One Hit Wonderland - Softcover

Hawks, Tony

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0091882109 ISBN 13: 9780091882105

Publisher: Ebury Press, 2008

Synopsis

It's 1988 and radios across the land blast out the Top Ten hit "Stutter Rap" by Morris Minor and the Majors. The man behind the fake moustache is Tony Hawks. Fast forward to the 21st century and those heady days of pop stardom are a distant memory. That is, until it is suggested that Tony is just another One Hit Wonder. Really? We'll have to see about that. For two years Tony struggles to have a hit somewhere—anywhere—in the world, changing acts and styles with a bewildering lack of integrity. From Nashville to Amsterdam, from Eastern Europe to Africa, he travels the globe in search of that elusive hit. But it's only after a chance encounter with actor Norman Wisdom that things get really strange. Is it really possible that together they could storm the Albanian charts? In One Hit Wonderland anything can happen.

About this title

About the Author:

Tony Hawks is the author of A Piano in the Pyrenees; Playing the Moldovans at Tennis, which was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize for Non-Fiction; and Round Ireland with a Fridge.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* The author of A Piano in the Pyrenees (2008), Playing the Moldovans at Tennis (2001), and Round Ireland with a Fridge (2000) is, to be sure, a unique and engaging writer of travel memoirs. But did you know he also recorded two hit records? All right, the first was in 1988 (it was called “Stutter Rap,” a spoof of the Beastie Boys), and the second was a hit only in Albania; but the point is he has two hits to his name. This very funny memoir is the story of how he scored his second hit, and it takes him from Nashville to Africa to, obviously, Albania. Along the way, as he tries to find just the right song to put him back on the charts, he tries everything from spoofy country and western to a Paul Simon–inspired blending of African and traditional rock themes to, well, just about anything he thinks might work. It’s the best kind of travel memoir: alternately informative and hilarious, with a cast of memorable characters who, if they weren’t real people, would be right at home in a zany comic novel. Hawks is a lively, inquisitive storyteller, and readers, as always, will come away from the book glad to have accompanied him on another offbeat odyssey. --David Pitt

About this edition

• Publisher: Ebury Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0091882109
• ISBN 13: 9780091882105
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336