Singer, songwriter, guitarist - Richard Thompson is recognised as one of the great talents of British Rock Music. From Fairport Convention in the 1960s to the recent solo albums, his music has been intense, exhilarating, emotive. In a career stretching back nearly four decades, Thompson has heard his praises sung by many of rock's leading players including Johnny Marr, Lou Reed, Bonnie Raitt and David Byrne. As well as his own acclaimed albums, Thompson has appeared as guitarist on albums by artists as diverse as Steve Winwood, JJ Cale, Crowded House and the late Nick Drake. His songs have been covered by everyone from Elvis Costello to REM, and he has worked with such legends as Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Led Zepplin.
Richard Thompson: Strange Affair is the first book to look back over the whole of Thompson's extraordinary life and career, setting out the means and motives of a complicated man. It reveals the crises, the discoveries, and above all the crucial personal relationships that have shaped his work, from his first group at school with Hugh Cornwell, through his appearances with Fairport Convention and the pioneering Liege and Lief album, to his successful solo career. Strange Affair is not only a biography, it is also a history of 30 years of British rock music, before and after Punk, and an examination of an important and neglected strand of English rock'n'roll.
Written with Thompson's full co-operation, Patrick Humphries not only had access to the artist himself, but also conducted over 30 interviews with musicians, managers, friends, colleagues and relations including his mother and sister, his first wife Linda and his current wife Nancy.
Richard Thompson's latest solo album entitled you? me? us? is released this month by EMI and he will be touring nation-wide throughout May.
Author and broadcaster Patrick Humphries first saw Richard Thompson perform as part of Fairport Convention at the Bath Festival in 1970, and has followed his career closely ever since. A full-time writer since 1980, the author has published nine books, and written for several publications including Melody Maker, Vox, Mojo, Esquire, Music Week, The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Observer, The Evening Standard and The Independent on Sunday. He has written and presented several series for the BBC World Service and contributes regularly to BBC Radio 1, 4 and 5.
"Richard Thompson: Strange Affair" Patrick Humphries, first published in England in 1996 by Virgin Books, ISBN 0-86369-993-0. 386 pages with 20 photographs. UK£12.99.
Schirmer Books will publish the book in the United States in February, 1997, under the title "Richard Thompson: the Biography".
"Richard Thompson: The Biography" Patrick Humphries, first published in the United States in 1997 by Schirmer Books, ISBN 0-02-864752-1. Approx 400 pages with 30 photographs. USD$26.
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