Naked at the Albert Hall: The Inside Story of Singing - Softcover

Thorn, Tracey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0349005249 ISBN 13: 9780349005249

Publisher: Virago, 2016

Synopsis

In her bestselling autobiography Bedsit Disco Queen, Tracey Thorn recalled the highs and lows of a thirty-year career in pop music. But with the touring, recording and extraordinary anecdotes, there wasn't time for an in-depth look at what she actually did for all those years: sing. She sang with warmth and emotional honesty, sometimes while battling acute stage-fright.

Part memoir, part wide-ranging exploration of the art, mechanics and spellbinding power of singing, NAKED AT THE ALBERT HALL takes in Dusty Springfield, Dennis Potter and George Eliot; Auto-tune, the microphone and stage presence; The Streets and The X Factor. Including interviews with fellow artists such as Alison Moyet, Romy Madley-Croft and Green Gartside of Scritti Politti, and portraits of singers in fiction as well as Tracey's real-life experiences, it offers a unique, witty and sharply observed insider's perspective on the exhilarating joy and occasional heartache of singing.

About this title

About the Author:

Tracey Thorn was singer and songwriter with Everything But the Girl from 1982-2000. At that point she semi-retired from the music business to bring up her children. She has since recorded three solo albums, Out of the Woods, Love and Its Opposite, and Tinsel and Lights, and published her autobiography, Bedsit Disco Queen. She lives in London with her husband Ben Watt and their three children.

Review:

As distinctive and lovely as its author's singing voice . . . a wry and wise memoir of a unique career

Tracey's characterful phrasing is as persuasive on page as it is on record―Grazia

Thorn is the perfect analyst of our reverence for and terror of singing . . .Thorn's practical, warm tone gives her a Miss Marple-like ability to appear kindly while holding mistruths up to account . . . She is best, though, as a sympathetic guide to the singers she loves―Daily Telegraph

Thorn eloquently strikes upon some profound truths about human communication as she tests the powers and limits of the human voice―Observer

The Alan Bennett of pop memoirists. I loved her book so much I wanted to form a band too

Smart, chatty . . . [Thorn is] a sufficiently deft writer to negotiate the populist and the high-brow . . . a thought-provoking and enjoyable read―Mail on Sunday

She can pick at the scab of a subject and release some of the unsavoury contents which have been festering under the surface.―Dubbo Weekender

Revelatory, always entertaining . . . a genuine insider's perspective . . . Thirty years of consideration went into this quietly impressive volume, and it shows―Independent

If you care at all about pop music you should read both [Naked at the Albert Hall and Bedsit Disco Queen]―Sunday Herald

Honest and compassionate―Sunday Telegraph

About this edition

• Publisher: Virago
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0349005249
• ISBN 13: 9780349005249
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256