Music, Memory and Memoir provides a unique look at the contemporary cultural phenomenon of the music memoir and, leading from this, the way that music is used to construct memory. Via analyses of memoirs that consider punk and pop, indie and dance, this text examines the nature of memory for musicians and the function of music in creating personal and cultural narratives. This book includes innovative and multidisciplinary approaches from a range of contributors consisting of academics, critics and musicians, evaluating this phenomenon from multiple academic and creative practices, and examines the contemporary music memoir in its cultural and literary contexts.

"There are three kinds of memory slips, I tell my students. One, when Memory slips but you find your way back without losing a beat. Two, when you don't find your way back until the downbeat. Three, when you don't find your way back in time and must stop and restart the music. I don't tell them about a fourth possibility , when one memory slips, another intrudes and you don't find your way back for a very long time." -- from Memory Slips Linda Katherine Cutting's memoir of family and music movingly portrays the trauma and recovery of a woman whose childhood was betrayed by those who were supposed to protect her. In exquisite prose she illuminates the inner life of a child for whom the gift of music was the only refuge, a refuge that protected her as long as it could. For when Linda began to remember what her father had done to her and her brothers -- both eventual suicides -- she stopped being able to remember Beethoven's notes. Linda Cutting's writing bears witness to what had occurred. Her stunning "Hers" column, originally printed in the New York Times Sunday Magazine in October 1993, was clipped and carried in wallets and pocketbooks and reprinted around the world. Now, her memoir Memory Slips, will not only reach out and give voice to victims of abuse but also move anyone who cares about the power of writing, the beauty of music and the innocence of children. "In her writing, Linda Cutting displays the same grace, thoughtfulness and talent that she's always brought to her music-making. With courageous candor, Linda has shone light into the darker corners of her own compelling life, and we, the readers, are richer for it." --John Williams, Academy Award-winning composer and conductor laureate, The Boston Pops Orchestra "This is a mesmerizing story about the loss of music and innocence and -- very nearly -- the self; and the subsequent recovery of all those things. It is testimony to the power of Linda Cutting's writing that the same book that tears at your heart can, in the end, make it rise up with gladness." --Elizabeth Berg, author of Talk Before Sleep, Range of Motion and The Pull of the Moon

Music, Memory and Memoir provides a unique look at the contemporary cultural phenomenon of the music memoir and, leading from this, the way that music is used to construct memory. Via analyses of memoirs that consider punk and pop, indie and dance, this text examines the nature of memory for musicians and the function of music in creating personal and cultural narratives. This book includes innovative and multidisciplinary approaches from a range of contributors consisting of academics, critics and musicians, evaluating this phenomenon from multiple academic and creative practices, and examines the contemporary music memoir in its cultural and literary contexts.

A gorgeous memoir about the 17 year estrangement of the author and her homeless schizophrenic mother, and their reunion.

The story of the actor who portrayed Mark Cohen in "Rent" covers such topics as his Broadway successes, his grief at the death of the production's creator, and his struggles with his mother's life-threatening illness.

Describes the author's childhood in an ancient family home with an epileptic older brother whose illness influenced the rhythm of the family's life, in an account that explores such topics as consciousness and the sensory existence of indoor and outdoor life.

*National Bestseller* Legendary musician Richard Marx offers an enlightening, entertaining look at his life and career. Richard Marx is one of the most accomplished singer-songwriters in the history of popular music. His self-titled 1987 album went triple platinum and made him the first male solo artist (and second solo artist overall after Whitney Houston) to have four singles from their debut crack the top three on the Billboard Hot 100. His follow-up, 1989’s Repeat Offender, was an even bigger smash, going quadruple platinum and landing two singles at number one. He has written fourteen number one songs in total, shared a Song of the Year Grammy with Luther Vandross, and collaborated with a variety of artists including NSYNC, Josh Groban, Natalie Cole, and Keith Urban. Lately, he’s also become a Twitter celebrity thanks to his outspokenness on social issues and his ability to out-troll his trolls. In Stories to Tell, Marx uses this same engaging, straight-talking style to look back on his life and career. He writes of how Kenny Rogers changed a single line of a song he’d written for him then asked for a 50% cut—which inspired Marx to write one of his biggest hits. He tells the uncanny story of how he wound up curled up on the couch of Olivia Newton-John, his childhood crush, watching Xanadu. He shares the tribulations of working with the all-female hair metal band Vixen and appearing in their video. Yet amid these entertaining celebrity encounters, Marx offers a more sobering assessment of the music business as he’s experienced it over four decades—the challenges of navigating greedy executives and grueling tour schedules, and the rewards of connecting with thousands of fans at sold-out shows that make all the drama worthwhile. He also provides an illuminating look at his songwriting process and talks honestly about how his personal life has inspired his work, including finding love with wife Daisy Fuentes and the mystery illness that recently struck him—and that doctors haven’t been able to solve. Stories to Tell is a remarkably candid, wildly entertaining memoir about the art and business of music.

A precise yet disorienting look at the exhilaration of music, the process of memory, and the moments when the world becomes new, by the acclaimed songwriter and author of The Book of Drugs "[Mike Doughty's writing is] astonishingly vital, energized, and natural. . . . acerbic and sometimes lacerating."--RICK MOODY, author of The Long Accomplishment and The Ice Storm In this highly original gathering of autobiographical stories, the musician and writer Mike Doughty, in his inimitable voice, sends dispatches from a touring musician's peripatetic life, vividly recalling moments when profound musical experiences made him see the world anew. I Die Each Time I Hear the Sound consists of sometimes-surreal tales, drawing from conflations of memory, especially formative moments in New York City in the 1990s. It looks at how the avid nostalgia of fans is both a boon and a burden for an artist working to stay vital, and what it is to age while touring, and prolifically releasing new music. He examines the struggle to keep relationships alive while living on the road, and the strangeness of the disconnect between performer and audience. A unique narrative, unstuck in time, and an unforgettable examination of what it is to be an artist in this cultural moment, I Die Each Time I Hear the Sound is funny, vulnerable, and unsparing.

Evgeny Kissin is an internationally renowned classical pianist admired for his interpretations of the repertoires of Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Prokofiev. The intensity of Kissin's thinking animates this candid memoir, illuminating his astonishing memory, his fondness for his family and teachers, and his artistic sense of self. Memoirs and Reflections chronicles Kissin's musical education and his early career. His writing is infused with his lifelong engagement with music: an obsessive love that captured, challenged, and nurtured him from a young age. He recounts fortuitous events and serendipitous encounters with remarkable musicians and conductors, including Herbert von Karajan. This book shows Kissin to be surprisingly modest and down-to-earth in spite of his astonishing gift. He writes of his family and friends with tender affection and touching detail. Reading this intimate memoir is like having a private audience with the great pianist himself.