Paul Rees – författare

When Cyrille Regis became one of the first black players to be selected for the full England team, he was sent a package in the mail. Inside it was a silver bullet and a note that read: ‘You’ll get one of these through your knees if you step on our Wembley turf.’ In the 1978/79 football season Regis'' club West Bromwich Albion, an unglamorous and little publicised club from the West Midlands, became the first British football team to field three black players: Cyrille Regis, Laurie Cunningham and Brendon Batson. They did so against the backdrop of the most divisive and poisonous racial tension in the UK’s history – a time when the National Front movement was at its most virulent. This book will tell the story of a defining and groundbreaking chapter in the history of British football and the country as a whole. The story is one about sport but also as much one about social change.

''They call me a madman but compared to Pete Way, I''m out of my league.'' - Ozzy OsbourneThere are rock memoirs and then there is this one. A Fast Ride Out of Here tells a story that is so shocking, so outrageous, so packed with excess and leading to such uproar and tragic consequences as to be almost beyond compare. Put simply, in terms of jaw-dropping incident, self-destruction and all-round craziness, Pete Way''s rock''n''roll life makes even Keith Richards''s appear routine and Ozzy Osbourne seem positively mild-mannered in comparison. Not for nothing did Nikki Sixx, bassist with LA shock-rockers Motley Crue and who ''died'' for eight minutes following a heroin overdose in 1988, consider that he was a disciple of and apprenticed to Way.During a forty-year career as founding member and bassist of the venerated British hard rock band UFO, and which has also included a stint in his hell-raising buddy Ozzy''s band, Pete Way has both scaled giddy heights and plunged to unfathomable lows. A heroin addict for more than ten years, he blew millions on drugs and booze and left behind him a trail of chaos and carnage. The human cost of this runs to six marriages, four divorces, a pair of estranged daughters and two dead ex-wives. Latterly, Way has fought cancer, but has survived it all and is now ready to tell his extraordinary tale. By turns hilarious, heart-rending, mordant, scabrous, self-lacerating, brutally honest and entirely compulsive, A Fast Ride Out of Here will be a monument to rock''n''roll debauchery on an epic, unparalleled scale and also to one man''s sheer indestructability.

No one explodes one of the longest-held misconceptions of music history better than Steve Lukather and his band Toto. The dominant pop-culture sound of the late-1970s and ''80s was not in fact the smash and sneer of punk, but a slick, polished amalgam of rock and R&B that was first staked out on Boz Scaggs'' Silk Degrees. That album was shaped in large part by the founding members of Toto, who were emerging as the most in-demand elite session muso-crew in LA, and further developed on the band''s self-titled three-million-selling debut smash of 1978. A string of hits followed for the band going into the ''80s and beyond. Running parallel to this, as stellar session players, Lukather and band-mates David Paich, Jeff Porcaro and Steve Porcaro were also the creative linchpins on some of the most successful, influential and enduring records of the era. In The Gospel According to Luke, Lukather tells the Toto story: how a group of high school friends formed the band in 1977 and went on to sell more than 40 million records worldwide. He also lifts the lid on what really went on behind the closed studio doors and shows the unique creative processes of some of the most legendary names in music: from Quincy Jones, Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks and Elton John to Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Don Henley, Roger Waters and Aretha Franklin. And yet, Lukather''s extraordinary tale encompasses the dark side of the American Dream.Engaging, incisive and often hilarious, The Gospel According to Luke is no ordinary rock memoir. It is the real thing . . .

The definitive no-holds-barred biography of John Entwistle, The Who''s legendary bass guitaristIt is an unequivocal fact that in terms of rock bands, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who represent Year Zero; the beginning of all things, ground-breakers all. To that end, John Entwistle - the Who''s beloved bassist - is also without question one of the most important and influential figures in the annals of rock. He is also among an even more rarefied few by virtue of his being such a fascinating, transfixing and gloriously oversized character. However, Entwistle has not been the subject of a major biography. Likely, this was due to no-one being able to gain close access to the subject himself: the still in many other respects enigmatic Entwistle''s enduring legacy has been carefully guarded by his surviving family. With the full co-operation of the Entwistle family, The Ox will correct this oversight and in doing so, shine a long overdue light on one of the single greatest, and most impactful figures in rock history.Drawing on his own notes for an unfinished autobiography that he started before his death in 2002 (and which will be quoted from extensively), as well as his personal archives and interviews with his family and friends, The Ox will give readers a never-before-seen glimpse into the two very distinct poles of John Entwistle. On the one hand, he was the rock star incarnate, being larger than life, self-obsessed to a fault, and proudly and almost defiantly so. Extravagant with money, he famously shipped two vintage American cars across the Atlantic without having so much as a driver''s license, built exponentially bigger and grandiose bars into every home he owned, and amassed an extraordinary collection of possessions, from arachnids, armor, and weaponry, to his patented Cuban-heeled boots. But beneath this fame and flutter, he was also a man of simple tastes and traditional opinions. He was a devoted father and family man who loved nothing more than to wake up to a full English breakfast, or to have a supper of fish, chips, and a pint at his local pub.After his untimely death, many of these stories were shuttered away into the memories of his family, friends, and loved ones, but now, for the first time, The Ox will introduce us to the man behind the myth-the iconic and inimitable John Entwistle.

The definitive biography of John Mellencamp featuring exclusive interviews and never-before-told details about the life of the iconic American rock and roll original.John Mellencamp is not your typical rock star.With music inspired by the work of William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, and other giants of American literature, Mellencamp is a complex, colorful and larger than life character who walks to the beat of his own drum. Or, as he told author and veteran music journalist, Paul Rees: ''I just refuse to take shit off anyone''. Now, this fascinating biography fully charts the life of one of this country''s most important voices in American music.Mellencamp''s story is also the story of the American heartland. His coming of age as an artist and evolution into legendary status directly reflected the major changes of the last fifty years. From the Summer of Love to the growing divisiveness of American politics and beyond, his music has served as the backdrop of this evolving country for millions of fans.For the first time, this story written with the cooperation and support of Mellencamp and his management will include extensive interviews with members of Mellencamp''s family, many of his bandmates and collaborators, past and present, and Mellencamp himself. Together, they shed new light on a man hailed by none other than Johnny Cash as ''among our greatest living songwriters''. An exploration of everything from the founding of Farm Aid to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this is a fresh and expansive look at a true original.