'I was saying things in songs that female singers didn't really say back then.
I wasn't submissive or begging him to come back, I was kicking his ass,
kicking him out, kicking my own ass too. My Blondie character was an
inflatable doll but with a dark, provocative, aggressive side. I was playing
it up, yet I was very serious.'
The definitive biography of one of the most emigmatic, beloved, and celebrated artists of our time. Leonard Cohen's extensive and successful recent worldwide tour has demonstrated that his popularity across generations and borders has never been greater. Cohen's life is one of singular mystique. This major in-depth biography is the book Cohen's fans have been waiting for. Acclaimed writer/journalist Sylvie Simmons has interviewed more than 100 figures from Cohen's life and work, including his main muses; the women in his life -- from Suzanne and Marianne to Rebecca de Mornay and Anjani Thomas; artists such as Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, David Crosby, Judy Collins, and Philip Glass; his record producers; his closest friends, from childhood to adulthood; and many of the spiritual figures who have influenced his life. Cohen, notoriously private, has granted interviews himself. Thoroughly researched and thoughtful, penetrating and lively, fascinating and revealing of stories and facts never read before, I'm Your Man offers new perspectives on Cohen and his life. It will be one of the most talked-about books of the season, and for years to come.
The razor-witted fiction debut of one of the best music writers on either side of the Atlantic, Too Weird for Ziggy is a collection of stories all set in the world of crass A&R men, fans mired in hero worship, and music stars perpetually on the verge of ego tantrum or outright crackup. From a Karen Carpenter cult to a rock 'n' roll seance; from a band of cock-rockers whose starmaking tour goes off the rails when their lead singer starts to grow breasts, to an obsessed fan on a mission from God to marry a woman-battering heavy-metal drummer, these stories are like sitting beside an expert commentator in the front row at the celebrity circus.