Staff Picks
Women in Music
- Sarah C.
- Thursday, April 11, 2019
Collection
Explore the lives of women who rock with these great titles!
This list is part of the #BroaderBookshelf2019 reading challenge. Find more lists here.
Violence Girl
East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage
Published in 2011
Autobiography of Alicia Armendariz, who adopted the punk name Alice Bag, and became lead singer for The Bags, early punk visionaries who starred in Penelope Spheeris' documentary The Decline of Western Civilization.
Unbreak My Heart
A Memoir
Published in 2014
The singer and star of "Braxton Family Values" reveals the measures she took to make herself and her family whole again after heart ailments and a diagnosis of lupus forced her to let go of her past and take charge of her own healing--physically and spiritually.
Poker Face
The Rise and Rise of Lady Gaga
Published in 2010
In little over a year, Stefani Germanotta, a struggling performer in New York' s Lower East Side burlesque scene, became the global pop icon Lady Gaga. She is a once-in-a-decade artist, a gifted singer, composer, designer, and performance artist who mixes high and low culture, the avant-garde with the accessible, authenticity with artifice. Who is Lady Gaga? A 24-year-old woman whose stage persona is the polar opposite of who she is offstage: isolated, insecure, and unable to be alone. An outré artist who wanted to be a sensitive singer-songwriter. A woman who says no man can ever compete with her career, but who still isn't over the ex-boyfriend who said she was too ambitious. She claims not to care what people think, but spends her downtime online, reading what people have to say about her. Based on over fifty original interviews with friends, employees, rivals, and music industry veterans, here is the first in-depth biography of this phenomenon.--From publisher description.
No Walls and the Recurring Dream
A Memoir
Published in 2019
"A memoir by the celebrated singer-songwriter and social activist Ani DiFranco In her new memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, Ani DiFranco recounts her early life from a place of hard-won wisdom, combining personal expression, the power of music, feminism, political activism, storytelling, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and much more into an inspiring whole. In these frank, honest, passionate, and often funny pages is the tale of one woman's eventful and radical journey to the age of thirty. Ani'scoming of age story is defined by her ethos of fierce independence--from being an emancipated minor sleeping in a Buffalo bus station, to unwaveringly building a career through appearances at small clubs and festivals, to releasing her first album at theage of 18, to consciously rejecting the mainstream recording industry and creating her own label, Righteous Babe Records. In these pages, as in life, she never hesitates to challenge established rules and expectations, maintaining a level of artistic integrity that has impressed many and antagonized more than a few. Ani continues to be a major touring and recording artist as well as a celebrated activist and feminist, standing as living proof that you can overcome all personal and societal obstacles to be who you are and to follow your dreams"-- Provided by publisher.
The Spitboy Rule
Tales of a Xicana in a Female Punk Band
Published in 2016
The story of a Chicana drummer who forged paths of feminism, freedom, and human rights into her all-girl punk rock band in the nineties.
Stevie Nicks
Visions, Dreams & Rumours
Published in 2015
This biography takes us on her journey from peripatetic Midwest childhood to her explosion onto the music scene as chiffon-swathed rock goddess, right up to present day.
Cyndi Lauper
A Memoir
Published in 2012
"Legendary and iconic singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper offers a poignant account of the journey that led her to become an international superstar--from her years growing up in Queens, New York, to the making of enduring hits like 'Time after time,' 'Girls just want to have fun,' and 'True colors,' to becoming an actress, a mother, an outspoken activist, and maintaining a music career that has lasted more than thirty years"--From publisher description.
What Happened, Miss Simone?
A Biography
Published in 2016
"Inspired by the critically acclaimed Netflix documentary What Happened, Miss Simone?, an intimate and vivid look at the legendary life of Nina Simone, the classically trained pianist who evolved into a chart-topping chanteuse and committed civil rights activist. From music journalist and former Spin and Vibe editor-in-chief Alan Light comes a biography of incandescent soul singer and Black Power icon Nina Simone, one of the most influential, provocative, and least understood artists of our time. Drawn from a trove of rare archival footage, audio recordings and interviews (including Simone's remarkable private diaries), this nuanced examination of Nina Simone's life highlights her musical inventiveness and unwavering quest for equality, while laying bare the personal demons that plagued her from the time of her Jim Crow childhood in North Carolina to her self-imposed exile in Liberia and Paris later in life. Harnessing the singular voice of Miss Simone herself and incorporating candid reflections from those who knew her best, including her only daughter, Light brings us face to face with a legend, examining the very public persona and very private struggles of one of our greatest artists"-- Provided by publisher.
M.I.A.
Published in 2012
Accompanied by original artwork, photographs, and assorted lyrics, tells the story of the revolutionary and controversial musician--from her early years as a visual artist to her rise to international stardom.
Para Selena, Con Amor
Published in 2012
"Ahora, por primera vez, Chris habla sobre su poderosa amistad, su relación prohibida y su floreciente matrimonio interrumpido por la imperdonable muerte de Selena."-- Back cover.
Hit So Hard
A Memoir
Published in 2017
"Patty Schemel's story begins with a childhood surrounded by the AA meetings her parents hosted in the family living room. Their divorce triggered her first forays into drinking at age twelve and dovetailed with her passion for punk rock and playing the drums. Patty's struggles with her sexuality further drove her notoriously hard playing, and by the late '80s she had focused that anger, confusion, and drive into regular gigs with well-regarded bands in Tacoma, Seattle, and Olympia, Washington. She met a pre-Nirvana Kurt Cobain at a Melvins show, and less than five years later, was living with him and his wife, Hole front-woman Courtney Love, at the height of his fame and on the cusp of hers. As the platinum-selling band's new drummer, Schemel contributed memorable, driving beats to hits like "Beautiful Son," "Violet," "Doll Parts," and "Miss World." But the band was plagued by tragedy and heroin addiction, and by the time Hole went on tour in support of their ironically titled and critically-acclaimed album Live Through This in 1994, both Cobain and Hole bassist Kristen Pfaff had died at the age of 27. With surprising candor and wit, Schemel intimately documents the events surrounding her dramatic exit from the band in 1998 that led to a dark descent into a life of homelessness and crime on the streets of Los Angeles, and the difficult but rewarding path to lasting sobriety after more than twenty serious attempts to get clean. Hit So Hard is a testament not only to the enduring power of the music Schemel helped create but an important document of the drug culture that threatened to destroy it."--Publisher's description.
M Train
Published in 2015
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee presents reflections on her inner life from the unique perspectives of the cafes and cultural haunts she has visited and worked in around the world. --Publisher's description.
Girls Like Us
Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon--and the Journey of a Generation
Published in 2008
"Girls Like Us" is a groundbreaking and irresistible biography of three of America's most important musical artists--Carly Simon, Carole King, and Joni Mitchell--and offers an epic treatment of these mid-century women who dared to break tradition.