Famous

'Entertaining and insightful . . . Thorne's prose is a pleasure to read' ---- MOJO 'A juicy account of great rivalries' OBSERVER 'Eccentric, passionate . . . and always engrossing' THE TIMES When an artist becomes truly famous, there is almost no one on earth who can understand how their world has changed forever. Perhaps only a young pretender who wants to rule the charts together, or a rival who wants to bring them down from their throne, knows how they feel and how to get into their heads. Someone who wants to invite them onto their TV show, act with them in a movie, make some money by filming a commercial together, duet on a song, or have a secret affair. Or any combination of the above. Famous examines seven moments in music when stars from pop, rock and hip-hop have come together and how the resulting reverberations impacted everything from the culture at large to the decisions of world leaders. The book sheds thrilling new light on the fascinating stories of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, Paul McCartney and Diana Ross, Lou Reed and Paul Simon, Chuck Berry and Keith Richards, David Bowie and Tina Turner, Madonna and Tupac Shakur and Ye and Taylor Swift.

Matt Thorne is the author of six novels, including Eight Minutes Idle, which won an Encore Award and which he adapted into a 2014 film, and Cherry, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. He is also the author of three children's books and teaches creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. His most recent book was a critical study of the pop star Prince, acclaimed as 'the definitive work on the man.'