Kenny Rogers and John Rowles are two very different
singers with something in common - each is marking 50 years
in the entertainment industry with a book.
• In Luck or Something Like It, his first
memoir, Rogers tells of his early years in the projects of
Houston, his family's pride when he became the first to
graduate with a high school diploma and his long road to
musical success.
Quote: "For as long as I could remember I had been
married. I have to admit I was pretty good at it, as I had
been married four times."
•
In If I Only Had Time, Rowles, with the assistance of a
ghost writer, tells of his journey from small-town New
Zealand to London in the swinging '60s and his years as a
cabaret star based in Hawaii but travelling the globe,
performing with the best entertainers on stage, television
and radio.
Quote: "Night after night you never knew what
celebrity would be in the audience: anyone from Tiny Tim to
the secretary of state Henry Kissinger, not to mention our
own prime ministers, Norman Kirk and Rob Muldoon."
• Another to have clocked up 50 years in the
music industry is Led Zeppelin mastermind, guitarist and
producer Jimmy Page, who is notoriously media-shy.
Brad Tolinski, of Guitar World, Revolver and Guitar
Aficionado magazines, has drawn on his more than 50 hours of
interviews with the rock legend to write Light &
Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page, which may be as
close as we get to a complete picture of the man and his
music.
Quote: "I wanted artistic control in a vice grip,
because I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the band. In
fact, I financed and completely recorded the first album
before going to Atlantic."
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