The acclaimed, definitive biography of Pink Floyd, from their iconic beginnings in psychedelic, Swinging London to their historic reunion at the Live8 concert ("The most complete, insightful, and current account of Pink Floyd...nearly as essential as the music itself."--Austin Chronicle) Mark Blake draws on his own interviews with band members as well as the group's friends, road crew, musical contemporaries, former housemates, and university colleagues to produce a riveting history of one of the biggest rock bands of all time. We follow Pink Floyd from the early psychedelic nights at UFO, to the stadium-rock and concept-album zenith of the seventies, to the acrimonious schisms of the late '80s and '90s. Along the way there are fascinating new revelations about Syd Barrett's chaotic life at the time of Piper at the Gates of Dawn, the band's painstaking and Byzantine recording sessions at Abbey Road, and the fractious negotiations to bring about their fragile, tantalizing reunion in Hyde Park. Meticulous, exacting, and ambitious as any Pink Floyd album, Comfortably Numb is the definitive account of this most adventurous--and most English--rock band.

Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd

Blake, Mark

Humor & Entertainment

Da Capo

Is This the Real Life?: The Untold Story of Queen

Queen's success in the 1970s was accompanied by a taste for musical and non-musical excess. Is This the Real Life? draws on eyewitness testimonies--former producers and managers, ex-girlfriends and boyfriends--to create a complete picture of one of the world's most ambitiously driven rock bands at work and at play. Revealing Queen's complex dynamic, Blake also explores how Freddie Mercury's sexuality alienated some of the band's fan base, how they reinvented themselves by morphing from hard rock to pop, and how they saw out their final years as Mercury became one of the most successful rock stars in the world.
Is This the Real Life? looks beyond Queen's public persona to shed light on the legendary band's four wildly divergent personalities, particularly lead singer Freddie Mercury's.

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Da Capo Press

The definitive biography of Queen and Freddie Mercury, by the author of Comfortably Numb and Bring It On Home Despite the death of their exuberant front man Freddie Mercury in 1991, Queen remains one of the most popular bands on the planet, with 300 million global album sales and the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, a "foot-stomping celebration of Queen," hitting theaters. Yet the full story of their extraordinary success and the truths behind the enigmatic Mercury has never fully been told, until now. Journalist Mark Blake, author of the bestselling Pink Floyd biography Comfortably Numb, has drawn on his own earlier interviews with the band and conducted nearly 100 exclusive interviews with record producers, ex-band members, personal assistants, and school friends, including many of Freddie Mercury's earliest associates, to produce a complete, fascinating account of the band's rise from suburbia to worldwide super-stardom. Is This the Real Life? tells, for the first time, how this groundbreaking band became champions of the world.

Is This the Real Life?: The Untold Story of Freddie Mercury and Queen

The authorized biography of the most notorious rock manager of all time, Peter Grant, best known for his work with Led Zeppelin Peter Grant is the most famous music manager of all time. Often acknowledged as the "fifth member of Led Zeppelin," Grant's story has appeared in fragments across countless Zeppelin biographies, but none has explored who this brilliant and intuitive manager yet flawed and sometimes dangerous man truly was. No one has successfully captured the scope of his personality or his long-lasting impact on the music business. Acclaimed author and journalist Mark Blake seeks to rectify that. Bring It On Home is the first book to tell the complete uncensored story of this industry giant. With support from Grant's family interviews with Led Zeppelin's surviving band members, and access to Grant's extensive archive and scores of unpublished material, including his never-before-published final interview, Blake sheds new light on the history of Led Zeppelin and on the wider story of rock music in the 1960s and '70s. Full of new insights into Grant's early life as an actor, wrestler, and road manager for rock 'n' roll pioneers Chuck Berry and Little Richard; the formation of Led Zeppelin; his seclusion following the demise of the band; and his recovery from substance abuse, Bring It On Home reveals a man who, after the extraordinary highs and lows of a career in rock 'n' roll, found peace and happiness in a more ordinary life. It is a celebration, a cautionary tale, and a compelling human drama.

Bring It On Home: Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin, and Beyond -- The Story of Rock's Greatest Manager

A compelling collection of intimate photographs, many never before published, accompanied by detailed articles, essays, and captions, pay tribute to the illustrious career of musician-songwriter Bob Dylan, from 1965 to the present day.

Dylan: Visions, Portraits, and Back Pages

A compelling collection of intimate photographs, many never before published, accompanied by detailed articles, essays, and captions from contributors to MOJO magazine, pay tribute to the illustrious career of musician-songwriter Bob Dylan, from 1965 to the present day. Reprint.

Dylan: Visions, Portraits & Back Pages

DK Pub.

Interest in Pink Floyd remains as intense as ever even 40 years after the release of Dark Side of the Moon, with lavish box - sets collecting demos and out - takes, and Roger Waters' world tours of The Wall playing to packed stadiums. Now, Mark Blake's superbly comprehensive and engrossing history of the group, rightly acclaimed as the definitive book on the band, has been fully revised and extended with new interviews to bring the story up to date with the recent appearances of David Gilmour and Nick Mason with Roger Waters at a London date on his The Wall tour.

Pigs Might Fly: The Inside Story Of Pink Floyd

ReadHowYouWant

Bring It On Home

Constable

A SUNDAY TIMES POP BOOK OF THE YEARA DAILY TELEGRAPH MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEARA DAILY MAIL MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEARA TIMES MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR ('Of the many Led Zeppelin biographies marking the band's 50th anniversary, this is the most illuminating')OBSERVER BEST BOOKS OF 2018'An enthralling and rigorously researched book' Sunday Times 'Blake has talked to everyone, and the stories are both lurid and melancholy' Mail on Sunday 'A juicy saga of excess all areas, Mark Blake's biography of Led Zeppelin's notoriously combative manager, Peter Grant, reads at times like an all-you-can-eat buffet of guilty pleasures . . . a riotous roller coaster' The Times 'A tale as expansive and complex as the man himself' Mojo'To say Bring It On Home is a rambunctious page-turner is an understatement; but despite all the violence and weirdness, you can't help liking the "real" Peter Grant who emerges here' Planet RockThe late Peter Grant managed Led Zeppelin to global stardom. But his life story was every bit as extraordinary and dramatic as the musicians he looked after. For the first time ever, the Grant family have allowed an author access to previously unseen correspondence and photographs to help build the most complete and revealing story yet of a man who was a pioneer of rock music management, but also a son, a husband and a father.Published to coincide with Led Zeppelin's 50th anniversary, Bring It On Home charts Peter Grant's rise from wartime poverty through his time as a nightclub doorman, wrestler and bit-part actor to the birth of rock'n'roll in the 1950s. From here, it explores his pivotal role in the formation of Led Zeppelin and charts the impossible highs and lows of life on the road with rock's most outrageous band

Bring It On Home: Peter Grant, Led Zeppelin and Beyond: The Story of Rock's Greatest Manager

Freddie Mercury was one of rock's most dazzling front men. When he died in 1991, the music world lost one of its most flamboyant characters, as well as a supremely talented writer and vocalist. Best known as the lead singer of Queen, his amazing four-octave voice was a distinctive element in the band's unique sound, which resulted in more than a dozen million-selling albums through the 1970s, '80s, and early '90s. Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic charts his extraordinary career in the context of the life he led in the glare of rock stardom. With expert understanding, Mark Blake traces Freddie's astonishing achievements from his childhood in Zanzibar and India to his world-conquering performance at Live Aid in 1985 and beyond. Published just ahead of what would have been Freddie's 70th birthday, this special book features a retrospective commentary on his studio and live albums, a complete discography, photographs, and memorabilia throughout. Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic is an essential tribute to a truly innovative recording artist and an irreplaceable performer who rocked the world.

Freddie Mercury: A Kind of Magic

Backbeat

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Books by Blake, Mark