Suggest me a biography or autobiography book about a musician or writer
Biographies and autobiographies are genres I haven't read yet but would like to! So I'm here asking for suggestions. I'm particularly interested in music and literature so I would like books about singers, composers or writers.
Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America’s First Poet (seriously!)
brusselsproutsfiend on
The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang
Hunger by Roxane Gay
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart
Still Writing by Dani Shapiro
Mybenzo on
Beneath the Underdog by Charles Mingus—a lyrical down and dirty memoir from the jazz bassist. Unfiltered and raw, this is full of trauma and life and drugs and art, shines a light on musical life for Black artists in the US. There are some brilliant passages about playing with Miles Davis.
AlamutJones on
Would you accept one about a photographer?
**One Crowded Hour by Tim Bowden** is about Neil Davis, an Australian “combat cameraman” who captured a lot of the footage and still images that shape how we relate to the Vietnam War. It‘s a biography that was originally supposed to be an autobiography – Davis and Bowden had intended to write it together, Bowden had all of Davis’ diaries etc – but couldn’t, as Davis was killed filming a coup in Thailand shortly before they’d planned to meet.
The last stuff on his camera is images of his own body falling in front of the lens. He captured his own death.
H0rr0rreader on
Steve Jones from the Sex pistols autobiography called Lonely Boy is a great read
dj_swearengen on
Heartbreaker by Mike Campbell.
Campbell was the lead guitarist for Tom Petty’s band The Heartbreakers. He also co-wrote many of the band’s songs.
It follows their start in Florida, their move to LA, their breakthrough to success and the decline of Petty’s health and addiction.
Frequent_Secretary25 on
Just Kids, Patti Smith
NecessaryStation5 on
Pete Townshend’s autobiography is great.
Caleb_Trask19 on
Red Comet, the most recent biography in a plethora of biographies written about Sylvia Plath. This sets the high bar for biographies in its meticulousness and research. This is a book that’s a commitment at around 1,000 pages, but is worth it.
How to Say Babylon by Syfia Sinclair the Jamaican poet, who managed to escape the Rastafarian religion and her patriarchal, abusive father.
A Thousand Threads: A Memoir by Neneh Cherry, the mixed race musician who broke onto the scene in the 90s with her own music and style.
Alterdox3 on
I really enjoyed *Girls Like Us*, by Sheila Weller. It chronicles the lives and musical careers of three women who were popular musicians at a pivotal time for both women and American music: Carol King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon.
homunculusHomunculus on
Both of Thomas Brothers books on Louis Armstrong are fantastic. Very accessible, informative, and lots of good context about what was happening at the time and why it mattered.
Infinite-Initial-399 on
On Writing by Stephen King
thejennamarie88 on
Down with the System by Serj Tankian
Storytellers is pretty good to if you like Dave Grohl
StoveTopMcStuffins on
“The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap’s Masked Iconoclast” by SH Fernando, Jr. If you are a fan of hip-hop, and MF Doom, I cannot suggest this book enough.
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Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America’s First Poet (seriously!)
The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang
Hunger by Roxane Gay
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart
Still Writing by Dani Shapiro
Beneath the Underdog by Charles Mingus—a lyrical down and dirty memoir from the jazz bassist. Unfiltered and raw, this is full of trauma and life and drugs and art, shines a light on musical life for Black artists in the US. There are some brilliant passages about playing with Miles Davis.
Would you accept one about a photographer?
**One Crowded Hour by Tim Bowden** is about Neil Davis, an Australian “combat cameraman” who captured a lot of the footage and still images that shape how we relate to the Vietnam War. It‘s a biography that was originally supposed to be an autobiography – Davis and Bowden had intended to write it together, Bowden had all of Davis’ diaries etc – but couldn’t, as Davis was killed filming a coup in Thailand shortly before they’d planned to meet.
The last stuff on his camera is images of his own body falling in front of the lens. He captured his own death.
Steve Jones from the Sex pistols autobiography called Lonely Boy is a great read
Heartbreaker by Mike Campbell.
Campbell was the lead guitarist for Tom Petty’s band The Heartbreakers. He also co-wrote many of the band’s songs.
It follows their start in Florida, their move to LA, their breakthrough to success and the decline of Petty’s health and addiction.
Just Kids, Patti Smith
Pete Townshend’s autobiography is great.
Red Comet, the most recent biography in a plethora of biographies written about Sylvia Plath. This sets the high bar for biographies in its meticulousness and research. This is a book that’s a commitment at around 1,000 pages, but is worth it.
How to Say Babylon by Syfia Sinclair the Jamaican poet, who managed to escape the Rastafarian religion and her patriarchal, abusive father.
A Thousand Threads: A Memoir by Neneh Cherry, the mixed race musician who broke onto the scene in the 90s with her own music and style.
I really enjoyed *Girls Like Us*, by Sheila Weller. It chronicles the lives and musical careers of three women who were popular musicians at a pivotal time for both women and American music: Carol King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon.
Both of Thomas Brothers books on Louis Armstrong are fantastic. Very accessible, informative, and lots of good context about what was happening at the time and why it mattered.
On Writing by Stephen King
Down with the System by Serj Tankian
Storytellers is pretty good to if you like Dave Grohl
“The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap’s Masked Iconoclast” by SH Fernando, Jr. If you are a fan of hip-hop, and MF Doom, I cannot suggest this book enough.
Lonely Boy by Steve Jones
I loved the book Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography By [David Michaelis](https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/david-michaelis/228909/)
He was kind of a huge jerk, and based a lot of his comics on real life. It was really hard for me to put down.
i actually want to reread it.
Miles Davis autobiography
Viv Albertine of the Slits has a fabulous biography called, Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys.
I stumbled on the book knowing nothing about her music and it was fantastic. She dated member of the Clash. Such a good book
Mark Twain by Ron Chernow
Chernow has written great biographies about US Presidents like Washington, Grant, etc.
He does amazing deep dives and this one is no different.
Miracle and Wonder–fabulous story of Paul Simon’s musical life told through a series of interviews by Malcolm Gladwell.
“Dear Boy: The Life of Keith Moon” by Tony Fletcher
Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young
Bruce Springsteen Born To Run
Dave Grohl Storyteller
Pete Hamill A Drinking Life
Caleb Carr My Beautiful Monster
Crying in H Mart Michelle Zauner
“Crying in H Mart” by Michelle Zauner, lead singer of Japanese Breakfast, about her grief after her mother dies of cancer.