Laura Jackson – författare

The definitive biography of one of the world's most loved rock stars - now updated.

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.

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.

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.

Steven Tyler is one of life's natural born survivors. With an exhaustively vibrant personality, this dynamic lead singer has been one of the most distinctive figures in rock music for more than three decades. Although he was raised in a close knit, loving family, Tyler survived a tough upbringing in the Bronx. His inherent passion for performing and a talent for playing instruments propelled him into rock music as a teenager. He fronted a succession of local bands before meeting the guys with whom he would form Aerosmith in 1970. Laura Jackson reveals the stories behind Tyler's relationships with band members and the many women in his life, his battle with Hepatitis C, and his drug-fuelled meltdown during the late '70s and early '80s when he was snorting pure heroin. She also explores his visits to rehab in the 1980s which saved his life. Tyler has lived a roller coaster life of excess - spending over a million dollars on drugs - but is miraculously still performing. Steven Tyler: the biography tells his incredible story.

In this definitive biography of Brian Jones, Laura Jackson - the first to insist that Jones was murdered and the first to identify his killer - rejects the stereotype of a narcissistic rock star who was doomed to self-destruct. Instead, she spoke to the people who knew him best: his family and friends, girlfriends and confidantes, the musicians and friends who lived and worked with him right up until his death in 1969. Jones emerges as a man of immense talent, energy and humour, but crippled by insecurities and shyness - a portrayal greatly at odds with the sordid rumours that plagued him throughout his life, which continue to this day. Jackson provides new testimony on the rivalries within the Rolling Stones and the bitter final split, together with telling details from the pathology and coroner's reports, to tell the story behind the headlines and get to the heart of the mysterious death of Brian Jones.

Neil Diamond has been responsible for writing some of the most memorable songs in pop music history and he has sold in excess of 120 million albums and has continued to reign as one of the Top 5 most successful solo artists in pop music. After years of anonymity in Tin Pan Alley churning out hits for other artistes, Neil Diamond burst onto the scene in his own right in 1969 with 'Sweet Caroline.' However, superstardom has come at a personal cost - he is a star who has suffered periods of crippling self doubt. He is an intriguing blend of contradictions - a massively charismatic dazzling live performer, yet deeply introspective off stage. In this fascinating portrait, his life, his music and his passions are explored from his childhood struggle to get out of Brooklyn, through five decades of global stardom, to the present day. NEIL DIAMOND: THE BIOGRAPHY 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.

The Eagles have enjoyed colossal success spanning three decades. They are a remarkable mesh of lyrical and musical talent, twinned with an explosive blend of personalities. They are a group of individually diverse and vivid characters - something which played a crucial part in propelling them to global success but has also led to bitter personality clashes, paranoia and tension, leaving them at bitter odds with one another, burned out and depressed at the start of the 1980s. The Eagles have one of the most fascinating sex, drugs and rock and roll stories that there is. At their decadent height they enjoyed an insatiable appetite for drugs and groupies, and threw some of the wildest parties in the business. Laura Jackson follows their fascinating story from the early '70s when they established an immediately identifiable sound that was unique to them, through their career and personal highs and lows, to their break up in 1982 and their eventual reform in 1994. The Eagles: Flying High provides a definitive insight into one of the best selling bands in recording history.

Kiefer Sutherland has not always led the pampered life of a son of celebrity parents. He has carved his own path, made his own mistakes, as well as some unusual and surprising life decisions along the way. Kiefer Sutherland: The Biography traces the actor's life from his childhood, through his parents' divorce to his struggle to break into acting and the success he has achieved today. He has appeared in almost 60 films but his role as Jack Bauer in 24 has given him a new, international audience. This biography explores his versatility as an actor, his involvement with the Brat Pack when he became known as a hellraiser, and the years when he turned his back on Hollywood to travel on the rodeo circuit. In this first biography of the notorious actor, the author will explore the relationships in Kiefer's life: the unique and enduring bond with his father, Donald Sutherland, and his chequered love life including the cancellation of his wedding to Julia Roberts. Bestselling writer Laura Jackson examines closely the many aspects of the actor's life revealing his true story for the first time.

**THE DEFINITIVE, UP-TO-DATE BIOGRAPHY OF FREDDIE MERCURY**'An outstanding biography. . .a fitting testament to the creative genius' -- Daily Mail'Touches all manner of intriguing rock 'n' roll debauchery. . .fascinating reading' -- Time OutThis fascinating biography of Freddie Mercury has received outstanding acclaim from Queen and rock fans worldwide -- now revised and updated to coincide with the release of the film about his life, Bohemian Rhapsody.Born Farrokh Bulsara on the island of Zanzibar, Freddie Mercury rose to worldwide stardom as the lead singer of Britain's biggest music act of all time. In this bestselling biography, Laura Jackson reveals the reality behind Queen's flamboyant frontman and lead singer, as she looks behind his unique brand of showmanship to discover who Freddie Mercury really was. Featuring exclusive interviews with some of those closest to Freddie right up until his tragic death, original Queen members and many others -- including new and intimate stories from Tim Rice, Richard Branson, Cliff Richard, Bruce Dickinson, Mike Moran, Wayne Eagling, Zandra Rhodes and Susannah York -- this is the definitive biography of one of rock's greatest legends.

The Farm as Natural Habitat is a vital new contribution to the debate about agriculture and its impacts on the land. Arising from the conviction that the agricultural landscape as a whole could be restored to a healthy diversity, the book challenges the notion that the dominant agricultural landscape - bereft of its original vegetation and wildlife and despoiled by chemical runoff - is inevitable if we are to feed ourselves. Contributors bring together insights and practices from the fields of conservation biology, sustainable agriculture, and environmental restoration to link agriculture and biodiversity, farming and nature, in celebrating a unique alternative to conventlonal agriculture. Rejecting the idea that "ecological sacrifice zones" are a necessary part of feeding a hungry world, the book offers compelling examples of an alternative agriculture that can produce not only healthful food, but fully functioning ecosystems and abundant populations of native species.Contributors include Collin Bode, George Boody, Brian DeVore, Arthur (Tex) Hawkins, Buddy Huffaker, Rhonda Janke, Richard Jefferson, Nick Jordan, Cheryl Miller, Heather Robertson, Carol Shennan, Judith Soule, Beth Waterhouse, and others. The Farm as Natural Habitat is both hopeful and visionary, grounded in real examples, and guided by a commitment to healthy land and thriving communities. It is the first book to offer a viable approach to addressing the challenges of protecting and restoring blodiversity on private agricultural land and is essential reading for anyone concerned with issues of land or blodiversity conservation, farming and agriculture, ecological restoration, or the health of rural communities and landscapes.

Finalist for the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2021: General CookbookVoted Best Outdoor Dining Spot in London by VOGUE MagazineSelected as a best cookbook of the year by the Guardian, The Independent, Stylist and Daily MailLori & Laura are a magical team. I suggest you dive in and cook up a Towpath feast for your friends and family. Fergus & Margot HendersonFrom St. John’s to River Cafe, London’s food scene is peppered with iconic restaurants that are now intertwined with the city’s landscape. Towpath is no different. The café, run by Lori de Mori and Laura Jackson, is a permanent fixture along Regent’s Canal, complete with the honks of riverside coots and speeding cyclists. What sets it apart, however, is that it has no phone or takeaway; with only outdoor seating and no laptops it is one of the few places in London where time stands still.Part snapshot of life on the canal, part recipe book, Towpath: Recipes & Stories captures the ebb and flow of Towpath’s ever-changing seasonal menus and its waterside community, offering Laura’s vibrant recipes alongside evocative stories by Lori. The cookbook features Italian classics like Aubergine Parmigiana and Olive Oil Cake and French delights like the Raspberry and Frangipane Tart amongst other Towpath specialties like Roast Chicken and gooey Cheese Toastie with a side of Quince Jam. In the words of Olia Hercules, ‘[Towpath] is a cookbook that absolutely everyone should possess. It’s a life-changing kind of thing.’Towpath is one of the reasons I live in London. It’s a jewel-like, dream of a place. This book is an invite into their magical world. Keira Knightley

'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 TimesIf 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.

The Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program was created by EPA to develop the capability for tracking the changing conditions of our natural resources and to give environmental policy the advantages ofa sound scientific understanding of trends. Former EPA Administrators recognized early that contemporary monitoring programs could not even quantify simple unknowns like the number of lakes suffering from acid rain, let along determine if national control policies were benefiting these lakes. Today, adding to acidification impacts are truly complex problems such as determining the effects of climate change, of increases in ultraviolet light, toxic chemicals, eutrophication and critical habitat loss. Also today, the Government Performance and Results Act seeks to have agencies develop performance standards based on results rather than simply on levels of programmatic activities. The charge to EMAP of ecosystems is, therefore, the same today as it was a with respect to measuring the condition decade ago. We welcome the increasing urgency for sound scientific monitoring methods and data by efforts to protect and improve the environment. Systematic nationwide monitoring of natural resources is more than anyone program can accomplish, however. In an era of declining budgets, it is crucial that monitoring programs at all levels of government coordinate and share environmental data. EMAP resources are dwarfed by the more than $500 million spent on federal monitoring activities each year.