or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
More Buying Choices
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
Queen: The definitive biography
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Queen: The definitive biography [Paperback]

Laura Jackson (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £10.99
Price: £7.69 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £3.30 (30%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.
Only 2 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Hardcover --   -- --
Paperback £7.69   -- --
Books Trade-In
Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details.

Frequently Bought Together

Queen: The definitive biography + Brian May: The definitive biography + Freddie Mercury: his Life in His Own Words
Price For All Three: £24.19

Show availability and delivery details

Buy the selected items together

Product details

  • Paperback: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Piatkus; New Ed edition (25 April 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0749923172
  • ISBN-13: 978-0749923174
  • Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 19.7 x 2.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 261,473 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Laura Jackson
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Laura Jackson Page

Product Description

Product Description

With a career spanning three decades and album sales topping 150 million worldwide, they continue to fascinate fans and music lovers with their stories of legendary parties, outrageous lifestyles, turbulent affairs and outstanding musical achievements. Queen: The definitive biography is a comprehensive history of this important band. Laura Jackson has carried out exclusive interviews with members of Queen, many of their close friends, and several of the world's leading rock musicians including Sir Cliff Richard, Richie Sambora, Gary Glitter, John Peel, Malcolm McLaren, Bruce Dickenson, Peter Stringfellow, Richard Branson, Trevor Francis and Nigel Planer. She turns the spotlight onto the private lives, professional struggles and personal triumphs of all four band members, from Freddie Mercury's reckless affairs and flamboyantly gay lifestyle to the intensely private bass player John Deacon, and from Brian May's emotional excesses to Roger Taylor's sexual scandals. Laura Jackson includes a frank and compelling account of Mercury's illness and eventual death from AIDS and examines the impact this had on his friends and family and what it meant for the band.

About the Author

Laura Jackson is a highly regarded biographer
Inside This Book (Learn More)
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
 
(27)
(26)
(21)
(21)
(20)
(16)
(13)
(12)
(12)
(10)

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

› Explore similar items

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Definitively Dull 28 Oct 1999
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Oh, the frustrations of the literate Queen fan. Recklessly, I purchased Jackson's latest Queen-related tome (her third). Verdict: yet another expensive disappointment. Perhaps I should have anticipated it. After all, it comes with the territory. Books for the masses about music for the masses - 'disposable pop', as Freddie might have said.

Perhaps this one is different, I naively thought. A "definitive" biography, no less. Alas, this is nothing more than publishers' hyperbole. Shame on you, Piatkus. The harsh truth is that our "acknowledged Queen expert" has churned out yet another lightweight mix of cliche, received truths and badly researched narrative.

The factual errors are numerous, inexcusable and frankly symptomatic of the sloppy nature of Jackson's approach. Examples? Deacon's near skinhead look was winter '78 not '77. Giorgio Moroder didn't "remake" Metropolis. How could the ALBUM Made In Heaven have kept the SINGLE Wonderwall at Number 2. The image of Freddie "trashing the stage" is an obvious reference to footage shot in Paris on the '79 European tour, not '78.

Still, if I want an encyclopaedic history, I can refer to Jim Jenkins/Jacky Gunn's As It Began. Because even more depressing is the superficiality of Jackson's writing. Lengthy narrative. A dearth of considered comment and analysis. Over-reliance on well-worn interviews. Horrendous cliches ("the gods smiled on them"). A complete lack of objectivity. Truly, this is writing for a soap-opera generation.

What is so desperately needed is a Johnny Rogan of the Queen world to give us a sympathetic yet objective account; yes, to unearth the obscure but also to offer us much more. Someone to detail the downs as comprehensively as the ups, the mistakes as well as the triumphs. Someone to probe, to question, to challenge.

Somebody to tell us honestly about the row with the Sheffield brothers that resulted in the embittered brilliance of Death On Two Legs. And what about the Torpedo Twins, who surely deserve summary execution for their criminal misuse of literally miles of rare Queen footage? And the enigmatic, troubled guitarist who writes lyrics as sensitive as White Man and as crass as Fat Bottomed Girls. The staleness of the We Will Rock You Canada concerts. The dreary quality of the Rock in Rio sound mix on video. The naffness of the Live Magic editing. And so on.

Queen rank as one of the greatest bands in history. There is a balanced story still to be told. They deserve better than this. And so do their fans.

Was this review helpful to you?
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Chris O
Format:Paperback
Very disappointed by this book. Factual errors are all over the place (see a previous reviewer's comments) and the writing style doesn't inspire much confidence.

Reads a little like a GCSE/A-Level history assignment. A few quotes here, some cliche there, some broad generalisation spread over the whole proceedings and, voila, a saleable but limited biography.

Little attempt to critically analyse what, to many, is one of the greatest bands of all time. One example that springs to mind is where the author cites Brian May as the source of the fact that a review of Smile appeared in The Times. Shouldn't the author really be verifying these things herself? Isn't that her job?? Lazy writing...

You're best looking elsewhere for your Queen-fix, unless you need something disposable to read on the sun-lounger.
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Fantastic! 11 Jun 2006
Format:Paperback
I'm a huge Queen fan and found this book really good. It's full of little facts that I didn't know, and I loved finding out more about the band. I also really liked Jackson's style of writing.

Didn't find a single part of the book boring and enjoyed every single page. I'd recommend this one!
Comment | 
Was this review helpful to you?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject
















i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback


Amazon.co.uk Privacy Statement Amazon.co.uk Delivery Information Amazon.co.uk Returns & Exchanges