Books by Howard Sounes

Lou Reed, who died in 2013, was best known to the general public as the grumpy New Yorker in black who sang 'Walk on the Wild Side'.

This updated biography features a new preface by the author as well as an expanded notes section

An in-depth, investigative, balanced, and definitive biography of Paul McCartney by the acclaimed author of Down the Highway

'Engagingly written and scrupulously researched' ObserverAn UPDATED EDITION of Howard Sounes' classic, definitive biography to mark the legendary Bob Dylan's 80th birthday__________Bob Dylan was the first figure in the history of popular music to challenge the domination of the three-minute pop song and to bring serious ideas and poetry into the song lyric. A true revolutionary, he was also the first pop performer to adopt the attitudes and lead the life of a bohemian artist. In doing so he not only defined the direction which popular music would take in the second half of the twentieth century, he also defined the lifestyle which would come to be associated with the rock artist.This new edition of Howard Sounes' critically-acclaimed classic biography of Dylan includes a new chapter that brings the legend's life story right up to date. It gives the complete picture of the man, the artist and performer. Meticulously researched and including hundreds of interviews with Dylan's closest associates, the brand new chapter also covers the last ten years of Dylan's life, and the last (and previously unpublished) interview with Dylan's first serious girlfriend.Written by the acclaimed biographer of Paul McCartney and Lou Reed, this is a compelling, fast-paced and revelatory read, which takes the reader on a journey from Dylan's childhood in a Minnesota mining town to the status he enjoys today as one of the most iconic figures of contemporary culture.

AS FEATURED ON THE NEW PODCAST 'UNHEARD: THE FRED & ROSE WEST TAPES' FRED & ROSE IS THE DEFINITIVE ACCOUNT OF THIS INFAMOUS CASE - NOW UPDATED WITH A POSTSCRIPT FROM THE AUTHORFred and Rose West are virtually unique in British criminal history: a husband and wife who loved and killed together.During their long relationship, the Wests murdered a series of young women, burying the remains of nine victims under their home at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester, including those of their daughter. What was left of Fred West's eight-year-old stepdaughter was dug up from under the Wests' previous Gloucester home; his first wife and nanny were buried in open country. Most victims had been decapitated and dismembered, their remains showing signs of sexual torture. These twelve are just the ones police found when the Wests were arrested in 1994. There may be more whose bones have not been located . . . Howard Sounes broke the first major story about the Wests as a journalist, and covered the murder trial of Rosemary West, before writing Fred & Rose, the definitive account of this infamous case. Beginning with Fred's and Rose's bizarre childhoods, Sounes charts their lives and crimes in forensic detail, creating a fascinating and truly frightening account of a marriage soaked in blood.

The death of Amy Winehouse at the age of 27 was a tragedy.She was one of the brightest music stars in years -a brilliant, original song writer with a mighty voice and great personal charm. Amy was loveable, but troubled. She was as notorious for her messy personal life, drug addiction and alcoholism, as she was celebrated for her songs, and her death in 2011, while shocking, was not unexpected.Amy was also the latest in a series of iconic music stars who died at the same young age; starting with Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones whose death in 1969 was followed by Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin in 1970, Jim Morrison in 1971, and Kurt Cobain in 1994. All were gifted. All were dissipated. All were 27.The 27 Club was first used as a collective term for these lost souls after a comment by Kurt Cobain's mother. 'He's gone and joined that stupid club,' she said after Kurt shot himself. 'I told him not to ...'In this ground-breaking book, Howard Sounes delivers a detailed and insightful study of Amy Winehouse's life, and sets that life in the context of the 27 Club. That six big music stars died at 27 -- along with 44 less well-known names -- is on one level a coincidence. But behind this coincidence Sounes reveals is a disturbing common narrative that explains how these artists met their fate, and casts new light on Amy's death in particular.