I Was There
Dispatches from a Life in Rock and Roll
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4.1 • 7 Ratings
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- £11.99
Publisher Description
'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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A chance encounter put aspiring journalist Alan Edwards on the path that led him to almost half a century in public relations, working with iconic musical clients including David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Blondie and the Spice Girls. In his memoir, I Was There, Edwards recalls his scrappy youth searching for a place to fit in and his journey towards finding one, on the road with the numerous acts he represented and managed through the culture-shifting punk era and beyond. The strength of Edwards’ evocative prose is in his uncanny ability to capture the spirit of the scene. We highly recommend pulling together a playlist of songs and artists mentioned throughout the book and reminding yourself why they have (or have not) endured—and in this sense, he is a publicist to the core: what better advert for his past and present clients? But there is also an endearing reverence for these mythological figures, legends partly of his own creation, that shines through. Packed with rip-roaring anecdotes and fascinating insight into the minds of some of the most famous artists on the planet, I Was There is essential reading for anyone interested in music, culture and the history of modern PR—an industry that Edwards has played an outsized role in shaping over the years.
