Product Description
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people try to make it as rock stars, yet very few succeed. We've all read auto-biographies of drugged up ndividuals, sipping champagne from the stiletto of a Playboy Bunny while looking out of the tinted glass of a stretch limo. But what about the musicians who don't even touch those sleazy heights? Are their lives any less outrageous or even readable? EAMON NANCARROW delivers answers to these questions in his side-splitting memoir Holywood Star. It's the tale of a kid brought up on a council estate just outside Belfast who dreams of striding the stages of the world's great concert halls, but at almost every step calamity trips him up. You won't have heard of Eamon or any of his bands, but by the end of his book you'll feel like a life-long fan.
From the Publisher
SHOWCASE UK was created by broadcaster and journalist Xan Phillips as a vehicle to promote unsigned musicians. Based in Southampton it's first release was the CD `Showcase Sett' a 16 track compilation album of acts from the south coast. However back in 1987, Xan was also an aspiring bass player who accidentally joined Eamon Nancarrow's band 'Nellie Dean'. Since then they've remained close friends and in July 2007 Eamon began sending a stream of stories about his days as a musician and growing up in Holywood. From the beginning it was obvious that Eamon had a knack for comic writing and observational humour. The idea for putting these gems into a book followed soon after which is why 'Showcase UK' is proud to have 'Holywood Star' as it's first publication.
From the Author
It all sounded so simple. 'Write a book about the band,' said Big Xan Phillips. 'Not on your Nellie,' said I. Being slap bang in the middle of an MSc, having two kids in the house under three, holding down a full time job, recording a new album and gigging every Saturday night, I just didn't have the time or energy. Then the babies decided that they didn't need to sleep at night, therefore neither did I. A horrendously bad sleeper, once awake I needed something to do. Romance was out of the question: we already had the kids, and I think that if I had roused my exhausted partner from her much needed slumber I might never have woken from the hiding she would've inflicted upon my person. So what to do? In the wee small hours the memories were collated in my insomniacal brain and then put down on computer chip in combinations of 1s and 0s when and where I could.
About the Author
EAMON NANCARROW was born at an early age, but grew up fast, so fast in fact, that he outgrew his hair. He always considered himself to be a bit of a rock star with a fine singing voice, however it wasn't until the GP presented an ill-fitting truss that he developed his astonishing vocal range. Sounding like a cross between Donald Duck and Tiny Tim made him an attractive catch for bands desperately seeking a singer.
From the age of fifteen he has assaulted the eardrums of the general public without a concern for the damage he was causing. He has used music to achieve his goal of living in abject poverty and boy was he good at it. His life can be mapped out in chapters of the bands he has formed or joined and funnily enough that's mirrored in the book.
After failing miserably in the music business he decided that a new career was necessary, unfortunately for the sanity of his poor family this didn't happen until he was thirty.
Eamon resides in Belfast with his partner Donna and his two kids Teelin and Tara. He still screams rock and roll at the weekends but makes a living as a specialist Infection Control Nurse (God help us all).
Eamon's bands: Guilt Edge, No Hot Ashes, Nellie Dean, Social Idiot, Strictly No Ballroom (current)
EAMON NANCARROW was born at an early age, but grew up fast, so fast in fact, that he outgrew his hair. He always considered himself to be a bit of a rock star with a fine singing voice, however it wasn't until the GP presented an ill-fitting truss that he developed his astonishing vocal range. Sounding like a cross between Donald Duck and Tiny Tim made him an attractive catch for bands desperately seeking a singer. From the age of fifteen he has assaulted the eardrums of the general public without a concern for the damage he was causing. He has used music to achieve his goal of living in abject poverty and boy was he good at it. His life can be mapped out in chapters of the bands he has formed or joined and funnily enough that's mirrored in the book. After failing miserably in the music business he decided that a new career was necessary, unfortunately for the sanity of his poor family this didn't happen until he was thirty. Eamon resides in Belfast with his partner Donna and his two kids Teelin and Tara. He still screams rock and roll at the weekends but makes a living as a specialist Infection Control Nurse (God help us all). Eamon's bands: Guilt Edge, No Hot Ashes, Nellie Dean, Social Idiot, Strictly No Ballroom (current).
