{"title":"Simon Napier-Bell","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"sour-mouth-sweet-bottom-book-simon-napier-bell-9781800181892","title":"Sour Mouth, Sweet Bottom","description":"Sour Mouth, Sweet Bottom is the book Simon Napier-Bell’s fans have always hoped he’d write. His previous bestsellers lifted the lid on the industry, combining brilliant analysis with unforgettable stories of fame and wild excess. But those books hardly scratched the surface. Now, at long last, he’s turned the spotlight on himself.  From a childhood spent in the cinemas of post-war London and a brief spell playing trumpet in the seedy bars of Montreal, to getting stoned by the pool with Peter Falk and Jack Lemmon in Beverly Hills and co-writing a hit single for Dusty Springfield, this book is a kaleidoscopic sequence of more than sixty episodes drawn from Simon's life that makes most memoirs look like thin gruel by comparison.   There are stories of the stellar acts Simon has managed – from the Yardbirds and Marc Bolan to Wham! and Sinéad O'Connor – and there’s also the wisdom gathered from a louche existence of clubs, restaurants, gigs, award ceremonies, bankruptcies, booze and sex, both gay and straight. You could call the book ‘How to Use the Music Industry to Create a Lifestyle’. You might equally call it ‘How to Use Your Lifestyle to Gain Access to the Music Industry’.    Either way, Simon pulls no punches, and the result is a frank, funny and fascinating account of a life truly like no other.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49505176551697,"sku":"GOR012680800","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49743355478289,"sku":"NGR9781800181892","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51700563673361,"sku":"GOR013382958","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1800181892.jpg?v=1750962813"},{"product_id":"50-years-legal-book-simon-napier-bell-9781911346203","title":"50 Years Legal","description":"This is both the story of the 50-year battle for equal rights and deeply personal accounts from high profi le politicians, comedians, actors and others in the public arena. The book features contributions from David Hockney, Stephen Fry, Julian Clary, Matt Lucas, Matthew Parrish, Simon Callow, Will Young, Sir Derek Jacobi, Tom Robinson, Marc Almond, Sir Elton John, Alain Judd, Angela Eagle, Baroness Barker, Dan Gillespie Sells, Evan Davis, Jake Graf, Jason Prince, Jon Savage, Lee Tracy, Lord Browne, Lord Cashman, Lord Paddick, Lord Smith, Manny, Mark Mcadam, Mark Wardell, Mathew Todd, Olly Alexander, Paris Lees, Paul Gambaccini, Peter Tatchell, QBoy, Shon Faye, Stephanie Hirst, Stephen Amos, Steve Blame, The Reverend Andrew Foreshew-Cain, Tris Penna, Yotam Ottolenhgi and Zoe Lyons and more.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49522742362385,"sku":"GOR009777222","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49738258678033,"sku":"NGR9781911346203","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51745978122513,"sku":"GOR014388972","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51894397763857,"sku":"GOR012350487","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52756616151313,"sku":"NIN9781911346203","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1911346202.jpg?v=1751093027"},{"product_id":"black-vinyl-white-powder-book-simon-napier-bell-9780091880927","title":"Black Vinyl White Powder","description":"The most authoritative, intelligent, diligently researched and unpretentious analysis of the British pop scene yet written' Sunday Telegraph  Black Vinyl White Powder charts the amazing fifty year history of the British music business in unparalleled scale and detail. As a key player across the decades, Napier-Bell - who discovered Marc Bolan and managed amongst others The Yardbirds and Wham! - uses his wealth of contacts and extraordinary personal experiences to tell the story of an industry that is like no other. Where bad behaviour is not only tolerated but encouraged, where drugs are sometimes as important as talent, where artists are pushed to their physical and mental limits in the name of profit and ego.   'The Greatest Ever Book Written about English Pop-Breathtakingly Brilliant' Julie Burchill  'The cold print equivalent of a sparkling evening with a world-class raconteur.' Charles Shaar Murray, Independent  Bitchy, glib, fun and shrewd' Daily Telegraph","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49523981025553,"sku":"GOR001243686","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49558390374673,"sku":"GOR001171757","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49657855312145,"sku":"GOR001863550","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50344485716241,"sku":"CIN0091880920G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50696932294929,"sku":"NGR9780091880927","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53353094283537,"sku":"GOR010514861","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0091880920.jpg?v=1767092906"},{"product_id":"ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay-book-simon-napier-bell-9781783520312","title":"Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe only history of pop music you'll ever have to read.-- Huffington Post\u003c\/b\u003eLet legendary rock manager Simon Napier-Bell take you inside the (dodgy) world of popular music - not just a creative industry, but a business that has made people rich beyond their wildest dreams. \u003cbr\u003eThis book describes the evolution of the music industry from 1713 - the year parliament granted writers ownership over what they wrote - to today, when a global, 100 billion pound industry is controlled by just three major players: Sony, Universal and Warner. Inside you will uncover some little-known facts about the industry, including: how a formula for writing hit songs in the 1900s helped create 50,000 of the best-known songs of all time; how Jewish immigrants and black jazz musicians dancing cheek-to-cheek created a template for all popular music that followed; and how rock tours became the biggest, quickest, sleaziest and most profitable ventures the music industry has ever seen.\u003cbr\u003eThrough it all, Napier-Bell balances seductive anecdotes - pulling back the curtain on the gritty and absurd side of the industry - with an insightful exploration of the relationship between creativity and money.\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49534618665233,"sku":"GOR007093222","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49550093058321,"sku":"GOR006102687","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49651661701393,"sku":"GOR012341977","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1783520310.jpg?v=1750832907"},{"product_id":"i-m-coming-to-take-you-to-lunch-book-simon-napier-bell-9780091897628","title":"I'm Coming To Take You To Lunch","description":"Pop manager extraordinaire Simon Napier-Bell had had enough. He'd had enough of pop groups. He'd had enough of the constant grief at home with his two ex-boyfriends bickering and bleeding him dry; and most of all he'd had enough of the music biz. But then he fell in love with a new passion - the Far East; and a dynamic new duo - George and Andrew - jointly called Wham! Soon, in an audacious attempt to have the best of both worlds, he found himself offering to arrange for Wham! to be the first ever Western pop group to play in communist China - a masterstroke of PR which, in one swift stroke, would make them one of the biggest groups in the world.   What follows is an exciting, unpredictable and hilarious romp around the more curious corners of the world as Napier-Bell dives into the unknown, attempting to achieve the unachievable. We soon find ourselves in the company of a wonderful cast of petulant pop stars, shady international 'businessmen', and a hilarious confusion of spies, students and institutionalised officials and ministers as he edges ever closer to inadvertently becoming one of the first Westerners to break down the walls of communist China.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49537714061585,"sku":"GOR001279956","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49544302788881,"sku":"GOR002158428","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49563425407249,"sku":"GOR004466770","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50696934850833,"sku":"NGR9780091897628","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0091897629.jpg?v=1751434170"},{"product_id":"ta-ra-ra-boom-de-ay-book-simon-napier-bell-9781783521043","title":"Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-De-Ay","description":"Let legendary rock manager Simon Napier-Bell take you inside the (dodgy) world of popular music - not just a creative industry, but a business that has made people rich beyond their wildest dreams.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49541750620433,"sku":"GOR007129947","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49654903570705,"sku":"GOR008338791","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50390514139409,"sku":"CIN178352104XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51528577679633,"sku":"NGR9781783521043","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/178352104X.jpg?v=1751216421"},{"product_id":"business-book-simon-napier-bell-9781783529377","title":"The Business","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe only history of pop music you'll ever have to read.-- Huffington Post\u003c\/b\u003eLet legendary rock manager Simon Napier-Bell take you inside the (dodgy) world of popular music - not just a creative industry, but a business that has made people rich beyond their wildest dreams. \u003cbr\u003eThis book describes the evolution of the music industry from 1713 - the year parliament granted writers ownership over what they wrote - to today, when a global, 100 billion pound industry is controlled by just three major players: Sony, Universal and Warner. Inside you will uncover some little-known facts about the industry, including: how a formula for writing hit songs in the 1900s helped create 50,000 of the best-known songs of all time; how Jewish immigrants and black jazz musicians dancing cheek-to-cheek created a template for all popular music that followed; and how rock tours became the biggest, quickest, sleaziest and most profitable ventures the music industry has ever seen.\u003cbr\u003eThrough it all, Napier-Bell balances seductive anecdotes - pulling back the curtain on the gritty and absurd side of the industry - with an insightful exploration of the relationship between creativity and money.\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49542151667985,"sku":"GOR013362076","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49743291678993,"sku":"NGR9781783529377","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51051562860817,"sku":"NIN9781783529377","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1783529377.jpg?v=1750994037"},{"product_id":"black-vinyl-white-powder-book-simon-napier-bell-9780091869922","title":"Black Vinyl, White Powder","description":"Welcome to the pill-popping, thrill-seeking, boy-loving, law-breaking, never-ending moey-making British drugs and Music buisness.A terrific insight into what went on behind the scenes of sixsties pop music-The classic hidden history of sixties pop.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49546170138897,"sku":"GOR001221345","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49624118690065,"sku":"GOR001872402","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51303447757073,"sku":"GOR001294736","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0091869927.jpg?v=1750693627"},{"product_id":"you-don-t-have-to-say-you-love-me-book-simon-napier-bell-9780091902728","title":"You Don't Have To Say You Love Me","description":"You probably know Simon Napier-Bell as the manager of the Yardbirds. Or you may know him as the man who managed Marc Bolan, or Japan. You should definitely know him as the man who managed Wham! And if none of these rings a bell, maybe you'll remember him as the man who co-wrote 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me' for Dusty Springfield.   You Don't Have To Say You Love Me is one of the funniest books you will read and equally provoking. From his revelation that the entire music industry was motivated by sex, to an embarrassing come-on from a suicidal Brian Epstein, it's all shocking stuff. But when you're on the run from the German police with Marc Bolan, brothel-hopping with Keith Moon and generally living the life of Riley at the music industry's expense, it would be a shame not to share those amazing experiences with the rest of the world, wouldn't it?   Of all the great pop-music books written, it is worth savouring You Don't Have To Say You Love Me for its brilliant sideways insight into one of the most exciting cultural periods Britain has ever seen.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49549410140433,"sku":"GOR003403242","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49551467151633,"sku":"GOR002994821","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49583138210065,"sku":"GOR003769694","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50446231077137,"sku":"CIN009190272XA","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50754372075793,"sku":"CIN009190272XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52856209441041,"sku":"GOR009426085","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/009190272X.jpg?v=1752987491"},{"product_id":"you-don-t-have-to-say-you-love-me-book-simon-napier-bell-9780091865733","title":"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me","description":"One time manager of the Yardbirds and Marc Bolan, Simon Napier-Bell recollects the 1960s in all its excess and flamboyance. There are frank and scurrilous tales of sex, drugs, and famous stars, encompassing people such as Keith Moon and Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49597412770065,"sku":"GOR001297824","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49663023317265,"sku":"GOR001579095","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50336760004881,"sku":"GOR013933112","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50683660140817,"sku":"GOR003172276","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0091865735.jpg?v=1751433718"},{"product_id":"i-m-coming-to-take-you-to-lunch-book-simon-napier-bell-9780091897611","title":"I'm Coming To Take You To Lunch","description":"Pop manager extraordinaire Simon Napier-Bell had had enough. He'd had enough of pop groups. He'd had enough of the constant grief at home with his two ex-boyfriends bickering and bleeding him dry; and most of all he'd had enough of the music biz. But then he simultaneously fell in love with a new passion - the Far East; and a dynamic new duo - George and Andrew - jointly called Wham! Soon, in an audacious attempt to have the best of both worlds, he found himself offering to arrange for Wham! to be the first ever Western pop group to play in communist China - a masterstroke of PR which, in one swift stroke, would make them one of the biggest groups in the world. What follows is an exciting, unpredictable and hilarious romp around the more curious corners of the world as Napier-Bell dives into the unknown, attempting to achieve the unachievable. We soon find ourselves in the company of a wonderful cast of petulant pop stars, shady international 'businessmen', and a hilarious confusion of spies, students and institutionalised officials and ministers as he edges ever closer to inadvertently becoming one of the first Westerners to break down the walls of communist China.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49612825919761,"sku":"GOR005284809","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49640881520913,"sku":"GOR006809613","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49669242061073,"sku":"GOR003866400","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0091897610.jpg?v=1751101075"},{"product_id":"i-m-coming-to-take-you-to-lunch-book-simon-napier-bell-9781932958560","title":"I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50395264221457,"sku":"CIN1932958568VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1932958568.jpg?v=1751093043"},{"product_id":"black-vinyl-white-powder-book-simon-napier-bell-9781800181656","title":"Black Vinyl White Powder","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51052319441169,"sku":"NIN9781800181656","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51146979541265,"sku":"CIN1800181655VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1800181655.jpg?v=1750832962"},{"product_id":"i-m-coming-to-take-you-to-lunch-book-simon-napier-bell-9781800181670","title":"I'm Coming To Take you to lunch","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53563130642705,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53563130970385,"sku":"CIN1800181671G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781800181670.jpg?v=1778864455"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-simon-napier-bell.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}