Need suggestions for biographies and/or memoirs of artists/creative people.
Need suggestions for biographies and/or memoirs of artists/creative people.
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Need suggestions for biographies and/or memoirs of artists/creative people.
Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers by Deborah Heiligman
Chrissie Hynde.
It’s very stream of consciousness but definitely her writing it and fascinating if you’re into music.
Also Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography is great…
love Chrissie’s music—that voice!
Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
Patti Smith’s ‘Just Kids’ and ‘M Train’.
Tony Bennett
David McCullough’s book about the Wright Brothers is superb. Great story by the best American storyteller there is. Also, it’s a story about American ingenuity at its finest.
True geniuses.
Robin by Dave Itzkoff.
I’m listening to born a crime by Trevor Noah and it’s absolutely brilliant. I imagine it would also make an amazing read but as a linguist and general lover of languages I love to hear the languages.
I enjoyed that too. Not what I was expecting and a real tribute to his mother.
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan is a novel, but is drawn mostly from the diaries of one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s mistresses, later wife. Great depiction of a brilliant designer, but not a very nice man. Learned things I’d never heard about him.
This year is the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein. Not long before he died he invited a writer to his home for a day. They taped the whole thing. The resulting conversation is a rare insight into a man who was not just a major musical talent, but an international peacemaker and extraordinary teacher who, in the early 60s, knew how to use the media.
Wow, thanks for the great and varied recommendations! I was thinking of artist more like painters, visual artists, but actually enjoy learning about creativity and the different paths toward discovery that people take
Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin…Ali in Wonderland and Other Tall Tales by Ali Wentworth…No Time To Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K Le Guin…The Moon’s a Balloon by David Niven…The Elephant to Hollywood by Michael Caine…The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher…The Diary of Anais Nin by Anais Nin…
There is one about Vincent Van Gosh and his brother that looked good
I enjoyed Walter Isaacson’s Leonardo.
Steve Jobs by issacson
Martin Short – I must say. One of the funniest books I have ever read. It also has its sad parts, just like real life. He is really amazing. Highly recommend!
@Kelly loved they book !
He is one of my all-time faves —-how did I miss this book??! thanks.
@Karen you’re going to love it!
He is hysterically funny. Have to read this.
Not My Father’s Son, by Alan Cuming.
Gelsey Kirkland’s ‘ Dancing On My Grave’.
Keith Richard’s “Life” – great expose of rock star life. Well written too.
“Lust for life”, a biography on Vincent Van Gogh.
If you’re looking for musicians, who I consider to be creative, I’d recommend The Universal Tone by Carlos Santana, What Does This Button Do? by Bruce Dickinson and Dark Days by D. Randall Bylthe.
Oh I forgot the fun ‘Big Bosoms and Square Jaws: The Biography of Russ Meyer, King of the Sex Film’ by Jimmy McDonough! More than you ever wanted to know about boobs in film! Lol
How to Make Love Like a Porn Star – Jenna Jameson – learned all about the stripper-porn business – not what most think!
I bet!
@Karen that is a great book!
In the Sanctuary of Outcasts by Neil White
PALIMPSEST: A Memoir by GORE VIDAL