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Namedropper!: an unorthodox autobiography told through five decades of the music and entertainment business

Namedropper!: an unorthodox autobiography told through five decades of the music and entertainment business

by Chris Phipps (Author)

  • Used

    Hardcover 2018

    $6.47

  • New

    Hardcover 2018

    $15.70
Synopsis

This unorthodox autobiography captures Chris Phipps' memories from the mega-famous to the mundane. When someone is called a `Namedropper' it is because they use the names of the famous or infamous in order to impress others. When Chris Phipps drops a name it is because they have been an integral part of his life in the music, film and television industry, having worked with a cast of thousands. Modestly, he may mention the time he interviewed The Who's Roger Daltrey, Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi or met legends such as David Bowie, Little Richard, Madonna and Miles Davis. These extraordinary encounters contrast with a more prosaic life as BBC Birmingham's Black Country correspondent and depicting Yorkshire life in The Dales Diary. Next time you are in the company of a `Namedropper' compare them to Chris Phipps, who deserves the title in the best sense of the word! Featuring: MADONNA LITTLE RICHARD THE TUBE GENE VINCENT THE DRIFTERS CAPTAIN BEEFHEART URIAH HEEP RAY HARRYHAUSEN JOHN MILLS JAMES MASON ALBERT FINNEY PETER WYNGARDE TWISTED SISTER GRACE JONES TINA TURNER DURAN DURAN RITCHIE BLACKMORE JOOLS HOLLAND OZZY OSBOURNE BRYAN FERRY MALCOLM MACLAREN PATRICK MCGOOHAN LARS ULRICH JOHN BARRY STING ROGER DALTREY DIRE STRAITS BILLY BRAGG DAVE STEWART PAULA YATES RUN DMC MILES DAVIS BLACK SABBATH CHRIS REA MIKE HODGES HONOR BLACKMAN PETE DOHERTY IAN LA FRENAIS PETER SARSTEDT WHITESNAKE DAVID BOWIE JOAN ARMATRADING LINK WRAY BRIAN APPLETON BOB MARLEY PET SHOP BOYS ELTON JOHN

$6.47

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
 Publisher: Tyne Bridge Publishing
Published: 12 Nov 2018
ISBN 10: 0951048899
ISBN 13: 9780951048894

Media Reviews
A few years ago I was at a North East Film Festival of which I'm the patron. We discussed a post-screening interview with a visiting guest. Who will moderate? I asked, and was told - Chris Phipps. ;I then asked who Chris Phipps was and was told - Oh, he's very good. They were right, Chris is not just a very good moderator, he is exceptional, as was proved again this year when he chaired a discussion with myself, my partner Dick Clement and director David Batty following a showing of our latest film My Generation. ;He's exceptional, not just because he does his homework, which is easier these days if you plunder Wikipedia, but because he cares so much about his subject, especially if it involves film or music. ;Those twin passions are certainly the glue that fortifies our friendship. We usually end up after a couple of drinks in intense discussions, especially involving music trivia. I won't try to compete with Chris on this, he's just too clued in. ;Yes, I could name the first Kinks' single but Chris could name every track on their debut album. Yes, I know the Proclaimers were the Scottish Everly Brothers but he probably knows where their births are registered. After all he was a producer of the seminal, coolest of cool rock shows The Tube. Apart from that show he has always had a great respect and affection for North Eastern culture and heritage.; A true Northern soul - it always surprises me that he has a Brummie accent. ;Chris's book is suffused with his customary wit, wisdom and humour. ;And if Chris Phipps is dropping names, these are names really worth dropping. ;Ian La Frenais
Author Bio
Chris Phipps has ramped up a 35 year long career in the music industry. His passion and enthusiasm for popular music remains today as enthusiastic and full on as it did in the mid-1970s, when as a college disc jockey he began promoting local bands. He has worked with the biggest and the best - from Bob Marley, to Sting, to Pet Shop Boys, to Dire Straits - and as television producer and interviewer has put many bands and musicians on the world's screens - Joan Armatrading, Ozzy Osbourne, UB40, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Steel Pulse and Fine Young Cannibals. Born and raised in Birmingham, the teenaged Chris Phipps was already steeped in vinyl and music, booking local bands such as Carl Wayne and the Vikings (later The Move), The Idle Race with Jeff Lynn (later to form ELO) and Jon Lord (later to form Deep Purple). At BBC Pebble Mill Chris produced reggae and rock shows for BBC Radio Birmingham and for a time was their roving interviewer, chewing the musical fat with all the major singers and bands visiting the region in that period - including Joe Cocker, Rush, Whitesnake, Uriah Heep, Sting, Iggy Pop, Captain Beefheart, the Sex Pistols and Bob Marley and The Wailers. From presenting and interviewing on radio, it was a small step to doing the same on television, and the opportunity arose when BBC producer Roger Castles assembled the team to front the BBC pop show, Look ! Hear !, where he was paired with Toyah Wilcox. The experience on Look ! Hear ! and the contacts it brought, propelled the Birmingham based Chris Phipps into national and international broadcasting focussed on music and entertainment. He was recruited to join Channel 4's The Tube. His career in music and entertainment since his days on The Tube includes many hours of television for ITV, via Tyne Tees, and for independent film and television companies, taking in African music; the music of Bob Marley; Chris Rea; Mark Knopfler and the culture of the north east, where since The Tube he has lived. Chris has recently written a book on film and TV in the north east - Forget Carter: Film and Television in Newcastle, featured in the Black Sabbath movie - The End and interviewed stars such as Tony Iommi, Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais, Peter Flannery and Charlie Hardwick at the Whitley Bay Film Festival and Newcastle Book Festival.