Joe Jackson – författare

From his earliest memories, Joe Jackson dreamed of playing in the National Football League and being somebody great-a champion. But growing up in a family of seven in a Cincinnati suburb during the turbulent times of the 1960s didn''t look promising. It took hard work, discipline, and good coaching to become a champion in the world''s eyes in the NFL. But the most significant change didn''t take place on a football field, but in his heart when he gave his life to Jesus Christ. Only then did his dream of playing in the NFL and the Super Bowl become a reality.

In the pages of this fascinating biographical account, Joe Jackson recounts how he tackled challenge after challenge in life, and reveals how football opened the door to a place where the giants of fear and a low sense of self-esteem roamed freely.

In Championship Sunday, Joe shares an uncut version of his life story and reveals that true champions are never satisfied with titles won on a particular day, but it''s the battles we win as a believer that matter the most as we walk out our own salvation with fear and trembling. His story encourages everyone to push past their fear and insecurity to become the champion that is hidden inside.

In 1987, when Richard Harris – the legendary star of This Sporting Life, The Field and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – was interviewed for the first time by Joe Jackson, they almost came to blows. Jackson was determined to unearth deeper truths about the actor than he usually disclosed during interviews. Harris had manipulated the media all his life, largely to keep people from getting to really know him. However, by the time that interview ended, they had become firm friends. It was only then that Jackson told Harris, ‘I want to show the public that there is far more to you than your superficial image as a boozing, brawling womaniser.’ Harris loved this idea and two years later he asked Jackson to write his biography.

Richard Harris: Raising Hell and Reaching for Heaven is that biography. But it is much more besides. Based on a searingly honest series of interviews Jackson recorded with Harris between 1987 and 2001, plus the author’s journal entries and extensive notes, this book is also a part-memoir that tells a highly personal and moving back story about why it was inevitable that Jackson and Harris would connect at the deepest possible level. This book will finally prove beyond a doubt that there was far more to Richard Harris, indisputably one of Ireland’s greatest actors as well as a Grammy-award-winning recording artist and published poet, than has previously been revealed.