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A musician, Billy was the lead singer for the 1960s family pop band "The Cowsills". They had their share of top-10 hits including "The Rain, the Park and Other Things", "We Can Fly" and their version of "Hair" -- from the rock opera -- not to mention the theme for the 1969 TV show Love, American Style. But what really caught the public's attention was that the Cowsill boys were joined in the band by their mother, Barbara, and later sister Susan. The family singing situation made it to TV, but when the boys' father learned Barbara would be played by an actress (Shirley Jones), he pulled the family band out; The Partridge Family (1970-74) went forward without the Cowsills' involvement, with David Cassidy in the position of the lead singer. Billy Cowsill, who suffered from emphysema and osteoporosis, died February 18 at 58. (The body of his brother, Barry, was found in late December; he had been missing from his New Orleans home since hurricane Katrina hit there four months earlier.) From This is True for 19 February 2006 Suggestions for further reading:
 By: Sheila Weller List Price: $27.95 Amazon Price: $16.77 Editorial Review: A groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America's most important musical artists -- Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon -- charts their lives as women at a magical moment in time. Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon remain among the most enduring and important women in popular music. Each woman is distinct. Carole King is the product of outer-borough, middle-class New York City; Joni Mitchell is a granddaughter of Canadian farmers; and Carly Simon is a child of the Manhattan intellectual upper crust. They collectively represent, in their lives and their songs, a great swath of American girls who came of age in the late 1960s. Their stories trace the arc of the now mythic sixties generation -- female version -- but in a bracingly specific and deeply recalled way, far from cliché. The history of the women of that generation has never been written -- until now, through their resonant lives and emblematic songs. Filled with the voices of many dozens of these women's intimates, who are speaking in these pages for the first time, this alternating biography reads like a novel -- except it's all true, and the heroines are famous and beloved. Sheila Weller captures the character of each woman and gives a balanced portrayal enriched by a wealth of new information. Girls Like Us is an epic treatment of midcentury women who dared to break tradition and become what none had been before them -- confessors in song, rock superstars, and adventurers of heart and soul.  By: Tommy LeeVince NeilMick MarsNikki SixxNeil Strauss List Price: $15.95 Amazon Price: $10.85 Editorial Review: The most influential, enduring, and iconic metal band of the 1980's reveals everything a tell-all of epic proportions. This unbelievable autobiography explores the rebellious lives of four of the most influential icons in American rock history. Motley Crue was the voice of a barely pubescent Generation X, the anointed high priests of backward-masking pentagram rock, pioneers of Hollywood glam, and the creators of MTV's first "power ballad." Their sex lives claimed celebrities from Heather Locklear to Pamela Anderson to Donna D'Errico. Their scuffles involved everyone from Axl Rose to 2LiveCrew. Their hobbies have included collecting automatic weapons, cultivating long arrest records, pushing the envelope of conceivable drug abuse, and dreaming up backstage antics that would make Ozzy Osbourne blanch with modesty. Provocatively written and brilliantly designed, this book includes over 100 photos, many never before published, for the most exciting and insightful look ever into the Crue.  By: Pattie BoydPenny Junor List Price: $25.95 Amazon Price: $17.13 Editorial Review: A Q&A with Pattie Boyd, Author of Wonderful Tonight Why are you writing the book now? I have been asked for the last 15 years to write a book, and it is only now that I feel the time is right. My confidence in myself was restored after two successful exhibitions of my photography, and it occurred to me that I was finally ready to take a look at the unique experiences of my life and to share them--including all the ups and downs. Tell us about the first time you met George Harrison. Working as a model, I occasionally went for castings, mainly for television commercials. I went for an interview with one of the directors I had worked with in the past, and he cast me in his first movie, A Hard Day's Night, to play the part of a schoolgirl. When I first saw George on the set, I thought he was the best-looking man I'd ever seen. I was so surprised when he asked me out on a date at the end of my first day of filming. Tell us about the first time you heard George Harrison's song, "Something." George said he had written a song for me, and he played it on the guitar at home without the words. Then when I heard the song after it had been recorded I couldn't believe how utterly beautiful it was. It was released on a single in October 1969, and I felt so thrilled and flattered. Tell us about the first time you heard Eric Clapton's "Layla." Eric invited me to his band's flat one day and played a rough recording of "Layla" on a cassette recorder. I was sitting on a sofa and he on the floor as it played, and he kept looking up at me for a reaction. I was stunned; the intensity, passion and tenderness came across so strongly--I knew, as he said, it was written for me. An iconic figure of the 1960s and ’70s, Pattie Boyd breaks a forty-year silence in Wonderful Tonight, and tells the story of how she found herself bound to two of the most addictive, promiscuous musical geniuses of the twentieth century and became the most famous muse in the history of rock and roll. She met the Beatles in 1964 when she was cast as a schoolgirl in A Hard Day’s Night. Ten days later a smitten George Harrison proposed. For twenty-year-old Pattie Boyd, it was the beginning of an unimaginably rich and complex life as she was welcomed into the Beatles inner circle—a circle that included Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, Jeff Beck, and a veritable who’s who of rock musicians. She describes the dynamics of the group, the friendships, the tensions, the musicmaking, and the weird and wonderful memories she has of Paul and Linda, Cynthia and John, Ringo and Maureen, and especially the years with her husband, George. It was a sweet, turbulent life, but one that would take an unexpected turn, starting with a simple note that began “dearest l.” I read it quickly and assumed that it was from some weirdo; I did get fan mail from time to time.... I thought no more about it until that evening when the phone rang. It was Eric [Clapton]. “Did you get my letter?”... And then the penny dropped. “Was that from you?” I said....It was the most passionate letter anyone had ever written me. For the first time Pattie Boyd, former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, a high-profile model whose face epitomized the swinging London scene of the 1960s, a woman who inspired Harrison’s song “Something” and Clapton’s anthem “Layla,” has decided to write a book that is rich and raw, funny and heartbreaking—and totally honest and open and breathtaking. Here is the truth, here is what happened, here is the story you’ve been waiting for.  By: Pamela Des Barres List Price: $14.95 Amazon Price: $10.46 Editorial Review: The stylish, exuberant, and remarkably sweet confession of one of the most famous groupies of the 1960s and 70s is back in print in this new edition that includes an afterword on the author's last 15 years of adventures. As soon as she graduated from high school, Pamela Des Barres headed for the Sunset Strip, where she knocked on rock stars' backstage doors and immersed herself in the drugs, danger, and ecstasy of the freewheeling 1960s. Over the next 10 years she had affairs with Mick Jagger, Jimmy Page, Keith Moon, Waylon Jennings, Chris Hillman, Noel Redding, and Jim Morrison, among others. She traveled with Led Zeppelin; lived in sin with Don Johnson; turned down a date with Elvis Presley; and was close friends with Robert Plant, Gram Parsons, Ray Davies, and Frank Zappa. As a member of the GTO's, a girl group masterminded by Frank Zappa, she was in the thick of the most revolutionary renaissance in the history of modern popular music. Warm, witty, and sexy, this kiss-and-tell–all stands out as the perfect chronicle of one of rock 'n' roll's most thrilling eras.  By: The Beatles List Price: $79.95 Amazon Price: $51.17 Editorial Review: A fitting tribute to possibly the greatest pop band ever The Beatles! This outstanding hard-cover edition features over 1100 pages with full scores and lyrics to all 213 titles recorded by The Beatles. Guitar and bass parts are in both standard notation and tablature. Also includes a full discography. The book is packaged in its own protective box. A must-own for any serious Beatles fan or collector! |
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