I Was There
Dispatches from a Life in Rock and Roll
Published on 6. June 2024
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-3985-2524-5 (ISBN)
Description
A TELEGRAPH AND LONDON STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024
'Alan is such a wonderful storyteller' Debbie Harry
'If you love music, you should definitely read this book' Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Radio 5 Live
'Alan Edwards is a class act: observant, attentive, always in the right place at the right time. I Was There tells you how' Jon Savage
'A beautiful, warm, jaw-dropping, once-in-a-lifetime, lifting-the-stone guide to a secret world . . . I loved it' Tony Parsons
'Revelatory' Will Hodgkinson, The Times
'Gossipy, insightful and a whole lot of fun' Neil McCormick, Daily Telegraph
'An absorbing read . . . Raw, warm and packed with incident' Barbara Ellen, Observer
Alan Edwards, the godfather of British music PR, has worked with some of the most legendary artists of our time, from David Bowie to the Spice Girls via the Rolling Stones, the Stranglers, Prince and Amy Winehouse.
In I Was There, he describes getting his break in the mid-'70s as a scruffy, stoned 20-year-old just back from the hippie trail; his encounter with London's thriving punk scene, which inspired him to set up his own PR company; broadening his horizons as his work with the likes of Blondie takes him to the US and beyond; and his move into the world of pop with the Spice Girls during the tabloid-crazed '90s.
At the centre of this story sits the defining relationship of Edwards' career: his close, thirty-year collaboration with David Bowie. He guides us through a series of vivid, funny, always insightful behind-the-scenes reports, whether he's playing a spontaneous game of football with Bob Marley, listening to Prince discuss the future of civilisation in a nightclub VIP area, or being used as a pawn in the power struggle between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Above all, we're treated to Edwards' fascinating observations about the brilliant artists he has worked with and what makes them tick, as he looks back on his role in the last five decades of music and culture.
'Alan is such a wonderful storyteller' Debbie Harry
'If you love music, you should definitely read this book' Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Radio 5 Live
'Alan Edwards is a class act: observant, attentive, always in the right place at the right time. I Was There tells you how' Jon Savage
'A beautiful, warm, jaw-dropping, once-in-a-lifetime, lifting-the-stone guide to a secret world . . . I loved it' Tony Parsons
'Revelatory' Will Hodgkinson, The Times
'Gossipy, insightful and a whole lot of fun' Neil McCormick, Daily Telegraph
'An absorbing read . . . Raw, warm and packed with incident' Barbara Ellen, Observer
Alan Edwards, the godfather of British music PR, has worked with some of the most legendary artists of our time, from David Bowie to the Spice Girls via the Rolling Stones, the Stranglers, Prince and Amy Winehouse.
In I Was There, he describes getting his break in the mid-'70s as a scruffy, stoned 20-year-old just back from the hippie trail; his encounter with London's thriving punk scene, which inspired him to set up his own PR company; broadening his horizons as his work with the likes of Blondie takes him to the US and beyond; and his move into the world of pop with the Spice Girls during the tabloid-crazed '90s.
At the centre of this story sits the defining relationship of Edwards' career: his close, thirty-year collaboration with David Bowie. He guides us through a series of vivid, funny, always insightful behind-the-scenes reports, whether he's playing a spontaneous game of football with Bob Marley, listening to Prince discuss the future of civilisation in a nightclub VIP area, or being used as a pawn in the power struggle between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Above all, we're treated to Edwards' fascinating observations about the brilliant artists he has worked with and what makes them tick, as he looks back on his role in the last five decades of music and culture.
Reviews / Votes
'Entertaining and philosophical . . . [Told with] diplomacy, wit and a well-honed instinct for storytelling . . . Offers a consistently informative guide to how the publicity business has changed over the decades' -- Neil McCormick * Daily Telegraph * 'Hugely entertaining . . . Edwards brings out the wild, bizarre side of his working life and the book is littered with oddballs, from the egomaniac Robert Maxwell to the eccentric Prince . . . The strength of the book . . . are the quirky stories and reminiscences, few funnier than the one about Keith Moon and an office desk' -- Martin Chilton * Independent * 'A master of page-turning readability . . . an insider's view of operating inside the world of David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Paul McCartney and a gaggle of A+ listers' -- John Aizlewood * Mojo * 'An entertaining, gossipy memoir . . . As publicist for several of the biggest artists of the age, Edwards had a ringside seat for all manner of cultural highlights . . . His book offers a fascinating glimpse into the tricks of the trade and why smart PR can deliver success' * Irish Independent * 'A fascinating alternative angle on the music scene, chronicling the birth of modern PR with plenty of behind the scenes access to acts he's worked with over the years . . . With a cast of characters that runs the gamut from Hugh Cornwell to Hugo Chavez, I Was There is loaded with showbiz anecdotes with characters from his impressive rolodex of household names . . . Strongly recommended' * Louder than War * 'Deliciously candid . . . Extraordinary' * Daily Express * 'The UK music industry from the 1970s to today. Alan was there and he has receipts. Frank, fascinating and funny' -- John Niven 'I felt such warmth in [this] book. The rush and challenges of working with your heroes is such a wonderful and sometimes heartbreaking roller-coaster. [I Was There] brought it all back to me in technicolour' -- Cameron Crowe 'Alan wasn't just there, he was everywhere, as immersed in the world of rock as any of the bold-face names he represented. From glam to punk, from Bowie to Jagger, from small clubs and sweaty pubs to stadiums and enormodomes, Alan saw it all... and wrote it all down. A brilliant book by a brilliant man' -- Dylan JonesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
1 x 8pp colour photographs
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
502 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3985-2524-5 (9781398525245)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2024
Simon + Schuster LLC
€10.31
Available for download
Person
Alan Edwards is the founder of public relations agency the Outside Organisation, which has represented some of the biggest music stars on the planet, corporations and brands, government, royalty, celebrities, charities, events and sports legends. In 2017, he became the third-ever inductee into PR Week's Hall of Fame and he has been named the magazine's number one entertainment PR for an unprecedented ten years running.