A remarkable feminist history and biography that features fragments from the five-decade career of an iconic artist.

First as a doe-eyed ingenue with 'As Tears Go By', then as a gravel-voiced phoenix rising from the ashes of the 1960s with a landmark punk album, Broken English, and finally as a genre-less icon, Marianne Faithfull carved her name into the history of rock 'n' roll to chart a career spanning five decades and multiple detours.

Why, then, was Faithfull absent from the male-dominated history of the British Invasion?

Putting memoir on equal footing with biographical accounts, historian Tanya Pearson writes about Faithfull as an avid fan, recovered addict and queer musician at a crossroads. Whether exploring Faithfull's rise to celebrity, her drug addiction and fall from grace as a spurned 'muse' or her reinvention as a sober, soulful chanteuse subverting all expectations for an ageing woman in music, Pearson reaffirms the deep connection between creator and listener in this remarkable feminist history of the iconic artist.

'Excellent . . . Fans of Faithfull will find so much to love in this book . . . Pearson deserves the widest possible audience.' POPMATTERS

'With vulnerability and a smart sense of humor, Tanya Pearson exposes the profoundly misogynistic music industry that abused Marianne Faithfull . . . heroic and hiliarious.' JD SAMSON, of LeTigre and MEN

'Witty, passioante, and provactive. Finally, a feminist appreciation for Marianne Faithfull.' VIVIEN GOLDMAN, author of Revenge of the She-Punks: A Feminist Music History from Poly Styrene to Pussy Riot

THE TIMES TOP 10 BESTSELLERA GUARDIAN, TELEGRAPH, THE TIMES, IRISH TIMES, ROUGH TRADE, MOJO, CLASH, ROLLING STONE, UNCUT BOOK OF THE YEARFrom award-winning musician and composer Warren Ellis comes the unexpected and inspiring story of a piece of chewing gum. FEATURING AN INTRODUCTION BY NICK CAVE'Warren has turned this memento, snatched from his idol's piano in a moment of rapture, into a genuine religious artefact.'NICK CAVE'Such a mad, happy book about art and music and obsession. I'm so glad I got to read it.

It made the world feel lighter.'NEIL GAIMAN'In praise of meaning-rich relics and magical things. Totally heartwarming project.'MAX PORTER'A unique study of a fan's devotion, of transcendence and of the artistic vocation - it's got depth and great warmth. It's a beautiful piece of work.'KEVIN BARRYI hadn't opened the towel that contained her gum since 2013.

The last person to touch it was Nina Simone, her saliva and fingerprints unsullied. The idea that it was still in her towel was something I had drawn strength from. I thought each time I opened it some of Nina Simone's spirit would vanish.

In many ways that thought was more important than the gum itself. On Thursday 1 July, 1999, Dr Nina Simone gave a rare performance as part of Nick Cave's Meltdown Festival. After the show, in a state of awe, Warren Ellis crept onto the stage, took Dr Simone's piece of chewed gum from the piano, wrapped it in her stage towel and put it in a Tower Records bag.

The gum remained with him for twenty years; a sacred totem, his creative muse, a conduit that would eventually take Ellis back to his childhood and his relationship with found objects, growing in significance with every passing year. Nina Simone's Gum is about how something so small can form beautiful connections between people. It is a story about the meaning we place on things, on experiences, and how they become imbued with spirituality.

It is a celebration of artistic process, friendship, understanding and love. 'This is such a beautiful f*@king book. Thank you, Warren.

I highly recommend this motherf*@ker.'FLEA'A beautifully written book about the power of music and objects. I powered through it in two days.'COURTNEY BARNETT'A moving, inspiration insight into a beautiful mind.'JIM JARMUSCH'The year's most eccentric and joyful musical memoir.'DAILY TELEGRAPH (Books of the year)'[Nina Simone's Gum] is a metaphor for [Ellis'] creativity - the blossoming of a small idea into something bigger and bolder - but also a journey inside the impulsive, improvisatory mind of Warren Ellis, his passions, obsessions and superstitions.' OBSERVER'[A] beautiful, strikingly idiosyncratic book - part memoir, part essay, part conceptual art project, all testament to humans at their strangest and best . .

. [Ellis] sees signifiance where others might not.'MOJO'A glorious piece of object fetishism . .

. Marvel as Ellis' collection of eccentric personal mementos morphs into a celebration of the intangible wonder of music.'UNCUT'Wonderful.' THE TIMES'The most peculiar book I've ever read.' CRAIG BROWN, MAIL ON SUNDAY'Delightful . .

. A joy from start to finish.' BIG ISSUE'A joyous work full of love, connection, creativity and gratitude.' THE SPECTATOR'Completely charming and joyful . .

. glorious.' LA REVIEW OF BOOKS'Beautiful . .

. remarkable.' NEW EUROPEAN

Along-awaited memoir of Blur co-founder, guitar legend and visual artist Graham Coxon.

Among the noise and clamour of the Britpop era, Blur co-founder Graham Coxon managed to carve out a niche to become one of the most innovative and respected guitarists of his generation- but it wasn't always easy.

Graham grew up as an Army kid, moving frequently in his early years from West Germany to Derbyshire and Winchester before settling in Colchester, Essex. A shy child, he had a thing for eating soil and drawing intense visions; his anxiety was tempered by painting and a growing love of music.

These twin passions grew into obsessions, and as he honed his artistic skill at school, Goldsmiths and beyond, his band with school friend Damon Albarn, fellow student Alex James, and a drummer called Dave Rowntree began to get noticed.

But there are things they don't tell you before you get famous. There are monsters out there. And some may even be lurking inside yourself.

Verse, Chorus, Monster! is an intimate, honest reflection on music, fame, addiction and art by one of Britain's most iconic musicians.

From the acclaimed author of Art Sex Music comes a vital meditation on womanhood, creativity and self-expression, and a revelatory exploration into the lives of three visionary artists. 'A fascinating tale of the interlinking lives of three legendary trailblazers.'SALENA GODDEN'Re-sisters emanates an enthralling power.'JUDE ROGERS, MOJO'Cosey Fanni Tutti has lived the life and has the stories to tell: not just hers, but those of two other still unheralded female pioneers.'JON SAVAGEMyself , Delia and Margery - a trinity of the sacred and profane , sinners and saints of a kind. Three defiant women with our individual, unconventional attitude to life.

Untameable spirits, progressive thinkers living within the inherent societal constraints of our times. In 2018, boundary-breaking visual and sonic artist Cosey Fanni Tutti received a commission to write the soundtrack to a film about Delia Derbyshire, the pioneering electronic composer who influenced the likes of Aphex Twin and the Chemical Brothers. While researching Delia's life, Cosey became immersed in Derbyshire's story and uncovered some fascinating parallels with her own life.

At the same time Cosey began reading about Margery Kempe, the 15th century mystic visionary who wrote the first English language autobiography. Re-sisters is the story of three women consumed by their passion for life, a passion they expressed through music, art and lifestyle; they were undaunted by the consequences they faced in pursuit of enriching their lives, and fiercely challenged the societal and cultural norms of their time. 'An impeccably researched meditation on womanhood as viewed through the lives of three firebrands.'FIONA STURGES, GUARDIAN'Awe-inspiring.

Read these revelatory portraits: this book is for anybody who wants to discover the work of three women who, without fanfare, have enriched our world.'ROBERT WYATT'Passionate, original and fiercely defiant.'RUPERT THOMSON

A redemptive, myth-shattering biography of one of the twentieth century's most underestimated creative and artistic forces.

'What I have in common with Nico is the understanding of her furious frustration at not being recognised.' - MARIANNE FAITHFULL

The real story of Nico is one of determination, self-destruction and belief in one's artistic vision, at any cost. Nico was an ever-evolving myth, an enigma that escaped definition. Born Christa Paffgen, Nico grew up in war-torn Berlin before being scouted by a fashion photographer in her early teens. At age twenty-seven, she became Andy Warhol's newest Superstar, securing the position of chanteuse for the Velvet Underground. Though she is primarily remembered for contributions to their seminal debut album - and her relationships with Brian Jones, Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison - her own artistry and influence have often been overlooked.

Nico spent most of her career as a solo artist on the road, enduring empty concert halls, abusive fans and the perilous reality of being a drug addict. Yet beneath the superficial denigrations and one-dimensional myths was a complicated visionary determined to make art that was truly her own. In You Are Beautiful and You Are Alone, defying the sexist casting of her life as the tragedy of a beautiful woman losing her looks, youth and fame, Jennifer Otter Bickerdike cements Nico's legacy as one of the most vital artists of her time, inspiring a generation of luminaries including Bjoerk, Morrissey and Iggy Pop.

Containing over a hundred new interviews and rare archival material, this is an empowering reappraisal of an underappreciated icon.

STAFF COMMENTS

Javi says: One of the most enigmatic, problematic, and chameleonic figures in alternative music's history, who finally gets the biography she deserves. Iconic - Controversial - Nico.

Based on his critically-acclaimed BBC Radio 3 programme The Listening Service, in which Tom Service takes an idea on an ear-opening and mind-expanding walk through the musical landscape every week, this book is a celebration of music's multi-dimensional power in our lives. With 101 short chapters based on the programmes and grouped thematically the book will open ears and imaginations to find answers to the questions we all have about why and how music - from Toots and the Maytals and J S Bach, Gustav Mahler and Miley Cyrus, to Anna Meredith and Mozart - works its magic over us. With direct links to the programmes using a QR code, the chapters draw on powerful and communicative anecdotes and analogies, as well as the latest scientific research, and above all, a spirit of discovery and connection across genres, cultures, and histories. At its heart is the conviction that music changes us.

The prequel to Bob Stanley's universally acclaimed Yeah Yeah Yeah, Let's Do It is the only book that brings together all genres to tell the definitive story of the birth of Pop, from 1900 to the mid-fifties.

Pop music didn't begin with the Beatles in 1963, or with Elvis in 1956, or even with the first seven-inch singles in 1949. There was a pre-history that went back to the first recorded music, right back to the turn of the century . . . Who were the earliest record stars, and were they in any meaningful way 'pop stars'?

Who were the likes of George Gershwin writing songs for? Why did swing, the hit sound for a decade or more, become almost invisible after the Second World War? The prequel to Bob Stanley's Yeah Yeah Yeah, Let's Do It is the first book to tell the definitive story of the birth of pop, from the invention of the 78 rpm record at the end of the nineteenth century to the beginnings of rock and the modern pop age. Taking in superstars such as Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra alongside the unheralded songwriters and arrangers behind some of our most enduring songs, Stanley paints an aural portrait of pop music's formative years in stunning clarity, uncovering the silver threads and golden needles that bind the form together.

Bringing the eclectic, evolving world of early pop to life - from ragtime, blues and jazz to Broadway, country, crooning and beyond - Let's Do It is essential reading for all music lovers.

In 1983, backstage at the Lyceum in London, Tracey Thorn and Lindy Morrison first met. Tracey's music career was just beginning, while Lindy, drummer for The Go-Betweens, was ten years her senior. They became confidantes, comrades and best friends, a relationship cemented by gossip and feminism, books and gigs and rock 'n' roll love affairs. Thorn takes stock of thirty-seven years of friendship, teasing out the details of connection and affection between two women who seem to be either complete opposites or mirror images of each other. She asks what people see, who does the looking, and ultimately who writes women out of - and back into - history.

Beeswing is the autobiography from world-renowned artist Richard Thompson, co-founder of the legendary folk rock group Fairport Convention. Richard Thompson came of age during an extraordinary moment in 1960s Britain - as music began to reflect a great cultural awakening, the guitarist and songwriter co-founded Fairport Convention, ushering in the era of folk rock. An intimate memoir of personal discovery and creative intensity, Beeswing vividly captures the life of an international music icon in a world on the cusp of change

This extraordinary retelling of black British history will dazzle readers of all ages.

Music can carry the stories of history like a message in a bottle.

Lord Kitchener, Neneh Cherry, Smiley Culture, Stormzy... Groundbreaking musicians whose songs have changed the world. But how? This exhilarating playlist tracks some of the key shifts in modern British history, and explores the emotional impact of 28 songs and the artists who performed them. This book redefines British history, the Empire and postcolonialism, and will invite you to think again about the narratives and key moments in history that you have been taught up to now. Thrilling, urgent, entertaining and thought-provoking, this beautifully illustrated companion to modern black music is a revelation and a delight.

A radical exploration of the artistry and influence of Patti Smith: the Poet Laureate of Punk whose uninhibited creativity inspired an entire generation and triggered a cultural revolution.

Patti Smith arrived in New York City at the end of the Age of Aquarius in search of work and purpose. Through her poetry, her songs, her unapologetic vocal power, and her very presence as a woman fronting a rock band, she kicked open a door that countless others walked through. No other musician has better embodied the "nothing-to-hide" rawness of punk, nor has any other done more to nurture a place in society for misfits of every stripe.

Why Patti Smith Matters is the first book about the iconic artist written by a woman. The veteran music journalist Caryn Rose contextualizes Smith's creative work, her influence, and her wide-ranging and still- evolving impact on rock and roll, visual art, and the written word. Rose goes deep into Smith's oeuvre, from her first album, Horses, to acclaimed memoirs operating at a surprising remove from her music. The portrait of a ceaseless inventor, Why Patti Smith Matters rescues punk's poet laureate from "strong woman" cliches. Of course Smith is strong. She is also a nuanced thinker. A maker of beautiful and challenging things. A transformative artist who has not simply entertained but also empowered millions.

Money, freedom, adoring fans: professional musicians seem to have it all. But beneath the surface lies a frightening truth: for years the music industry has tolerated death, addiction and exploitation in the name of entertainment. In Bodies, Ian Winwood explores the industry's reluctance to confront its many failures in a far-reaching story which features first-hand access to artists such as Foo Fighters, Green Day, Trent Reznor, Biffy Clyro, Kings of Leon, Chris Cornell, Mark Lanegan, Pearl Jam. Much more than a touchline reporter, Winwood also tells the tale of his own mental-health collapse following the shocking death of his father. Written with warmth, humour and bracing honesty, Bodies is a deeply personal story and essential reading for musicians and fans alike.

One of the century's most feted singer-songwriters, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, digs deep into his own creative process to share his unique perspective about songwriting and offers a warm, accessible guide to writing your first song, championing the importance of making creativity part of your everyday life and experiencing the hope, inspiration and joy that accompanies it.

What would David Bowie do?

When life gets tough, who can we turn to for help? Who will help us find happiness, meaning and purpose? The Tao of Bowie suggests that we turn to David Bowie for guidance - and use his amazing journey through life as a map to help us navigate our own.

Buddhism was central to David Bowie's life, but he was a wide-ranging thinker who also drew meaning from other sources including Jungian psychology, Nietzschean philosophy and Gnosticism. The Tao of Bowie condenses these concepts - the ideas that inspired and supported Bowie throughout his life and career - into ten powerful lessons, each with a series of exercises, meditations and techniques to encourage readers to apply these learnings to their own lives.

The Tao of Bowie will help readers understand who they really are, clarify their purpose in life, manage their emotions and cope with setbacks and change. This fresh approach to the search for spirituality and happiness unites the perennial human quest for answers with the extraordinary mind and unique career of one of the most important cultural figures of the past halfcentury

A brilliant and soulful biography of one of today's most acclaimed singer-songwriters, Nick Cave.

An intensely beautiful, profound and poetic biography of the formative years of the dark prince of rock 'n' roll, Boy on Fire is Nick Cave's creation story, a portrait of the artist first as a boy, then as a young man. A deeply insightful work which charts his family, friends, influences, milieu and, most of all, his music, it reveals how Nick Cave shaped himself into the extraordinary artist he would become.

A powerful account of a singular, uncompromising artist, Boy on Fire is also a vivid and evocative rendering of a time and place, from the fast-running dark rivers and ghost gums of country-town Australia to the torn wallpaper, sticky carpet and manic energy of the nascent punk scene which hit staid 1970s Melbourne like an atom bomb. Boy on Fire is a stunning biographical achievement.

A definitive insight into the ever-influential world of Mark E. Smith and the Fall, featuring never-before published essays and ephemera from fans, collectors and the artist and band themselves.

This is not a book about a rock band. This is not even a book about Mark E Smith. This is a book about The Fall group - or more precisely, their world. Over a prolific forty-year career, the Fall created a world that was influential, idiosyncratic and fiercely original; it was an education. Who wouldn't want to be armed with a working knowledge of M.R. James, contemporary dance and Manchester City? Bringing together previously unseen artwork, rare ephemera and handwritten material, alongside essays by a slate of fans, EXCAVATE! is a vivid, definitive record - an illumination of the dark corners of the Fall's wonderful and frightening world.

'To 50,000 Fall Fans: please buy this inspired & inspiring, profound & provocative, beautiful & bonkers Book of Revelations, choc-stock-full of loving Acts by true Apostles, simultaneously both the scrapbook you wished you'd kept and a portal to futures & pasts, known & unknown, & a Fantastic Celebration of this Nation's Saving Grace. - 'DAVID PEACE

'A container sized treasure trove bursting at the hinges with strangeness and wonder . . . I strongly advise you to buy it.' - MAXINE PEAKE

Jon Savage's magisterial oral history is the last word on Joy Division and a must-read for any fan.

Joy Division emerged in the mid-70s at the start of a two-decades long Manchester scene that was to become much mythologised. It was then a city still labouring in the wake of the war and entering a phase of huge social and physical change, and something of this spirit made its way into the DNA of the band. Over the course of two albums, a handful of other seminal releases, and some legendary gigs, Joy Division became the most successful and exciting underground band of their generation. Then, on the brink of a tour to America, Ian Curtis took his own life.

In This searing light, the sun and everything else, Jon Savage has assembled three decades worth of interviews with the principle players in the Joy Division story: Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris, Deborah Curtis, Peter Saville, Tony Wilson, Paul Morley, Alan Hempsall, Lesley Gilbert, Terry Mason, Anik Honore, and many more. It is the story of how a band resurrected a city, how they came together in circumstances that are both accidental and extraordinary, and how their music galvanised a generation of fans, artists and musicians. It is a classic story of how young men armed with electric guitars and good taste in literature can change the world with four chords and three-and-a-half minutes of music. And it is the story of how illness and demons can rob the world of a shamanic lead singer and visionary lyricist.

This searing light, the sun and everything else presents the history of Joy Division in an intimate and candid way, as orchestrated by the lodestar of British music writing, Jon Savage.

A new edition as part of the Faber Social Greatest Hits - books that have taken writing about music in new and exciting directions for the twenty-first century.

SUNDAY TIMES MUSIC BOOK OF THE YEAR
ROUGH TRADE BOOK OF THE YEAR
MOJO BOOK OF THE YEAR

In 1975, Viv Albertine was obsessed with music but it never occurred to her she could be in a band as she couldn't play an instrument and she'd never seen a girl play electric guitar.

A year later, she was the guitarist in the hugely influential all-girl band the Slits, who fearlessly took on the male-dominated music scene and became part of a movement that changed music.

A raw, thrilling story of life on the frontiers and a candid account of Viv's life post-punk - taking in a career in film, the pain of IVF, illness and divorce and the triumph of making music again - Clothes Music Boys is a remarkable memoir.

In 2012, Tim Burgess of the Charlatans published his hugely successful and critically acclaimed memoir, Telling Stories. Tim really enjoyed his new role as an author, and so here it is: Tim Book Two - a tale of Tim's lifelong passion for records, the shops that sell them, and the people who make them.

In some ways, the biggest events in Tim's life happened in the couple of years after he had finished writing his first book rather than in the forty years before. So he had more to say, but instead of another autobiography he chose a different way of telling the story. Tim set himself a quest. He would get in touch with people he admired, and ask them to suggest an album for him to track down on his travels, giving an insight into what makes them tick. It would also offer a chance to see how record shops were faring in the digital age - one in which vinyl was still a much-treasured format.

Tim assembled his cast of characters, from Iggy Pop to Johnny Marr, David Lynch to Cosey Fanni Tutti. Texts, phone calls, emails and handwritten notes went out. Here is the tender, funny and surprising story of what came back.

Tim Burgess is a singer-songwriter and record label owner, best known as the lead singer of one of the defining bands of the 1990s, The Charlatans.

Tim was born in Salford but grew up in a village near Northwich, Cheshire. Leaving school at 16 to work at ICI, his real love was music and soon afterwards he was invited to join new band, The Charlatans. They went on to have 3 number 1 albums and 17 top 30 singles. For 12 years, Burgess lived in Los Angeles but now lives back in the UK.