Howling at the Moon - Softcover

Walter Yetnikoff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0349117977 ISBN 13: 9780349117973

Publisher: Abacus, 2004

Synopsis

The ultimate showbiz insider's expose, HOWLING AT THE MOON, is the wildly entertaining and brilliantly narrated autobiography of Walter Yetnikoff, head of CBS Records during its heyday in the 1980s, and then the most powerful man in the music industry. Yetnikoff knew most of the stars and embraced all the excesses of this era: he was mentor to Streisand, father confessor to Michael Jackson, shared a mistress with Marvin Gaye and nearly came to blows with Mick Jagger. He feuded with David Geffen and outmanoeuvred Rupert Murdoch. He was also addicted to cocaine and alcohol - until his doctor gave him just 3 months to live. Yetnikoff came from a working-class Jewish family from Brooklyn; he graduated from law school in the 1950s and proceeded to climb the corporate ladder to the very top. His high-flying ended in breakdown, but throughout his rise and fall, Yetnikoff remained a man of huge charisma and disarming charm. HOWLING AT THE MOON is written with David Ritz, the only 4-time winner of the Ralph J Gleason Music Book award, who has collaborated on the autobiographies of such stars as Ray Charles, BB King, Aretha Franklin and Etta James.

About this title

About the Author

Born in Brooklyn in 1933 and graduating from law school in the 1950s, Walter Yetnikoff went on to become president of CBS Records from 1975 to 1990, creating the most prestigious and profitable stable of artists in music history.

Review

'Jackie Collins herself couldn't have plotted a more readable yarn' SUNDAY TIMES 'Vodka for breakfast, secretary for lunch, signed the Stones at tea . . . It is as an entertaining, high-grade gossip sheet that this Brooklyn-born Caligula's memoirs function primarily, but they also provide an invaluable account of key stage in the history of he music industry . . . Yetnikoff's chutzpah shines through this book in all its grotesque and hilarious guises' OBSERVER 'A blisteringly entertaining read' INDEPENDENT 'It provides a stream of fabulous anecdotes -a fight with Mick, a shared mistress with Marvin, and several disturbing encounters with MJ, who called him "Good Daddy"' ARENA 'His stories of the whispering venality of the image-obsessed young Michael Jackson wanting to renege on deals while appearing squeaky clean are very revealing . . . An entertaining book, his sex life alone being of Olympian proportions' Ray Connolly, DAILY MAIL 'Yetnikoff's memoir hits the tarmac running' Douglas McPherson, WHAT'S ON LONDON (4 stars) 'This entertaining autobiography details his Brooklyn childhood, corporate manoeuvres and eventual religious awakening, all salted with outrageous personal behaviour' ROLLING STONE 'It's riveting insider dish for those who are interested in seeing and smelling) the music industry's dirty laundry' FORTUNE 'A Machiavellian study in power brokering . . . It's a great car wreck of a book, full of mayhem and destruction. And it's a lot of fun' THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 'The former president and CEO of CBS records traces his life's arc, from his troubled childhood to his wild runs as a skirt-chasing fat cat' MAXIM 'This is a book about his wicked, wicked ways, not a story that hinges on penance' THE NEW YORK TIMES 'An un-put-downable repository of A-list gossip and narco-fuelled weirdness' BLENDER 'Full of monstrous egos and excessive behaviour, but it's very entertaining . . . not least when his bile is unleashed on the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson and Paul Simon' CHOICE 'Unquestionably a work written upon sober reflection, and it becomes more extraordinary as he crawls from the wreckage of his career. The story of his rebirth as a devotee of the 12 Step programme, as an AA counsellor who can't stop talking about himself, and his honesty about how tedious a born-again sober guy is to everyone else, is unusually moving. Humility, though learnt late, suits him' MOJO 'Overflows with flavoursome anecdotes about Paul Simon, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and especially Michael Jackson . . . Yetnikoff may have been a nightmare to deal with in person but, like many monsters, he is captivating on the page, almost every one of which caused me to gasp or laugh at his extreme behaviour' SUNDAY EXPRESS 'Walter Yetnikoff is partially responsible for shaping popular culture as we know it . . . This is the ultimate story of narcissism and excess, candidly told and pulling plenty of punches. Yetnikoff cataloguist the freedom of the '60s, the glamour of the 70s and the excesses of the 80s with such humour, jaw-dropping honesty and insider insight that HOWLING AT THE MOON is unmissable reading' SCOTTISH DAILY RECORD 'HOWLING AT THE MOON is the story of how this pompous, blustering and boorishly aggressive man rose to the top of the corporate tree, promptly plunged himself into a snowdrift of cocaine and then had to pick up the tab at he end of the decade . . . as deliciously gossipy and trashily entertaining as memoirs get. Highly recommended' IRISH SUNDAY BUSINESS POST 'Wild tales of power, success, cocaine and booze from legendary record industry fat cat . . . vulgar, vicious and totally invigorating' UNCUT 'In the first chapter, Yetnikoff leaves his wife, comforts Jacko, ignores Mick Jagger, lunches with Jackie O, tells David Geffen where to go, snorts a sugar bowl's-worth of cocaine and is informed that he has three months to live' SUNDAY HERALD 'We meet him in mid-sexual fantasy about Jackie Onassis, and the daily grind he wakes up to is just as fantastic . . . Its tough at the top and this roistering tale tells how a Jewish kid from Brooklyn got there, becoming, in his won words, the ballsiest man in the music business' WHAT'S ON LONDON 'This is 2004's must-have, dirt-dishing autobiography . . . It's one hell of a ride' CLOSER 'Another fine addition to the canon of tales of debauchery in the entertainment industry . . . Fantastic stuff' IRISH EVENING HERALD 'It's safe to say that they no longer make record company bosses like Yetnikoff, and more's the pity - a maverick, colourful figure . . . The devil may have all the best tunes but Yetnikoff certainly has all the best tales' IRISH TIMES 'Walter Yetnikoff was a pop music mogul back when people in the music industry still had fun . . . He also hovered a fair bit of coke and went through his fair share of women and booze. HOWLING AT THE MOON is his hilarious tell-all memoir of his time in the business' SUNDAY INDEPENDENT 'The book's real strength is in the many indiscretions he drops about the artists he worked with during his years at CBS and Sony, including Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson and Barbra Streisand' MUSIC WEEK 'Vicious and utterly irresistible . . . what makes his loathsomeness so endearing is his ability to laugh at his own colossal vanity and arrogance. Unputdownable' UNCUT 'A rollicking read' EXPRESS 'Combining unusually revealing glimpses of misbehaving stars with pulsating accounts of executive power-struggles, HOWLING AT THE MOON is an autobiography of mesmerizing candour. Yetnikoff and Ritz enthrallingly find a way of writing that book looks back with cool amazement and retains the deranged energy of the decade of greed' GUARDIAN 'Full of anecdotes about the world in pop and, in particular, Jackson' SUNDAY TIMES 'Energetically indiscreet . . . Never a man to bother with tonic in his breakfast gin, he keeps the mix strong here, too - eight parts bitching to one part contrition' EVENING STANDARD

About this edition

• Publisher: Abacus
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0349117977
• ISBN 13: 9780349117973
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320