Kirsty MacColl: The Biography: the One and Only

Kirsty MacColl: The Biography: the One and Only

by KarenO'Brien (Author)

Synopsis

Everything about Kirsty MacColl defied the conventional 'pop' category, yet she embraced and defended the genre, redeeming it with literate writing that had seldom been seen in British pop since the glory days of Ray Davies and the Kinks. Her music was funny, irreverent and endearingly catchy and her five albums in almost twenty years became symbolic rescue missions to retrieve British pop music from all that was saccharine and shallow, manufactured and mainstream. Overcoming agonising stage fright, long periods of writer's block and depression, she created a hugely successful solo career and collaborated with a legion of people from the Rolling Stones to the Happy Mondays, and, most famously, The Pogues, with Fairytale of New York. With a foreword by Billy Bragg, and based on interviews with Kirsty before her tragic death, plus interviews with Bono, Billy Bragg, Johnny Marr and a host of others, this is the first fully authorized biography of the unique singer songwriting talent that was Kirsty MacColl.

$25.55

Quantity

1 in stock

More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 264
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: Welbeck Publishing
Published: 12 Sep 2013

ISBN 10: 0233003932
ISBN 13: 9780233003931

Media Reviews
O'Brien's book is a sensitive and sometimes poignant biography... Thankfully, her biographer has the gentleness of touch to celebrate this brief but vibrant life without sentimentalising it (Guardian) This book is a thoroughly good read that urges you to re-investigate the woman's causes, as well as her music (Record Collector)
Author Bio
Karen O'Brien is a news editor for the BBC World Service in London. As a news journalist, she has worked in print, radio and television, including the BBC and Reuters. She has written and broadcast widely on the arts, with a particular passion for music. Her previous books include Joni Mitchell: Shadows and Light (Virgin, 2001) and Hymn to Her (Virago, 1995), a collection of writings on women musicians, including Kirsty MacColl.