Bøger af James Gavin

In George Michael: A Life,“Gavin’s engrossing biography of the singer takes the measure of a gifted, tragic, and infuriating man” (New York Times Book Review). George Michael was an extravagantly gifted, openhearted soul singer whose work was both pained and smolderingly erotic. He was a songwriter of true craft and substance, and his music swept the world, starting in the mid-1980s. His fabricated image—that of a hypermacho sex god—loomed large in the pop culture of his day. It also hid—for a time—the secret he fought against revealing: Michael was gay. Soon his obsession with fame would start to backfire. As one of the industry’s most privileged yet tortured men began to self-destruct, the press showed little sympathy. George Michael: A Life explores the compelling story of a superstar whose struggles, as well as his songs, continue to touch fans all over the world. Acclaimed music biographer James Gavin traces Michael’s metamorphosis from the shy and awkward Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou into the swaggering, dominant half of the leading British pop duo of the 1980s Wham! He then details Michael’s sensational solo career and its subsequent unraveling. With deep analysis of the creative process behind Michael’s albums, tours, and music videos, as well as interviews with hundreds of his friends and colleagues, George Michael: A Life is a probing, definitive portrait of a pop legend.

The definitive biography of George Michael, offering an expansive look at the troubled life of the legendary singer, songwriter, and pop superstar

From his emergence in the 1950s - when an uncannily beautiful young man from Oklahoma appeared in the West Coast and became, seemingly overnight, the prince of 'cool' jazz - until his violent, drug-related death in Amsterdam in 1988, Chet Baker lived a life that has become an American myth.

From his emergence in the 1950s as an uncannily beautiful young Oklahoman who became the prince of "e;cool"e; jazz seemingly overnight to his violent, drug-related death in Amsterdam in 1988, Chet Baker lived a life that has become an American myth. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and previously untapped sources, this first major biography of one of the most romanticized icons in jazz gives a thrilling account of the trumpeter's dark journey. Author James Gavin delves deeply into Baker's tormented childhood, the origins of his melancholic trumpet playing, and even reveals the long-unsolved riddle of Baker's demise. Baker's otherworldly personal aura struck a note of menace and mystery that catapulted him to fame in the staid 1950s but as time wore on, his romance with drugs became highly publicized. Gavin narrates the harrowing spiral of dependency down which Baker tumbled and illustrates how those who dared to get close were dragged down with him. This is the portrait of a musician whose singular artistry and mystique has never lost the power to enchant and seduce.

Can America's Military Overcome Enemy Anti-Access, Area Denial (A2/AD)? Learn how the U.S. Army Airborne has defeated A2/D2 for over 70 years--beginning with a 1, 600 mile Combat Parachute Jump from England to North Africa in 1942--3D Maneuver long before V22 tilt-rotor fanboys even existed to conjure up lies 'n boasts. Boasting is not going to save vulnerable sealift and amphibious ships from myriad A2/D2 threats--the Future of Warfare is Airborne--not Seaborne. LTG James Gavin, Combat Paratroop Commander saw this in 1947--his visionary book is brought up to the present day by a group of equally legendary Airborne Futurists who propose a New Way to Victory built upon sound lessons from the past. Strap-on your parachute and prepare to jump into WW2's hottest battles and combats of the future! Airborne! means All the Way!

Foundations of Professional Coaching is the essential guide to developing coaching skills that encourage lasting change in clients' personal and professional lives. Grounded in the International Coaching Federation's eight core competencies, coaches will learn to create holistic coaching relationships.

Praised by the New York Times Book Review as fascinating, suspenseful, careful, musically detailed, and insightful, this is a long-overdue biography of recording artist and musical legend Peggy Lee.Miss Peggy Lee cast a spell when she sang. She epitomized cool, but her trademark song, Fevercovered by Beyonc and Madonnais the essence of sizzling sexual heat. Her jazz sense dazzled Ray Charles, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. She was the voice of swing, the voice of blues, and she provided four of the voices for Walt Disneys Lady and the Tramp, whose score she co-wrote. But who was the woman behind the Mona Lisa smile? With elegant writing and impeccable research, including interviews with hundreds who knew Lee, acclaimed music journalist James Gavin offers the most revealing look yet at an artist of infinite contradictions and layers. Lee was a North Dakota prairie girl who became a temptress of enduring mystique. She was a singer-songwriter before the term existed. Lee had incredible confidence onstage, observed the Godfather of Punk, Iggy Pop; yet inner turmoil wracked her. She spun a romantic nirvana in her songs, but couldnt sustain one in reality. As she passed middle age, Lee dwelled increasingly in a bizarre dreamland. She died in 2002 at the age of eighty-one, but the enchantment with Lee has only grown. Raucously entertaining [and] full of evocative scenes, wry humor and exasperated sympathy (Publishers Weekly), Is That All There Is? paints a masterful portrait of an artist who redefined popular singing.