Fortunate Son: The Unlikely Rise of Keith Urban Softcover, 314 pages, January 2009
My latest release is a biography of country singer, Nashville
superstar and tabloid favourite, Keith Urban, published by
Random House. The book has recently featured in the bestselling
country titles list at
Barnes & Noble. It is also available through
Target stores in America. What follows is the background to
both Keith's remarkable rise and my book.
More.
To order from Australia please click
here or
here for North America.
Click
here to read a Sydney Morning Herald feature story.
A Pure Drop
The Life of Jeff Buckley Paperback, 256 pages, September 2008
Introduction I've written books where the subject has been willing to have their life turned inside out, and other books where the subject has been more elusive than Spiderman. There's a vast difference between someone not wanting to speak in their own defence, and someone not being able to do so, as is the case with Jeff Buckley. The writer Susan Orlean once compared this type of quest to being 'a little like studying animal tracks and concluding everything from the impression that it has left behind.' That's exactly how I felt as this book came together: what remains of Jeff Buckley is a handful of songs, some finished, some merely sketches, and the vivid memories he left behind. That's not a whole lot to go on, really.
A Pure Drop is currently top of the Musicroom.com.au Top 100 Popular Biography Bestsellers list.
In Harm's Way Brian Corrigan with Jeff Apter Paperback 288 pages September 2008
In late 2006 Brian Corrigan led an SAS team into Lebanon to retrieve the two small children of Melissa Hawach. While the children, Cedar, 3, and Hannah, 5, were successfully reunited with their mother, Brian and another member of his team were detained at the airport and thrown into a Lebanese prison for the next three months.
In Harm's Way is Brian's story of what really happened in Lebanon – their daring rescue mission and subsequent capture – as well as the inside story of life in Roumieh – Lebanon’s notorious maximum security prison, and how Brian used his innate courage, mental discipline and military training to stay focused and alive.
It is also a fascinating account of the life of a modern day soldier who has served in Australia's elite airborne unit in East Timor, and worked as a private security contractor at the height of the insurgency in Iraq, and now works in conflict zones around the world.
In Harm's Way is a story of risk and honour, and what it really takes to work both at the frontline of modern day conflicts and in undercover operations around the world.
A New Tomorrow: The Silverchair Story Paperback, December 2006
Andrew Denton:'I think you're enjoying life now. Would I be right?' Daniel Johns:'Yeah, definitely, I love life. It's the best thing in the world.'
It's taken Daniel Johns a long time to be able to make such a simple statement. Having spent more than 10 years as the frontman for Silverchair, Australia's biggest rock band of the past decade, he's endured teen stardom, depression, anorexia, crippling reactive arthritis and the slings and arrows of the music industry, only to emerge, tattooed and renewed. A NEW TOMORROW tells the complete and unexpurgated story of Silverchair. Jeff Apter documents how Johns and his two schoolmates, drummer Ben Gillies and bassman Chris Joannou, graduated from the loft above the Gillies' family garage to centrestage of Madison Square Garden, all within the time it typically takes most bands to record their first single. When the dust settled and they discovered their debut album, Frogstomp, had sold almost three million copies, Silverchair were faced with an even bigger challenge, as they attempted to prove they were much more than 'Nirvana In Pyjamas'.
With the release of their 2002 masterpiece, Diorama, Silverchair firmly established their own musical identity, while Johns has developed into a songwriter with few peers in modern music.
Featuring exclusive interviews with the band and all of those who have worked with Silverchair over their rollercoaster ride of a career, A NEW TOMORROW covers all of the band members' solo work, the Johns/Imbruglia nuptials, the band's "rebirth" at the WaveAid fundraiser, and a rundown of their latest hit Young Modern.
A Simple Kind Of Life: Gwen Stefani & No Doubt Hardcover, July 2007
The Orange County band was formed in 1986 by Eric Stefani and John Spence, and they soon recruited Eric's younger sister Gwen as co-vocalist. With the addition of Tony Kanal on bass, No Doubt launched a 20-year career that would fuse ska, grunge, alt.rock and shades of other musical genres into a unique mix. The 1987 suicide of John Spence resulted in the battlefield promotion of Gwen Stefani to lead vocalist, a shift that would prove a launch pad for her future solo career and media celebrity status. Despite a shifting line-up, inner turmoil and the potential distraction of Stefani's solo career, No Doubt have stayed true to their mission to be musical and visual innovators. With contributions from former and current band members, collaborators, friends and critics, A Simple Kind Of Life is the first major biography of No Doubt, described by Vogue magazine as a 'smartly told tale of an icon-in-the-making'.
Fornication: The Red Hot Chilli Peppers Story Hardcover July 2004, Paperback August 2005
How can a band that started as a joke become one of music's most unstoppable forces? These sonic soulmates have endured death, addictions, an unstable line-up, and have still managed to produce some of the most vital rock and roll of the past three decades. Fornication, the best-selling biography of the band, charts the Red Hot Chili Peppers' unlikely rise, from their days as funk-loving punks wearing little more than smirks, to their current status as multi-million sellers and dynamic performers. Fornication tells the complete Red Hot Chili Peppers story, from their first meeting at a Los Angeles high school, through death, disharmony and their resurrection, which led to the creation of such career-defining albums as BloodSugarSexMagik, Californication and By The Way.
Never Enough: The Story Of The Cure Hardcover September 2005, Paperback November 2007
The Cure emerged in the post-punk 1970s and defied all expectations to launch a marathon career marked by hit records and a string of sell-out arena shows. Never Enough is the first definitive biography of these post punk survivors. It traces their roots in middle-class Crawley, Sussex and tracks their gradual rise, revealing how their first major album Pornography almost ended the band well before their multi-platinum career began. It also documents Robert Smith's escape into the Siouxsie and the Banshees camp during the 1980s, his experimentation with every drug ('bar smack') and his reluctance to return to The Cure, even though they would eventually become superstars, not only on both sides of the Atlantic but all around the globe. Classic Rock magazine described this book as 'a solid, all-encompassing history'.
The Dave Grohl Story Hardcover January 2006, Paperback due April 2008
Teenage punk, self-taught musician, bandleader, session man, smoker, drinker, lover, multi-millionaire — David Grohl is a true renaissance man. He has also achieved a rare feat, a rock and roll double crown, having been a member of two hugely successful and influential bands — Nirvana and The Foo Fighters. Loaded with candid interviews and hard truths about Grohl's life in music, this is the first comprehensive biography of an icon whose career charts rock and roll's rise and fall over the past two decades. It also details his drumming and touring with Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails and his battle over Nirvana's legacy with Courtney Love, as well as his early life in the Washington, DC punk scene and his accidental stardom with Nirvana.
Now a respected international cricket commentator, Michael Slater shares the complete story of his life in Slats. This remarkably candid account includes the heartbreak he felt when his mother left the family home, his struggles with insecurities, anxiety and depression, his relationships with other cricketing greats from Mark Taylor to Steve Waugh, his clashes with the media and the Australian Cricket Board — and, yes, his passion for red Ferraris.
