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The story of the phenomenon that is Kraftwerk, and how they revolutionised our cultural landscape

‘We are not artists nor musicians. We are workers.’ Ignoring nearly all rock traditions, experimenting in near-total secrecy in their Düsseldorf studio, Kraftwerk fused sound and technology, graphic design and performance, modernist Bauhaus aesthetics and Rhineland industrialisation – even human and machine – to change the course of modern music. This is the story of Kraftwerk the cultural phenomenon, who turned electronic music into avant-garde concept art and created the soundtrack to our digital age.

The definitive biography of the late Leonard Cohen – singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist.

The genius behind such classic songs as Suzanne, So Long, Marianne, Bird on the Wire and Hallelujah, Leonard Cohen has been one of the most important and influential songwriters of our time, a man of spirituality, emotion, and intelligence whose work has explored the definitive issues of human life – sex, religion, power, meaning, love.

I’m Your Man explores the facets of Cohen’s life. Renowned music journalist Sylvie Simmons draws on Cohen’s private archives and a wealth of interviews with many of his closest associates, colleagues, and other artists whose work he has inspired.

Containing exclusive material and interviews, this is the biography to buy on Leonard Cohen.

Millions of Queen and screen fans who watched the Oscar-winning film Bohemian Rhapsody believe that Mary Austin, the woman he could never quite let go of, was the love of Freddie Mercury’s life. But the truth is infinitely more complicated.

Best-selling biographer and music writer Lesley-Ann Jones explores the charismatic frontman’s romantic encounters, from his boarding school years in Panchgani, India to his tragic, final, bed-ridden days in his magnificent London mansion. She reveals why of his love interests ever perfected the art of being Freddie’s life partner.

In Love of My Life, the author follows him through his obsessions with former shop girl Mary, German actress Barbara Valentin and Irish-born barber boyfriend Jim Hutton. She explores his adoration of globally fêted Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé. She delves into his intimate friendship with Elton John, and probes his imperishable bonds with his fellow band members. She deconstructs his complicated relationship with the ‘food of love’ – his music – and examines closely his voracious appetite for – what some would call his fatal addiction to – sex. Which of these was the real love of Freddie Mercury’s life? Was any of them?

Drawing on personal interviews and first-hand encounters, this moving book brings to the fore a host of Freddie’s lesser-known loves, weaving them in and out of the passions that consumed him. The result, a mesmerising portrait of a legendary rock star, is unputdownable. Love of My Life, published during the year of the 30th anniversary of his death and that would have seen his 75th birthday, is Lesley-Ann’s personal and compassionate tribute to an artist she has revered for as long as she has written about music and musicians.

An illustrated highlight reel of more than 100 women in rap who have helped shape the genre and eschewed gender norms in the process, The Motherlode “shines a bright light on a history of overlooked female talent and breaks down the ingenuity of our current generation of stars” (Issa Rae, creator and star of HBO’s Insecure).

Clover Hope’s comprehensive history showcases more than 100 women who have shaped the power, scope, and reach of rap music, including pioneers like Roxanne Shanté, game changers like Lauryn Hill and Missy Elliott, and current reigning queens like Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and Lizzo—as well as everyone who came before, after, and in between.

Some of these women were respected but not widely celebrated. Some are impossible not to know. Some of these women have stood on their own; others were forced into templates, compelled to stand beside men in big rap crews. Some have been trapped in a strange critical space between respected MC and object. They are characters, caricatures, lyricists, at times both feminine and explicit. The Motherlode profiles each of these women, their musical and career breakthroughs, and the ways in which they each helped change the culture of rap.

LAST TRAIN TO MEMPHIS is arguably the first serious biography that refuses to dwell on the myth of Elvis. Aiming instead to portray in vivid, dramatic terms the life and career of this outstanding artistic and cultural phenomenon, it draws together a plethora of documentary and interview material to create a superbly coherent and plausible narrative. The first of two volumes, covering Presley’s rise to prominence up to his departure for Germany in 1958, LAST TRAIN to MEMPHIS will undoubtedly become the benchmark by which other biographies of him are judged.