Matt Thorne

When an artist becomes truly famous, there is almost no one on earth who can understand how their world has changed forever. Perhaps only a young pretender who wants to rule the charts together, or a rival who wants to bring them down from their throne, knows how they feel and how to get into their heads. Someone who wants to invite them onto their TV show, act with them in a movie, make some money by filming a commercial together, duet on a song, or have a secret affair. Or any combination of the above. Famous examines seven moments in music when stars from pop, rock and hip-hop have come together and how the resulting reverberations impacted everything from the culture at large to the decisions of world leaders. The book sheds thrilling new light on the fascinating stories of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney and Diana Ross, Lou Reed and Paul Simon, Chuck Berry and Keith Richards, David Bowie and Tina Turner, Madonna and Tupac Shakur and Ye and Taylor Swift.

Prince unravels the mysteries behind the life of a true musical genius. Through years of research and interviews with ex-Revolution members such as Wendy and Lisa, this is an account of a pop maverick whose experiments with rock, funk, techno and jazz revolutionised pop. With reference to 35 years of released and unreleased recordings, Prince remains the go-to book on the great man.

The newest, most updated book on Prince available today—now updated with information about the afterlife of his work following his untimely death.Famously reticent and perennially controversial, Prince was one of the few music superstars who remained, largely, an enigma—even up to his premature death on April 21, 2016. A fixture of the pop canon, Prince is widely held to be the greatest musician of his generation and will undoubtedly remain an inspiring and singular influence throughout our culture.This revised and updated second edition of this meticulously researched biography is the most comprehensive work on Prince yet published. Unlike other Prince books, this one eschews speculation into the artist's highly guarded private life and instead focuses deep and sustained attention exactly where it should be: on his work. Acclaimed British novelist and critic Matt Thorne draws on years of research and dozens of interviews with Prince's intimate associates (many of whom have never spoken on record before) to examine every phase of the musician's 35-year career, including nearly every song—released and unreleased—that Prince has recorded. Originally released in the UK in 2012, this revised and updated second US edition of Prince includes updated content regarding work released and made available after the artist’s death..This astonishingly rich, almost encyclopedic biography is a must-have for any serious fan of Prince.

Legendarily reticent, perverse and misleading, Prince is one of the few remaining 80s superstars who still, perhaps, remains unexplained. Now a firm fixture in the pop canon, where such classics as 'Purple Rain', 'Sign o' the Times' and 'Parade' regularly feature in Best Ever Album polls, Prince is still, as he ever was, an enigma. His live performances are legendary (21 Nights at the O2 in 2007) and while recent releases have been modestly successful at best, his influence on urban music, and R'n'B in particular, has never been more evident. The Minneapolis Sound can now be heard everywhere. Matt Thorne's Prince, through years of research and interviews with ex-Revolution members such as Wendy and Lisa, is an account of a pop maverick whose experiments with rock, funk, techno and jazz revolutionised pop. With reference to every song, released and unreleased, over 35 years of recording, Prince will stand for years to come as the go-to book on the Great Man.