977, made it highly topical and helped boost its sales to over 3 million.

Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner To Corner Office is a biography of hip-hop mogul Jay-Z authored by Zack O'Malley Greenburg, released in March 2011 by Portfolio, the Penguin Random House business imprint.

Faithfull: An Autobiography is an autobiography by English singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull, written in collaboration with David Dalton. It was first published on 1 August 1994 by Little, Brown and Company and reissued as a paperback in July 1995. The book was also accompanied by the release of a compilation album Faithfull: A Collection of Her Best Recordings (1994). Faithfull: An Autobiography chronicles her childhood, career as a teenage pop star during the 1960s, relationship with Mick Jagger, heroin addiction in the 1970s, and her comeback to music industry with her album Broken English (1979).

The Wrecking Crew was a loose collective of session musicians based in Los Angeles whose services were employed for thousands of studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including several hundred Top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly recognized in their era, but were viewed with reverence by industry insiders. They are now considered one of the most successful and prolific session recording units in music history.

Hammer of the Gods is a book written by music journalist Stephen Davis, published in 1985. It is an unauthorized biography of the English rock band Led Zeppelin. After its release it became a New York Times bestseller paperback, and is hyped by its publisher as being the best-known Led Zeppelin biography. It has been reprinted three times since its first publication and has been released under the alternative title Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga. The title is derived from a line in "Immigrant Song", a track from the band's third album.

Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London, the Untold Story of a Musical Genius is a biography of American rock and roll musician Jimi Hendrix, written by Steven Roby and Brad Schreiber and published by Da Cabo Press in 2010.

Jimi Hendrix: An Illustrated Experience is a biography of American guitarist Jimi Hendrix, written by his stepsister Janie and his biographer John McDermott, and published on October 9, 2007. The book tells the story of Hendrix and his life through reproductions of rare material such as letters, drawings, postcards and posters. An Illustrated Experience also contains a companion CD entitled Hendrix: Live, which includes three live tracks, two interviews, and a studio jam entitled "Keep on Groovin'".

Henry Cow: The World Is a Problem is a 2019 book by American academic Benjamin Piekut. It is a biography and analysis of the English experimental rock group Henry Cow and their turbulent existence between 1968 and 1978. The book is Piekut's second and was published in September 2019 in the United States by Duke University Press in both hard- and soft-cover.

Johnny Thunders: In Cold Blood is the authorised biography of American singer and guitarist Johnny Thunders, by Nina Antonia. It was originally published in 1987 by Jungle Records on their Jungle Books imprint in a 'coffee-table' illustrated A4 format, and reissued in 2000 by Cherry Red Books in a paperback format. It was also published in a Japanese edition in 1988 by Shinko Music Pub Co Ltd and an Italian translation in Italy in 2015 by Pipeline Edizioni – Ferentino.

Khabzela: The Life And Times Of A South African is a bestselling 2005 biography written by South African author Liz McGregor about South African disc jockey Fana Khaba, who died from AIDS.

The Killing of Tupac Shakur is a biographical, true crime account by American journalist and author Cathy Scott of the 1996 murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. The book made news upon its September 1997 release, on the first anniversary of Shakur's death, because of an autopsy photo included in its pages. It was the first book to be released covering the rapper's death. The book was reprinted in the UK by Plexus Publishing and in Poland by Kagra. Coverage of the autopsy photo, taken of Shakur's body on a gurney in the coroner's examining room, catapulted the book onto the Los Angeles Times bestseller list. New editions of the book were released in 2002 and 2014.

Lady Gaga: Queen of Pop is a biography of American singer Lady Gaga. It was written by Emily Herbert and published in the United Kingdom by John Blake Publishing Ltd. The book was published by Overlook Press in the United States with the title Lady Gaga: Behind the Fame. Additional versions under the title Lady Gaga: Queen of Pop were published in 2010 by Wilkinson Publishing of Melbourne in Australia and by Gardners Books in the United Kingdom. The book discusses Gaga's early life when she was known as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta from her birth in 1986, and chronicles her education at Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York, her early visits to nightclubs with her mother to perform at open-mic events, and her brief foray into the Tisch School of the Arts, leading up to her first experience of fame. Germanotta took the name "Lady Gaga" from the song "Radio Ga Ga" by the rock group Queen; she released her first album The Fame in 2008. Lady Gaga: Queen of Pop describes the musician's success in the industry, noting her business collaborations and appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone in 2009.

Life with My Sister Madonna is an autobiography by American dancer, choreographer and tour director Christopher Ciccone and author Wendy Leigh. The book is a memoir about Ciccone's relationship with his sister, American singer Madonna, and was released on July 14, 2008 by Simon Spotlight Entertainment. A tell-all book, it details Ciccone's life spent with Madonna, and unknown aspects of the singer's life. The relationship between Ciccone and Madonna had deteriorated over the years, following the singer's refusal to employ him as her tour director. Writing the book was a catharsis for him and he contacted Leigh. Together they developed the project secretly and offered it to Simon Spotlight Entertainment for publication.

The Lives of John Lennon is a 1988 biography of musician John Lennon by American author Albert Goldman. The book is a product of several years of research and hundreds of interviews with many of Lennon's friends, acquaintances, servants and musicians. Notwithstanding, it is best known for its criticism and generally negative representation of the personal lives of Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono.

Madonna is a biography by English author Andrew Morton, chronicling the life of American recording artist Madonna. The book was released in November 2001 by St. Martin's Press in the United States and in April 2002 by Michael O'Mara Books in the United Kingdom. Morton decided to write a biography on Madonna in 2000. The release was announced in April 2001 by St. Martin's Press. President and publisher Sally Richardson described the biography to contain details about Madonna's ambitions, her relationships and her lifestyle.

Madonna: An Intimate Biography is a book by American author J. Randy Taraborrelli, chronicling the life of American singer Madonna. The book was released in April 2001 by Sidgwick & Jackson in the United Kingdom, and in August 2001 by Simon & Schuster in the United States. Taraborrelli first considered writing the book in 1990, but, realizing the project might be premature in respect to Madonna's fledgling career, set it aside. He began writing the book in 1996, when Madonna gave birth to her daughter Lourdes.

Madonna: Like an Icon is a biography by English author Lucy O'Brien, chronicling the life of American singer Madonna. The book was released on 27 August 2007, by Bantam Press in the United Kingdom, and on 18 October 2007, by Harper Collins in the United States. Madonna: Like an Icon chronicles the life of the singer from her birth, up to the release of her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy, in 2008. Initially critical of her work, O'Brien had become a fan of Madonna after seeing her perform on television for The Virgin Tour in 1985. From that point of time, the author followed Madonna's career closely, attending her concerts, and collecting interviews, magazines, and albums.

A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton, from Box Tops to Big Star to Backdoor Man is a 2014 biography of musician Alex Chilton, written by Holly George-Warren.

Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001–2011 is an oral history which details the rebirth of the New York rock scene in the new millennium, written and compiled by music journalist Lizzy Goodman. It was published in May 2017 by Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. The book is named after the Strokes song of the same name from their 2003 album Room on Fire.

Michael Jackson, Inc.: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of a Billion-Dollar Empire is a non-fiction book written by Zack O'Malley Greenburg, published in June 2014 by the Simon and Schuster imprint, Atria Books.

Mike Oldfield - A Life Dedicated To Music (ISBN 978-1-906385-35-4) is a biography of Mike Oldfield published in May 2013 by Brimstone Press. It was written by Chris Dewey who is also the editor of Dark Star, the official fan magazine for Mike Oldfield.

Moments in a Lifetime is a biographical/autiobiographical book about the Irish band Clannad, written by Barbara Bennett with band member Noel Duggan. The book was published to coincide with Clannad's 2008 tour of Britain and Ireland. The book contains exclusive photographs and accounts of touring and recording as a band.

The Murder of Biggie Smalls is a non-fiction true crime book by author and journalist Cathy Scott. Published in October 2000 by St. Martin's Press, it covers the March 9, 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G. in a drive-by shooting.

No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980) was the first biography of Jim Morrison, lead singer and lyricist of the L.A. rock band The Doors.

Once Upon a Nightwish: The Official Biography 1996 – 2006 is a 2006 biography originally written in Finnish by Mape Ollila, telling the story of the first ten years of Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. The book was translated into English in 2007. An enhanced, more polished English edition was published by Bazillion Points Books at the very end of 2008.

The Private Lives of the Three Tenors is a gossip biography of tenors Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and José Carreras by Marcia Lewis, the mother of Monica Lewinsky. The book received high-level publicity during the 1998 Lewinsky scandal, as journalists compared Lewis' "hints" of an affair with popular opera singer, Plácido Domingo, to Lewinsky’s then-unproven allegations against U.S. President Bill Clinton. Domingo insisted that he only knew Lewis socially.

Rihanna is a coffee table photo-book by Barbadian singer Rihanna and British artist Simon Henwood. Henwood envisioned the project as the depiction of a "journey", as it includes professional and candid photos by him, that show the singer's fourth studio album, Rated R's (2009) promotional campaign, alongside pictures from other live appearances. The publication features a preface written by French designer Alexandre Vauthier.

Room Full of Mirrors: A Biography of Jimi Hendrix is a 2005 biography of the influential rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter Jimi Hendrix. It was written by Charles R. Cross.

Sex Tips from Rock Stars: In Their Own Words is a book by Paul Miles that quotes answers from 23 rock stars to many questions on a broad range of sexual topics. The editors claim that the book is the world's first confessional by rock stars on their sexual adventures.

Steve Marriott All Too Beautiful is the official biography of Steve Marriott, the singer, guitarist and frontman of the Small Faces (1965–1969) and Humble Pie (1969–1975).

Touching from a Distance is a biography written by Deborah Curtis. It details her life and marriage with Ian Curtis, lead singer of the 1970s British post-punk rock band Joy Division. In the book, Deborah Curtis speaks of Ian's infidelity, their troubled marriage, Ian's volatile and sometimes troubled personality, and his health problems that likely led to his suicide in 1980, on the eve of Joy Division's first United States tour.

Traci Lords: Underneath It All is an autobiography by American actress and singer Traci Lords, first published on July 8, 2003 by HarperCollins. It was reissued as a paperback on June 29, 2004, with an additional chapter and photos. The book primarily details Lords' career in the adult film industry, when she appeared underage in dozens of pornographic films and became one of the most notable pornstars of the 1980s. It also chronicles her childhood, transition to mainstream films and musical career.

The 1984 autobiography by Julian Lloyd Webber, Travels with My Cello, covers his childhood through to travelling the world as a concert performer in the early 1980s.

Tupac: A Thug Life is an anthology and collection of writings on the rapper Tupac Shakur released in 2005 by Plexus Publishing in the UK. The book was edited by Sam Brown with a foreword by music journalist Kris Ex. The title was taken from a quote by Shakur, who once said, "I didn't choose the thug life; the thug life chose me."

Van Morrison: No Surrender is a biography of musician Van Morrison, written by Johnny Rogan. It was first published in 2005 by Secker & Warburg, and another edition was published by Vintage Books in 2006. Rogan interviewed musicians and friends of Morrison, and spent 20 years researching the book and four years writing it. The book is comprehensive, and goes into detail about multiple facets of Morrison's life. Rogan recounts Morrison's youth in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and how early experiences there informed his music. He discusses how Morrison joined various bands before experiencing success with Them. Morrison later signed a contract with Bert Berns and moved to New York, where he became quite popular after recording "Brown Eyed Girl" and albums Astral Weeks and Moondance. Rogan comments on Morrison's exploration of spirituality, and describes how these experiences influenced his musical work. The biography discusses Morrison's move to Britain and then Dublin, and his relationship with model Michelle Rocca.

Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now is a biography of musician Van Morrison, written by Steve Turner. It was first published in 1993 in the United States by Penguin Group, and in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Publishing. Turner first met Van Morrison in 1985; he interviewed approximately 40 people that knew the subject in his research for the biography. Van Morrison did not think positively of the biography, and multiple newspapers reported he attempted to purchase all of the book's 25,000 copies. He sent a letter to the author asserting the 40 individuals interviewed for the book were not his friends, and accused Turner of "peddling distortions and inaccuracies about me personally".

The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights is a 2004 children's nonfiction book by Russell Freedman. It received both a Sibert Medal and a Newbery Honor Book award in 2005. The book tells the story of Marian Anderson, an African-American contralto, who during her journey to establishing a singing career, inadvertently became an activist for equal rights.

When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin is a book written by Mick Wall, published in 2008. It is a biography of the English rock band Led Zeppelin.