Books like Tom Waits by Cath Carroll

Patti Smith’s memoir charts her life in New York City, from the bohemian scenes of Max’s Kansas City and the Hotel Chelsea to a creative partnership with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in Brooklyn.

A detailed autobiographical portrait of Bob Dylan, chronicling his life as a celebrated folk and rock musician, his career milestones, and personal insights.

A biographical examination of musicians who died at age 27, including Amy Winehouse, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, and Kurt Cobain, and an exploration of the cultural impact of the 27 Club.

We've Only Just Begun, Close To You, Top Of The World: these are just a few of the bestselling hits that rocketed the Carpenters to the top of the charts. Karen and Richard typified the best of America's golden youth, selling nearly a hundred million recordings and leaving an indelible mark on the landscape of popular music. Written with the cooperation of Richard Carpenter and with a foreword by Herb Alpert, this definitive biography traces the story of the Carpenters from their white-picket-fence upbringing in Connecticut through their move to California and struggle for recognition. It portrays Richard as the brain and architect behind a winning musical collaboration with Karen its heart and voice; and it explores the pressures of their meteoric rise. Here, also, for the first time, in detail, is the graphic, heartrending story of a brother and sister's personal battles: while Karen dieted incessantly, Richard fought an addiction to pills. Bestselling author Ray Coleman, who has known the Carpenters since their earliest successes, investigates every aspect of how Richard and Karen arrived at their unique sound. He focuses on their exceptional interaction and examines the difficulties that came with fame, contributing in part to Karen's shocking death from anorexia nervosa in 1983 at the age of thirty-two. Drawing on conversations over the years with Richard and Karen, their mother, the family, close friends, Karen's therapist, fellow musicians, and including family photographs and memorabilia, Ray Coleman has written not only the first biography of an extraordinary partnership but a tribute to Karen's yearning yet crystalline voice that was - and still is - cherished by millions.

Alex Ross’s 2007 nonfiction work surveys twentieth‑century music, blending history, criticism and rich listening narratives to reveal how composers shaped and were shaped by the era’s cultural shifts.