Paul Morley – författare

'A wondrous collection of writings to provoke the Bowie fan into deepening their understanding of the man, not just the myth.' Dave Roberts, God is in the TV zine'Insightful and vibrant, Far Above the World is a compelling reminder that Bowie's influence didn't end in 2016. Instead, it continues to illuminate the present and chart the path ahead.' The Voice'I really enjoyed the intimacy of the read. A zoetrope of the life of David Robert Jones.' Bono 'I love Paul Morley's writing about David Bowie ... magical and inspired, like Bowie himself.' Johnny Marr'A compelling chronicle of David Bowie's search for new ideas and where they led him. Bowie: the keen-bean enthusiast and cunning strategist, the original and the imitator, the star and the bloke, the pale intellectual and the sexy rock-and-roller. Paul Morley brings them all together in this intriguingly philosophical study of a unique artist.' Neil TennantA landmark exploration of David Bowie as an everlasting cultural force and changemaker, by acclaimed writer Paul Morley. In the ten years since the death of David Bowie in 2016 there has been no loss of interest in and fascination with his life, music and driven, complex personality. He is definitely one musician, one performer, destined not to be forgotten. The significant grief and sadness that greeted Bowie's death has evolved into a deeper, enduring love for his music, style, wit, artistic curiosity, sexual energy, flamboyant outsider spirit and insatiable, provocative appetite for life.Far Above the World documents one of the UK's greatest creative artists, through the spectacularly colourful and vibrant journey of a man who constantly reinvented himself and his music. Bowie lived in the future, using the pop song to chronicle overwhelming and dangerous times, searching for the light, and creating a communication channel between post-war 20th century times and where(ever) we are now. This anniversary book will place him in the now and next, as much as is past, and argue that his songs, and his messages, reflections and warnings become ever more relevant and compelling as time passes.

THE TIMES & UNCUT MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEARCritically-acclaimed and bestselling author Paul Morley's long-awaited biography of Factory Records co-founder and Manchester icon Tony Wilson.A BOOK OF THE YEARSUNDAY TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, MOJO, LOUDER THAN WAR'Compelling . . . befitting its extraordinary subject.'BRIAN ENO'Bracing and often surprisingly tender . . . the perfect monument.'SUNDAY TIMES'Via Morley's magical prose Tony Wilson comes back to life . . . inspiring.'RICHARD RUSSELLTony Wilson was a man who became synonymous with his beloved city. As the co-founder of the legendary Factory Records and the Haçienda, he appointed himself a custodian of Manchester's legacy of innovation and change, becoming a cultural pioneer for the North. To Paul Morley, he was this and much more: bullshitting hustler, flashy showman, inventive broadcaster, self-deprecating chancer, publicity seeker, loyal friend. It was Morley to whom Wilson left a daunting final request: to write this book.From Manchester with Love is the biography of a man who changed the world around him through sheerforce of personality. In the cultural theatre of Manchester, Tony Wilson broke in and took centre stage.'An immersive experience . . . very moving indeed.'MIRANDA SAWYER, OBSERVER'Not just a "biog" but the story of a city's history and culture and a unique and disappearing figure.'STUART MACONIE, NEW STATESMAN'Morley's biography is as illuminating on Wilson's strange ability to hold others in his orbit, even after his death, as it is on the story of his life.'THE SPECTATOR'The man/myth Wilson died aged 57 in 2006, but here he burns on fantastically bright.'UNCUT

Art is my life and my life is art . . .The story of the twentieth-century avant-garde is a story of resistance, of the outsider, of strangeness, of individual freedom, of rejecting the ordinary and overcoming marginalisation through self-invention. It is also a story that can be told through the prism of one of its most renowned figureheads: Yoko Ono.From her early life escaping aristocratic Japanese society and the horrors of World War II to adventurous and productive exile in New York, Ono's work built upon the histories of Dada, surrealism, Zen Buddhism, and experimental music. A significant influence on the elusive Fluxus artistic network, she was connected to all its major personalities. Pursuing dreams of revolutionary liberation and aiming to recreate shattered post-war reality through performance, art and text, she established a legacy - despite her tumultuous personal life - as one of the most visionary artists and activists of her generation.Marking the intersection of biography, cultural history and artistic meditation, Love Magic Power Danger Bliss explores the deep history and vitality of the 20th century avant-garde movement and the inspiring, provocative figure who became its most celebrated, most misunderstood icon.

Has pop burnt itself out? Inspired by the video for Kylie Minogue's hit single 'Can't Get You Out of My Head', acclaimed rock journalist Paul Morley is driving with Kylie towards a virtual city built of sound and ideas in search of the answer. Their journey bridges the various paradoxes of twentieth-century culture, as they encounter a succession of celebrities and geniuses - including Madonna, Kraftwerk, Wittgenstein and the ghost of Elvis Presley - and explore the iconic and the obscure, the mechanical and the digital, the avant-garde and the very nature of pop itself.

Osteoporosis, a growing epidemic among women in North America, Europe, and Japan, is a painful, costly disease that has presented a treatment challenge to healthcare professionals. Until recently, therapies have focused on agents that slow bone resorption, and have had only limited success at increasing bone mass.

A celebratory and beautiful mixture of memoir, social history and cultural observation, Paul Morley's The North is a unique portrait of Northern England and almost everything within it'Breathtaking tour de force' Mail on Sunday'Packed with raw emotions and ambivalent passions … Morley writes with care and precision, though, and his rhythm is such that his book is a lively, breezy read' Sunday TimesPaul Morley grew up in Reddish, less than five miles from Manchester and even closer to Stockport. Ever since the age of seven Morley has always thought of himself as a northerner. What that meant, he wasn't entirely sure. It was for him, as it is for millions of others in England, an absolute, indisputable truth. Forty years after walking down grey pavements on his way to school, Paul explores what it means to be northern and why those who consider themselves to be believe it so strongly.Like industrial towns dotted across great green landscapes of hills and valleys, Morley breaks up his own history with fragments of his region's own social and cultural background. Stories of his Dad spreading margarine on Weetabix stand alongside those about northern England's first fish and chip shop in Mossley, near Oldham. Ambitiously sweeping and beautifully impressionistic, without ever losing touch with the minute details of life above the M25, The North is an extraordinary mixture of memoir and history, a unique insight into how we, as a nation, classify the unclassifiable.

'Exhilarating' - Sunday Times'Funny and moving' - Jarvis CockerMusic critic and writer Paul Morley weaves together memoir and history in a spiralling tale that establishes classical music as the most rebellious genre of all.Paul Morley had stopped being surprised by modern pop music and found himself retreating into the sounds of artists he loved when, as an emerging music journalist in the 70s, he wrote for NME. But not wishing to give in to dreary nostalgia, endlessly circling back to the bands he wrote about in the past, he went searching for something new, rare and wondrous – and found it in classical music. A soaring polemic, a grumpy reflection on modern rock, and a fan’s love note, A Sound Mind rejects the idea that classical music is establishment; old; a drag. Instead, the book reveals this genre to be the most exciting and varied in music. A Sound Mind is a multi-layered memoir of Morley’s shifting musical tastes, but it is also a compelling history of classical music that reveals the genre’s rich and often deviant past – and, hopefully, future. Like a conductor, Morley weaves together timelines and timeframes in an orchestral narrative that declares the transformative and resilient power of classical music from Bach to Shostakovich, Brahms to Birtwistle, Mozart to Cage, travelling from eighteenth century salons to the modern age of Spotify.'His passion for centuries of music – both celebrated and obscure – is infectious' - Irish Independent

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'A handsome six footer with a warm and engaging personality, Davie Jones has all it takes to get to the show business heights including . . . talent.' David Bowie at 17 in May, 1964 writing his own press biography.Respected arts commentator Paul Morley, one of the team who curated the highly successful retrospective exhibition for the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, David Bowie Is . . . constructs the definitive story of Bowie that explores how he worked, played, aged, structured his ideas, invented the future and entered history as someone who could and would never be forgotten. Morley will capture the greatest moments of Bowie’s career; from the recording studio with the likes of Brian Eno and Tony Visconti; to iconic live performances from the 1970s, 80s and 90s, as well as the various encounters and artistic relationships he developed with rock luminaries John Lennon, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. And of course, discuss in detail his much-heralded, and critically-acclaimed comeback with the release of Black Star just days before his shocking death in New York. Morley will offer a startling biographical critique of David Bowie’s legacy, showing how he never stayed still even when he withdrew from the spotlight, how he always knew his own worth, and released a dazzling plethora of mobile Bowies into the world with a bloody-minded determination and a voluptuous imagination to create something amazing that was not there before.‘A thrilling hymn to a brilliant and beloved “song and dance man”’ Observer

An insightful biography of one of the world’s greatest musicians, Bob Dylan, by bestselling author Paul Morley.As one of the world’s greatest musicians, Bob Dylan has enriched the American song tradition for over 50 years. With a talent that has been proven in the worlds of music, radio, art and poetry, Dylan is a man of many personas. From defying pop music conventions with protest songs such as “The Times They Are a-Changin’” to releasing three of the most influential rock albums of the 60s, he has not only extended the parameters of music genres but has also showed us the fluidity his craft. To mark Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday and 60 illustrious years in the arts, this insightful biography by bestselling author Paul Morley will explore the many voices of the folk icon.

An insightful biography of one of the world’s greatest musicians, Bob Dylan, by bestselling author Paul Morley.As one of the world’s greatest musicians, Bob Dylan has enriched the American song tradition for over 50 years. With a talent that has been proven in the worlds of music, radio, art and poetry, Dylan is a man of many personas. From defying pop music conventions with protest songs such as “The Times They Are a-Changin’” to releasing three of the most influential rock albums of the 60s, he has not only extended the parameters of music genres but has also showed us the fluidity his craft. To mark Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday and 60 illustrious years in the arts, this insightful biography by bestselling author Paul Morley will explore the many voices of the folk icon.

In the ten years since the death of David Bowie in 2016 there has been no loss of interest in and fascination with his life, music and driven, complex personality. Quite the opposite - he is definitely one musician, one performer, destined not to be forgotten. The significant grief and sadness that greeted his death has evolved into a deeper, enduring love for his music, style, wit, artistic curiosity, sexual energy, flamboyant outsider spirit and insatiable, provocative appetite for life.Far Above the World will document one of the UK's greatest creative artists, capturing his formative years before he became a household name, and then taking the reader through a spectacularly colourful and vibrant journey of a man who constantly reinvented himself and his music.