Music & Showbiz
My Crazy World Christy Dignam with Damian Corless Simon & Schuster €15.99
Christy Dignam grew to love music while listening to his father, a CIE employee, singing along to John McCormack and Enrico Caruso as he made the Sunday lunch in Finglas. His memoir tells the good and the bad of his extraordinary life which saw him, against the odds, survive challenges like drug addiction, sex abuse and cancer, without surrendering an ounce of his native wit and candour.
Barefoot Pilgrimage Andrea Corr Harper Non Fiction €14.99
A memoir from the youngest Corr about her childhood in Dundalk, the devastation of her parents’ deaths to her travails in the music business. According to a reviewer: ‘Andrea’s story isn’t just one that diehard fans of The Corrs will enjoy. It will ring true to anyone who has ever dealt with the complexities of familial loss.’
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: The Biography Peter Doggett Bodley Head €31.80
California’s Fab Four played at Woodstock and then began to fall apart. Doggett charts a five-year period in which the musicians recorded, argued, baled and reunited, either as a trio or, depending on Neil Young, a quartet.
Happiness And Tears: The Ken Dodd Story Louis Barfe Apollo €23.99
Dodd was one of Britain’s best-loved entertainers, an eccentric comedy genius. He began as a music hall act and his career spanned seven decades. Barfe’s biography is a fitting tribute.
Inside Out Demi Moore Fourth Estate €23.99
A riotously entertaining and bracingly candid memoir from the star who was, for a period, the world’s highest-paid actress.
Who Am I, Again? Lenny Henry Faber€20.30
The comedian, actor and co-founder of Comic Relief tells the poignant story of his upbringing, the early years of his career and how he used humour as a weapon against racism.
Don’t Stop Believin’ Olivia Newton-John S&S €20.30
It’s more than 40 years since NewtonJohn’s role as high-school student Sandy in Grease and she’s still friends with co-star John Travolta. Her memoir details her career in music and film and her struggles with cancer.
Gotta Get Theroux This Louis Theroux Macmillan €20.30
The intrepid Theroux has made some of the most compelling television documentaries of recent years – about Jimmy Savile, Scientology, swingers, the Westboro Baptist Church, among many others – and his life story is a fascinating, funny read.
Me Elton John Macmillan €24.99
Rare is the pop star who sees his life as a comedy, and employs a leading critic to capture it. Alexis Petridis’s witty prose makes you feel as if Elton has dropped in for a cup of tea and ended
up telling you all his best stories.
A Fabulous Creation: How The LP Saved Our Lives David Hepworth Bantam Press €20.30
An entertaining spin through the golden age of the album. Hepworth argues that the notion of an album being ‘something more than just a bunch of songs’ began in 1967 with The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper and, via the likes of Pink Floyd,
Fleetwood Mac and
Roxy Music, ended in
1982 with Thriller by Michael Jackson.