Somebody to Love: The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie Mercury
                    November 22nd 2016
                    ISBN1681881888 (ISBN13: 9781681881881)

                    For the first time, the final years of one of the world's most captivating rock showman are laid bare. Including interviews                       from Freddie Mercury's closest friends in the last years of his life, along with personal photographs, Somebody to Love is                     an authoritative biography of the great man. Here are previously unknown and startling facts about the singer and his                           life, moving detail on his lifelong search for love and personal fulfilment, and of course his tragic contraction of a then                           killer disease in the mid-1980s.

Mercury: An Intimate Biography of Freddie Mercury
                    January 1, 1997
                    ISBN1451663951 (ISBN13: 9781451663952)

                    Mercury was the first major rock star to die from AIDS. Now, twenty years after his death, those closest to him are finally                     opening up about this pivotal figure in rock n’ roll. With unprecedented access to Mercury’s tribe, rock journalist Lesley-                        Ann Jones has crafted the definitive account of Mercury’s legendary life. Jones details Queen’s slow but steady rise to                         fame, and Mercury’s descent into dangerous, pleasure-seeking excesses. Jones doesn’t shy away from Mercury’s often                       colorful lifestyle—this was, after all, a man who once declared, “Darling, I’m doing everything with everyone.” 

Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey
                    August 1st 1983
                    ISBN

                    Briefly portrays the life of the influential blues singer, Ma Rainey, discusses the development of her music, and analyzes                       the theme of love in her music.

Music

Liberace: An American Boy
                    June 15th 2000
                    ISBN0226686671 (ISBN13: 9780226686677)

                    More people watched his nationally syndicated television show between 1953 and 1955 than followed I Love Lucy. Even                     a decade after his death, the attendance records he set at Madison Square Garden, the Hollywood Bowl, and Radio City                     Music Hall still stand. Arguably the most popular entertainer of the twentieth century, this very public figure nonetheless                       kept more than a few secrets. Darden Asbury Pyron, author of the acclaimed and bestselling Southern Daughter: The                         Life of Margaret Mitchell, leads us through the life of America's foremost showman with his fresh, provocative, and                               definitive portrait of Liberace, an American boy.

George Michael: The Biography
                    November 8th 2007
                    ISBN0749951419 (ISBN13: 9780749951412)

                    George Michael is an enigma. Despite being one of the most open and vocal pop superstars on the planet, George                             Michael is also fiercely protective of his privacy. From the formation of Wham! In 1981 he immediately found fame and                         fortune beyond his wildest dreams. This all-access biography uncovers the secret life of the pop star, following his                               skyrocket to fame and fortune through his solo career and up to the present day. His music formed the soundtrack to the                     1980s and he achieved all of this despite growing up in a dysfunctional family where his father openly proclaimed that                         George had no talent. Wham! split in 1986 but Michael went on to greater things as a solo artist.

The Music that Inspired the Gay Rights Movement
                    September 12th 2012
                    ASINB0099ZYP2Q

                    "The Music that Inspired the Gay Rights Movement" takes readers on a journey from Dorothy of Oz to Ke$ha and makes                     many stops in between. Learn how musicians like Cole Porter, Tom Robinson, Cyndi Lauper, Adam Lambert and many                       more became pivotal in the quiet movement that many still haven't noticed.

k.d. Lang: All You Get is Me
                    May 1st 1994
                    ISBN0006382401 (ISBN13: 9780006382409)

                    All You Get is Me uncovers k.d.'s deepest emotions, from a commitment to animal rights that threatened to ruin her                              career, to her coming to terms with a sexuality that made her an unwitting poster girl for the lesbian and gay community.                      Full f rare photographs, this is the definitive biography of k.d. lang.

Eden Built by Eves: The Culture of Women's Music Festivals
                    March 1st 1999
                    ISBN1555834779 (ISBN13: 9781555834777)

                    Women's music festivals have long been an integral part of lesbian culture, the shaping of millions of women's lives, and                     the emergence of women as a musical force to be reckoned with. Now Dr. Bonnie J. Morris takes readers on an                                   breathtaking insider's journey through 25 years of this cultural phenomenon. From Michigan to Mississippi, Eden Built by                     Eves is a splendidly full archive of festival herstory: conflicts, scandals, new music, rain, sun work, family, joy. What does                     festival culture mean to the audiences, artists, and activists who loyally return each year? 

Listening to the Sirens: Musical Technologies of Queer Identity from Homer to Hedwig
                    October 30th 2005
                    ISBN0520215877 (ISBN13: 9780520215870)

                    In this fresh and innovative study, Judith A. Peraino investigates how music has been used throughout history to call into                     question norms of gender and sexuality. Beginning with a close examination of the mythology surrounding the sirens—                        whose music seduced Ulysses into a state of mind in which he would gladly sacrifice everything for the illicit pleasures                         promised in their song—Peraino goes on to consider the musical creatures, musical gods and demigods, musical                                 humans, and music-addled listeners who have been associated with behavior that breaches social conventions. 

Queer Noises: Male and Female Homosexuality in Twentieth-Century Music
                    March 2nd 1995
                    ISBN0816627193 (ISBN13: 9780816627196)

From American Idol To British Rock Royalty - The Amazing Story Of Adam Lambert
                    March 2nd 2015
                    ASINB00U7CCI74

                    Adam Lambert is a true Hollywood success story. Despite coming second in season eight of American Idol, losing out to                     Kris Allen, Lambert has become one of the most successful and admired American pop artists of the 21st century. With                       just two solo albums under his belt, he has sold over two million albums and four million singles worldwide. He has won                       numerous awards and been nominated for some of the most coveted prizes in the music industry, including the                                     Grammys. He was the first openly gay artist to get a major label record deal, which he achieved with RCA, and the first                       openly gay pop star to achieve a Number 1 album in the US with his second release, Trespassing, in 2012.

Hiding My Candy
                    August 1st 1997
                    ISBN0671520954 (ISBN13: 9780671520953)

                    After leaping off the pages with he unforgettable debut in John Berendt's bestselling Midnight in the Garden of Good and                     Evil, the unabashed personality known as The Lady Chablis now brings her irresistible charisma to the remarkable                               odyssey of fabulousness that USA Today calls "sassy" and "provocative...." Born Benjamin Edward Knox in Quincy,                             Florida, "The Doll" always knew she was different. At a Tallahassee club, in her teens, she found the drag mother who                         would set her on the path to stardom. Before long, The Lady Chablis had a headline drag act replete with trademark                             saucy wit, down-home wisdom, and, of course, breasts. The rest is "Miss Thang" history....

The Girls: Out & Proud Lesbian Music Crossword Puzzles
                    December 6th 2014
                    ISBN1312655720 (ISBN13: 9781312655720)

                    Music reviewer, podcaster and historian Aaron Joy presents his series of rock music crossword puzzle books. 14 new                         puzzles in each book looking at the bands, albums & general trivia, including musicians famous & forgotten, fringe &                           mainstream. 

50 Queer Music Icons Who Changed the World: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Legends
                    May 15th 2018
                    ISBN1784881503 (ISBN13: 9781784881504)

                    Featuring beautifully illustrated portraits and profiles, 50 Queer Musicians Who Changed the World is a tribute to queer                       ground breakers who changed the face of music and popular culture. LGBTQ musicians have been pushing for change                       since the 1920s, with singers such as Bessie Smith crooning about same-sex liaisons almost 100 years ago – long                               before Frankie Goes to Hollywood were telling everyone to 'Relax'. This book is a celebration of artists who became                             icons, and broke new ground through song. 

Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton
                    May 1st 1998
                    ISBN0395957893 (ISBN13: 9780395957899)

                    The jazz pianist Billy Tipton was born in Oklahoma City as Dorothy Tipton, but almost nobody knew the truth until the day                     he died, in Spokane in 1989. Over a fifty-year performing career, Billy Tipton fooled nearly everyone, including Duke                             Ellington and Norma Teagarden, five successive wives with whom Billy lived as a man, and three children who he                                 "fathered." As Billy Tipton herself said, "Some people might think I'm a freak or a hermaphrodite. I'm not. I'm a normal                           person. This has been my choice." This jazz-era biography evokes the rich popular-music history of the Great                                       Depression and reads like a detective story.

The Queer Composition of America's Sound: Gay Modernists, American Music, and National Identity
                    October 18th 2004
                    ISBN0520241851 (ISBN13: 9780520241855)

                    In this vibrant and pioneering book, Nadine Hubbs shows how a gifted group of Manhattan-based gay composers were                       pivotal in creating a distinctive "American sound" and in the process served as architects of modern American identity.                         Focusing on a talented circle that included Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, Paul                             Bowles, David Diamond, and Ned Rorem, The Queer Composition of America's Sound homes in on the role of these                           artists' self-identification—especially with tonal music, French culture, and homosexuality—in the creation of a musical                         idiom that even today signifies "America" in commercials, movies, radio and television, and the concert hall.

Queer tracks : subversive strategies in rock and pop music
                    December 2012
                    ISBN1409437027 (ISBN13: 9781409437024)

                    Queer Tracks describes motifs in popular music that deviate from heterosexual orientation, the binary gender system                           and fixed identities. This exciting cutting-edge work deals with the key concepts of current gender politics and queer                             theory in rock and pop music, including irony, parody, camp, mask/masquerade, mimesis/mimicry, cyborg, transsexuality,                     and dildo. Based on a constructivist concept of gender, Leibetseder asks: 'Which queer-feminist strategies are used in                         rock and pop music?' 'How do they function?' 'Where do they occur?' Leibetseder's methodological process is to                                   discover subversive strategies in queer theory, which are also used in rock and pop music, without assuming that these                       tactics were first invented in theory. 

Sing Out: Gays and Lesbians in the Music
                    March 25th 1998
                    ISBN1569801169 (ISBN13: 9781569801161)

                    With a Foreword by symphony orchestra conductor Leonard Bernstein and insight into such varied figures as Beethoven,                     Billie Holiday, Boy George and Bette Midler and Bruce Springsteen.

The Vinyl Closet: Gays in the Music World
                    October 1st 1991
                    ISBN0962349798 (ISBN13: 9780962349799)

                    From the introduction, written by Leonard Bernstein right before his death, to the epilogue, Hadleigh provides the reader                     with another fascinating Hollywood type teaser of who has/is/may have done what in the music industry. Filled with                               tabloid quotes, out of context statements and interviews with the anonymous star and/or executive, people from Piaf to                         Merman to lang (sic) are painted as stars benefiting from their gay and lesbian followings while hating them as in                                 Merman’s ease, embracing them as did Piaf, or possibly joining in as is suggested in lang’s case.

Tegan and Sara Motivational Coloring Book
                    August 15th 2019
                    ISBN168657665X (ISBN13: 9781686576652)

                    Tegan and Sara Motivational Adult Coloring Book. Beautiful Illustrations. We've included 40+ unique images for you to                         express your creativity and make masterpieces. Which colors will you choose for this book?

Coal to Diamonds: A Memoir
                    October 11th 2010
                    ISBN0385525915 (ISBN13: 9780385525916)

                    Born and raised in Judsonia, Arkansas—a place where indoor plumbing was a luxury, squirrel was a meal, and sex ed                         was taught during senior year in high school (long after many girls had gotten pregnant and dropped out) Beth Ditto                             stood out. Beth was a fat, pro-choice, sexually confused choir nerd with a great voice, an eighties perm, and a Kool Aid                       dye job. Her single mother worked overtime, which meant Beth and her five siblings were often left to fend for                                       themselves. Beth spent much of her childhood as a transient, shuttling between relatives, caring for a sickly, volatile aunt                     she nonetheless loved, looking after sisters, brothers, and cousins, and trying to steer clear of her mother’s bad                                   boyfriends. 

Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer
                    May 4th 2010
                    ISBN0307378861 (ISBN13: 9780307378866)

                    Chely Wright, singer, songwriter, country music star, writes in this moving, telling memoir about her life and her career;                         about growing up in America’s heartland, the youngest of three children; about barely remembering a time when she                           didn’t know she was different She writes about her parents, putting down roots in their twenties in the farming town of                           Wellsville, Kansas, Old Glory flying atop the poles on the town’s manicured lawns, and being raised to believe that hard                       work, honesty, and determination would take her far.

Seduced and Abandoned: Essays on Gay Men and Popular Music
                    March 1st 1996
                    ISBN0304333476 (ISBN13: 9780304333479)

                    Seduced and Abandoned examines the different ways that gay men use pop music, both as producers and consumers,                       and how, in turn, pop uses gay men. Richard Smith asks what role culture plays in shaping identity, and why pop                                 continues to thrill gay men even though it so often lets them down. These 40 essays and interviews look at how                                   performers, from The Kinks' Ray Davies to Gene's Martin Rossiter, have used pop as a platform to explore and                                     articulate, conform to or contest notions of sexuality and gender. 

Elton: The Biography
                    October 28th 2007
                    ISBN1556527136 (ISBN13: 9781556527135)

                    One of music’s true global superstars and most admired figures, Elton John has sold an estimated 200 million albums                         worldwide to date, and continues to appear regularly in the singles charts, thanks largely to a series of high-profile                               collaborations with new faces. But he is loved as much for his outrageous personality and witty outspokenness as for his                     music: recent memorable outbursts have included a public comment that “people who charge £75 and lip-sync should be                     shot” and calling some pushy photographers “rude, vile pigs.” He has even admitted that, in one of his more comedic                           cocaine-fueled moments, he phoned one of his management team “to tell him to do something about the wind outside                         my hotel room.” Such shamelessness and sheer silliness rivals anything uttered by punk rockers, yet it is so typically                           Elton: honest and wittily intemperate.

Gay Music Guide: Album Reviews and Artist Profiles
                    May 1st 1994
                    ISBN0963987194 (ISBN13: 9780963987198)

My Red Blood: A Memoir of Growing Up Communist, Coming Onto the Greenwich Village Folk Scene, and Coming Out in the Feminist Movement
                    October 1st 2009
                    ISBN1593501072 (ISBN13: 9781593501075)

                    Women’s music legend Alix Dobkin for the first time chronicles her rise to fame as the first artist to record an openly                             lesbian album in 1973. Her story, however, opens much earlier in postwar New York City, where, growing up in a                                   Communist family, she watches Jackie Robinson steal home, rubs elbows with radical Left celebrities like Paul Robeson,                     and comes of age under the watchful eye of the FBI. Dobkin herself joins the party at the height of the McCarthy witch                         hunts and offers readers a firsthand glimpse of daily life as a young person living under government surveillance. 

Stonewall to Obama
                    January 11th 2014
                    ASINB00HQ373UE

                    This is a story of sound, rhythm, style and the power of music to transform a culture. It’s about rock and roll, pop, disco,                       rap, funk, soul and R&B. It starts with the sounds heard on June 28, 1969 that ignited a revolution and lead to arrests,                         demonstrations, loss of life, political unrest, anger, fear and a plague. But, most importantly, this is a story of celebration!                     It’s the story of the gay anthem and how it empowered a group of second class citizens to find its voice and claim its                             rightful place in society. 

Rock on the Wild Side: Gay Male Images in Popular Music of the Rock Era
                    March 1st 1994
                    ISBN0943595460 (ISBN13: 9780943595467)

Gay Guerrilla: Julius Eastman and His Music
                    December 15th 2015
                    ISBN158046534X (ISBN13: 9781580465342)

                    Composer-performer Julius Eastman (1940-90) was an enigma, both comfortable and uncomfortable in the many worlds                     he inhabited: black, white, gay, straight, classical music, disco, academia, and downtown New York. His music, insistent                       and straightforward, resists labels and seethes with a tension that resonates with musicians, scholars, and audiences                           today. Eastman's provocative titles, including Gay Guerrilla, Evil Nigger, Crazy Nigger, and others, assault us with his                           obsessions. Eastman tested limits with his political aggressiveness, as reflected in legendary scandals like his June                             1975 performance of John Cage's Song Books, which featured homoerotic interjections, and the uproar over his titles at                       Northwestern University. 

Out of Sync: A Memoir
                    October 23rd 2007
                    ISBN1416947884 (ISBN13: 9781416947882)

                    Lance Bass tells all about his life, his music, and his sexuality in this candid, compelling memoir. At sixteen, Lance Bass                       received a phone call from Justin Timberlake that would change his life forever. Soon after, he left his small-town home                       in Clinton, Mississippi, to join an emerging musical group called *NSYNC. Two years later *NSYNC was inspiring                                 Beatles-esque mania around the world, becoming the face of the new MTV generation, and earning the all-time record                         for most album sales in a single day (more than one million) and in a single week for No Strings Attached. 

Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity
                    May 23rd 2002
                    ISBN025202740X (ISBN13: 9780252027406)

                    Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity approaches modern sexuality by way of music. Through the hidden or lost                     stories of composers, scholars, patrons, performers, audiences, repertoires, venues, and specific works, this intriguing                         volume explores points of intersection between music and queerness in Europe and the United States in the years 1870                     to 1950--a period when dramatic changes in musical expression and in the expression of individual sexual identity                               played similar roles in washing away the certainties of the past. Pursuing the shadowy, obscured tracks of queerness,                         contributors unravel connections among dissident identities and concrete aspects of musical style, gestures, and                                 personae.

Hearing the Political in Popular Music: Queer and Feminist Interventions
                    May 17th 2019
                    ISBN1138055891 (ISBN13: 9781138055896)

Me
                    November 2nd 2010
                    ISBN0451234154 (ISBN13: 9780451234155)

                    International superstar, Ricky Martin, who has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide, opens up for the first time                           about memories of his early childhood, experiences in the famed boy band Menudo, struggles with his identity during the                     Livin' la Vida Loca phenomenon, reflections on coming to terms with his sexuality, relationships that allowed him to                               embrace love, and life-changing decisions like devoting himself to helping children around the world and becoming a                           father. Me is an intimate memoir about the very liberating and spiritual journey of one of the most iconic pop-stars of our                       time.

Macho Man: The Disco Era and Gay America's Coming Out
                    December 30th 2008
                    ISBN0275999629 (ISBN13: 9780275999629)

                    The Vietnam War was over and America seemed in the midst of a nationwide party. The self-proclaimed Me generation                       was flocking to discotheques, recreational drug use was high, and sexual taboos were being shattered nationwide. Then                     The Village People appeared on the music scene. Never before had gay sexuality been as up-front and in the face of                           America. The Village People struck a cultural nerve and fueled a craze that had them playing to sold-out crowds at                               Madison Square Garden. Even today, few adults could not at least hum the tunes to Y.M.C.A. and Macho Man. Because                     of the unique role they played in the United States of the late 1970s, The Village People are able to provide a powerful                         lens through which to view the emergence and development of gay culture in America. 

George: A Memory of George Michael
                    November 16th 2017
                    ASINB06Y57BNQX

                    George is the story of two extraordinary lives – the private man and the public legend. Georgios Panayiotou was just                           eighteen when he decided to adopt the stage name of George Michael. Sometimes his two worlds would collide with                           shattering consequences. Bestselling biographer Sean Smith has gone back to the neighborhoods of North London to                          trace the astonishing journey of a sensitive but determined boy who grew up to be one of the biggest British pop stars of                     all time. Along the way, he talks to those close to George, revealing the real man – funny, articulate, intelligent and                               generous spirited – who hid behind the powerful image he created. 

Exile in Guyville: How a Punk Rock Redneck Faggot Texan Moved to West Hollywood and Refused to Be Shiny and Happy
                    April 1st 2006
                    ISBN1555839320 (ISBN13: 9781555839321)

                    Here’s the diary of a man who in mid-life found himself uprooted and dumped into West Hollywood, an unfamiliar place                       not exactly known for stability. White explores his neighborhood ? “queens: 6 percent; cranky 70-year-old Russians who                       give you the evil eye when you walk past: 2 percent; blonde girls with big, round, hard fakeys who think Jennifer                                   Anniston just got lucky: 10 percent; miscellaneous cool kids, hustlers, and actual crazy people: 5 percent.” White gets                         gigs as a freelance writer, goes to the grocery store where his Russian neighbors ask him questions because they think                       he’s from the old country; and encounters Sara Gilbert at the Laundromat, Leonard Maltin at the movies, and Ben Affleck                     driving a Rolls-Royce so ridiculously conspicuous he might as well be driving Chitty-Chitty, Bang-Bang.

Pet Shop Boys Versus America
                    November 4th 1993
                    ISBN1886894310 (ISBN13: 9781886894310)

                    The worldwide success of the Pet Shop Boys has been only faintly echoed in the USA. In the spring of 1991 they                                 decided to grapple with the beast, taking a theatrical tour that would exaggerate their differences. By turns enraptured by                     and disdainful of America and its obsession with celebrity they brushed shoulders with the famous (Axl Rose, Liza Minelli                     and Joni Mitchell) travelled, played and uttered their detached commentary on what was happening. Throughout they                           were shadowed by the author Chris Heath and photographer Pennie Smith.

Impossible Dance: Club Culture and Queer World-Making
                    March 4th 2002
                    ISBN0819564982 (ISBN13: 9780819564986)

                    "Impossible Dance is a highly accessible, original and engaging account of the complex and often heavily theorized                             debates around the body, identity and community. Focusing on gay, lesbian and queer club culture in the 1990s New                           York City, this is the first book to bring together vital issues such as dance culture, queer community, sex culture, HIV                           identity and politics. Based on four years of field work, the book takes readers on a journey from the streets of New York                     City into the dance clubs and onto the dance floor. Detailed interviews with club-goers capture their perspectives on how                     they stage their self-fashioning through dancing. Fiona Buckland argues that such dancing embodies and rehearses a                         powerful political imagination, laying claim to the space and to one's body as queer."--Publishers Weekly

The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance, and Musical Theater
                    November 24th 2004
                    ISBN1573441988 (ISBN13: 9781573441988)

                    Aficionados of music, dance, opera, and musical theater will relish this new volume by the scholars of GLBTQ featuring                       over 200 articles showcasing composers, singers, musicians, dancers, and choreographers across eras and styles.                             Read about Hildegard of Bingen, whose Symphonia expressed both spiritual and physical desire for the Virgin Mary, and                     George Frideric Handel, who not only created roles for castrati but was behind the Venetian opera's preoccupation with                       gender ambiguity. 

Freddie Mercury: His Life in His Own Words
                    January 1st 2006
                    ISBN184772650X (ISBN13: 9781847726506)

                    Despite being in the limelight for over 20 years and selling nearly 200 million records, Freddie Mercury was a very                               private person - avoiding interviews as he was painfully shy and uncomfortable in the company of anyone who might                           intrude upon his famous 'royal family' of close friends. This book takes us on the journey of Queen - three academics                           and a frustrated art student, tired of having no money, taking on the music industry on their own terms. Spurred on by an                     almost uncontrollable, ambitious and forthright Mercury, Queen succeeded, becoming the biggest band of the                                       generations to come. The story, told in his own words shows how on many occasions, the band almost split, but was                           always kept together by their shared love of breaching musical boundaries. 

The Boys: Out & Proud Gay Music Crossword Puzzles
                    January 3rd 2015
                    ISBN1312655712 (ISBN13: 9781312655713)

                    Music writer and historian Aaron Joy presents his series of rock music crossword puzzle books. A great starting point for                     growing a music collection, enjoying a particular musical genre or band or winning the next game of rock music trivia. 

Sounding Out: Pauline Oliveros and Lesbian Musicality
                    November 19th 2007
                    ISBN0415973767 (ISBN13: 9780415973762)

                    Sounding Out: Pauline Oliveros and Lesbian Musicality examines the musical career of the avant-garde composer,                               accordionist, whose radical innovations of the 1960s, 70s and 80s have redefined the aesthetic and formal parameters of                     American experimental music. While other scholars have studied Oliveros as a disciple of John Cage and a                                         contemporary of composers Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, Gordon Mumma, and Robert Ashley, Sounding Out resituates                           Pauline Oliveros in a gynecentric network of feminist activists, writers, artists and musicians. 

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout
                    January 13th 2015
                    ISBN0316387959 (ISBN13: 9780316387958)

                    The provocative transgender advocate and lead singer of the punk rock band Against Me! provides a searing account of                     her search for identity and her true self. It began in a bedroom in Naples, Florida, when a misbehaving punk teenager                         named Tom Gabel, armed with nothing but an acoustic guitar and a headful of anarchist politics, landed on a riff. Gabel                       formed Against Me! and rocketed the band from its scrappy beginnings-banging on a drum kit made of pickle buckets-to                     a major-label powerhouse that critics have called this generation's The Clash. Since its inception in 1997, Against Me!                         has been one of punk's most influential modern bands, but also one of its most divisive. With every notch the four-piece                       climbed in their career, they gained new fans while infuriating their old ones. 

Straight
                    June 6th 2005
                    ISBN0099464934 (ISBN13: 9780099464938)

                    From his days as a club face alongside Philip Sallon, Marilyn and Steve Strange, through the years of global pop                                 superstardom with Culture Club, his rebirth as a world-class DJ, as a leading light of musical theatre with the award-                            winning Taboo, a cutting edge photographer and a confrontational and acclaimed fashion designer, one of the many                             things you can say about George is: he's never stood still. It's been one hell of a trip. A decade and a half ago, George                         was coming to terms with the fall-out from serious drug addiction, the failure of his relationship with Jon Moss and the                           collapse of Culture Club. For lesser men this would have been the end but for George it became the start of a period of                       remarkable reinvention.

Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace
                    June 22nd 1988
                    ISBN1877961116 (ISBN13: 9781877961113)

                    Scott Thorson, a poor boy from a succession of foster homes, met Liberace when he was just 16 years old. Liberace,                           aged 57, took Scott under his wing as 'the son he'd never had'. By the time Scott was 17, he was also Liberace's lover.                       Liberace lived life by his credo 'too much of a good thing is wonderful' and Scott shared in it: the fur coats, the Rolls-                            Royces, the jewelry, the celebrity friends, the 26 lap dogs. A more opulent lifestyle is hard to imagine but it came at a                           price: Liberace sent Scott to his plastic surgeon to have his face remodeled in Liberace's own image. 

Queer Voices: Vocality, the Uncanny, and Popular Music
                    May 15th 2011
                    ISBN0230105904 (ISBN13: 9780230105904)

                    Queer Voices sets out both to queer the musicological and to make queer audible, arguing that the voice, particularly the                     singing voice, opens up a richly queer space. Using case studies from different repertoires, the book demonstrates how                       queer emerges particularly audibly when the voice is heard to engage with various technologies: the external                                       technologies of music performances and recordings, technologies of power, or the internal technologies of vocal                                   production itself.

Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music
                    March 22nd 2014
                    ISBN0520280652 (ISBN13: 9780520280656)

                    In her provocative new book Rednecks, Queers, and Country Music, Nadine Hubbs looks at how class and gender                               identity play out in one of America’s most culturally and politically charged forms of popular music. Skillfully weaving                             historical inquiry with an examination of classed cultural repertoires and close listening to country songs, Hubbs                                   confronts the shifting and deeply entangled workings of taste, sexuality, and class politics.

Books written for or by LGBT musicians with influence in the United States

All publications should be purchased through authorized retailers or                          

Use Ctrl F to search by keyword

Queering the Pitch: The New Gay and Lesbian Musicology
                    January 27th 1994
                    ISBN0415907535 (ISBN13: 9780415907538)

                    The first collection of gay and lesbian work in musicology. Contributors cover a wide range of subjects from analysis of                         the work of gay composers to queer readings of Schubert's 'Unfinished Symphony.'

Black Masculinity and Hip-Hop Music: Black Gay Men Who Rap
                    April 6th 2019

                    ISBN9811335125 (ISBN13: 9789811335129)

Playing It Queer: Popular Music, Identity and Queer World-Making
                    June 26th 2012
                    ISBN3034305532 (ISBN13: 9783034305532)
                    Popular music has always been a dynamic mediator of gender and sexuality, and a productive site of rebellion, oddity                         and queerness. The transformative capacity of music-making, performance and consumption helps us to make sense of                     identity and allows us to glimpse otherworldliness, arousing the political imagination. With an activist voice that is                                 impassioned yet adherent to scholarly rigour, "Playing it Queer" provides an original and compelling ethnographic                                 account of the relationship between popular music, queer self-fashioning and (sub)cultural world-making. This book                             begins with a comprehensive survey and critical evaluation of relevant literatures on queer identity and political debates                       as well as popular music, identity and (sub)cultural style. 

Like Punk Never Happened: Culture Club and the New Pop
                    December 31st 1985
                    ISBN0571137393 (ISBN13: 9780571137398)

                    'A controversial and honest account of My Life On The Road With Rock Group, a potted history of pop from '79-'85, and                       a serious analysis of the whole mess... Dave Rimmer has one great weapon at his disposal. He was there.' David                                 Quantick, NME 'As sharp a study of British pop as we'll get ... Rimmer's point is that if the new pop stars' success makes                     it seem 'like punk never happened', they emerged, in fact, as a direct result of punk attitudes... Rimmer tells this story in                       his raciest Smash Hits manner, with wit, insider info and scandal.' Simon Frith, City Limits

I Was Born This Way: A Gay Preacher's Journey through Gospel Music, Disco Stardom, and a Ministry in Christ
                    June 1st 2010
                    ISBN1416592822 (ISBN13: 9781416592822)

                    In I Was Born This Way, Carl Bean, former Motown recording artist, noted AIDS activist, and founder of the Unity                                 Fellowship of Christ Church in Los Angeles, shares his extraordinary personal journey from Baltimore foster homes to                         the stage of the Apollo Theater and beyond. CARL BEAN has been crossing boundaries all his life and helping others do                     the same. He’s never been stopped by his race or orientation, never fit or stayed in the boxes people have wanted to put                     him in. He left his foster home in Baltimore at seventeen and took the bus to New York City, where he quickly found the                       rich culture of the Harlem churches. 

Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace, and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music
                    October 14th 2019
                    ISBN0252084632 (ISBN13: 9780252084638)

                    The all-embracing, "whaddya got?" nature of rebellion in Fifties America included pop music's unlikely challenge to                               entrenched notions of masculinity. Within that upheaval, four prominent artists dared to behave in ways that let the public                     assume—but not see—their queerness. That these artists cultivated ambiguous sexual personas often reflected an                             understandable fear, but also a struggle to fulfill personal and professional expectations. Vincent L. Stephens confronts                       notions of the closet—both coming out and staying in—by analyzing the careers of Liberace, Johnny Mathis, Johnnie                           Ray, and Little Richard. Appealing to audiences hungry for novelty and exoticism, the four pop icons used performance                       and queering techniques that ran the gamut. 

Freddie Mercury
                    April 19th 2000
                    ISBN0711986746 (ISBN13: 9780711986749)

                    Peter Freestone was Freddie Mercury's personal assistant for the last 12 years of his life. He lived with Mercury in                               London, Munich, and New York, and was with him when he died. This is the most intimate account of Mercury's life ever                     written.

Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division
                    March 1st 2009
                    ISBN1573443433 (ISBN13: 9781573443432)

                    "We're the buttfuckers of rock-and-roll, We want to sock it to your hole!" With these words written in a notebook, Jon                             Ginoli sets off on a journey of self-discovery and musical passion to become the founding member of Pansy Division, the                     first out and proud queercore punk rock band to hit the semi-big time. Set against the changing decades of music, we                           follow the band from their inception in San Francisco, to their search for a music label and a permanent drummer to their                     current status as indie rock icons. We see the highs--touring with Green Day--and the lows--homophobic fans--of striving                     for acceptance and success in the world of rock. Replete with the requisite tales of sex, drugs, groupies, band fights and                     label battles, this rollicking memoir is also an impassioned account of staying true to the artistic vision of queer rock'n'roll.

Queer Voices: Exploring the Roles of Music in LGBTQ Lives
                    June 2018
                    ISBN139789463750110

                    As a PhD student at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, I investigate the role of music in the lives of Flemish LGBTQ                           individuals. Just to give you some background information: Flanders is the Northern part of Belgium, Europe, and is a                           Flemish-speaking community. In general, living as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer or gender-nonconforming                     individual in Belgium is great: Belgium gets high scores from ILGA Europe’s rainbow europe reports on equality and                             non-discrimination, asylum and family rights. There is still some work to be done concerning legal gender recognition                           and bodily integrity.

Intersecting Film, Music, and Queerness
                    March 16th 2016
                    ISBN1137454202 (ISBN13: 9781137454201)

                    Intersecting Film, Music, and Queerness uses musicology and queer theory to uncover meaning and message in                                 canonical American cinema. This study considers how queer readings are reinforced or nuanced through analysis of                           musical score. Taking a broad approach to queerness that questions heteronormative and homonormative patriarchal                         structures, binary relationships, gender assumptions and anxieties, this book challenges existing interpretations of what                       is progressive and what is retrogressive in cinema. 

Freddie Mercury: The Biography
                    January 1, 1997
                    ISBN0749956089 (ISBN13: 9780749956080)
                    This fascinating biography of Freddie Mercury has received outstanding acclaim from Queen and rock fans worldwide --                       now revised and updated to coincide with the release of the film about his life, Bohemian Rhapsody. Born Farrokh                               Bulsara on the island of Zanzibar, Freddie Mercury rose to worldwide stardom as the lead singer of Britain's biggest                             music act of all time. In this bestselling biography, Laura Jackson reveals the reality behind Queen's flamboyant frontman                     and lead singer, as she looks behind his unique brand of showmanship to discover who Freddie Mercury really                                     was. Featuring exclusive interviews with some of those closest to Freddie right up until his tragic death, original Queen                         members and many others.

Hot Licks: Lesbian Musicians of Note
                    September 28th 1996
                    ISBN0921881428 (ISBN13: 9780921881421)

                    Lesbian musicians reveal their passions, politics and musical influences as well as career highlights.

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday
                    January 20th 1998
                    ISBN0679771263 (ISBN13: 9780679771265)

                    From one of this country's most important intellectuals comes a brilliant analysis of the blues tradition that examines the                       careers of three crucial black women blues singers through a feminist lens. Angela Davis provides the historical, social,                       and political contexts with which to reinterpret the performances and lyrics of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and                         Billie Holiday as powerful articulations of an alternative consciousness profoundly at odds with mainstream American                           culture. 

The Truth Is . . .: My Life in Love and Music
                    June 11th 2002
                    ISBN0375760261 (ISBN13: 9780375760266)

                    Since she first burst onto the international music scene, Melissa Etheridge has released seven albums that have sold                           more than 25 million copies worldwide, garnering not only public adoration for her uncompromising honesty but                                   numerous critical awards, including two Grammys and the prestigious ASCAP Songwriter of the Year award. The Truth                       Is . . . is a highly charged autobiography—a bold and unflinching account of an extraordinary life that Melissa describes                       as only she can: from her Kansas roots, through her early love of music, to her brilliant rise to superstardom in a male-                        dominated rock world. Melissa openly discusses the massive impact of her publicly coming out, a revelation that only                           increased her popularity, making her a highly visible spokesperson for the gay and lesbian community. The Truth Is . . .                       shares Melissa Etheridge’s fascinating story with unprecedented candor and insight.

David Bowie Changes: His Life in Pictures 1947 – 2016
                    January 1st 2013
                    ISBN1780978537 (ISBN13: 9781780978536)

                    David Bowie made a huge impact on popular music and culture, and his recent death stunned and saddened fans                               everywhere. Featuring new photos and additional text, this updated edition of David Bowie Changes showcases the best                     images of the chameleon-like performer, from his humble beginnings as Davy Jones to global domination as a musical                         legend, fashion icon, and constantly evolving superstar. 

David Bowie Made Me Gay: 100 Years of LGBT Music
                    November 21st 2017
                    ISBN1468315595 (ISBN13: 9781468315592)

                    LGBT musicians have shaped the development of music over the last century, with a sexually progressive soundtrack in                     the background of the gay community’s struggle for acceptance. With the advent of recording technology, LGBT                                   messages were for the first time brought to the forefront of popular music. David Bowie Made Me Gay is the first book to                     cover the breadth of history of recorded music by and for the LGBT community and how those records influenced the                           evolution of the music we listen to today.

The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, the Music, the Seventies in San Francisco
                    January 24th 2006
                    ISBN0312425694 (ISBN13: 9780312425692)

                    Imagine a pied piper singing in falsetto, wearing sequins, and leading the young people of the nation to San Francisco                         and on to a liberation where nothing was straight-laced or old-fashioned. And everyone, finally, was welcome--to come                         as themselves. This is not a fairy tale. This was real, mighty real, and disco-sensation Sylvester was the piper. Yale-                            trained sociologist Joshua Gamson uses Sylvester's life to lead us through the story of the 1970s, when a generation                           took off its shame. Celebrity, sociology, and music history mingle in this endlessly entertaining story of a singer who                             embodied the freedom, spirit, and flamboyance of a golden moment in American culture.