Welcome back to my Nonfiction Book Party!

Today’s featured books are both memoirs written by two undeniable rock legends: Peter Frampton and Lenny Kravitz.

Frampton Comes Alive! was Peter Frampton’s breakout album and some of the singles have never gone out of rotation on rock radio. I recently attended an online book launch (thank you Book Soup!) and really enjoyed listening to Peter speak about his career – he is humble and funny and still excited to be making music.

Lenny Kravitz is definitely more my generation and in my opinion, he is a rock god! His music would definitely be on the soundtrack of my 20s. This memoir gives real insight into his childhood and musical influences. One fascinating tidbit I learned was that a recent reread of Catcher in the Rye helped him write this book!

Title:  Do You Feel Like I Do? A Memoir, 2020

Author: Peter Frampton

Synopsis:

“I never wanted to do a tell-all book about anything, y’know, or anybody. So, this was basically my story and it’s me. And everyone that knows me, personally, feels they can hear my voice in their head as they’re reading it. That’s what they’ve all told me and they love that.”

A revelatory memoir by rock icon and legendary guitarist Peter Frampton.
Do You Feel Like I Do? is the incredible story of Peter Frampton’s positively resilient life and career told in his own words for the first time. His monumental album Frampton Comes Alive! spawned three top-twenty singles and sold eight million copies the year it was released (more than seventeen million to date), and it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in January 2020.

Frampton was on a path to stardom from an early age, first as the lead singer and guitarist of the Herd and then as co-founder — along with Steve Marriott — of one of the first supergroups, Humble Pie. Frampton was part of a tight-knit collective of British ’60s musicians with close ties to the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and The Who. This led to Frampton playing on George Harrison’s solo debut, All Things Must Pass, as well as to Ringo Starr and Billy Preston appearing on Frampton’s own solo debut. By age twenty-two, Frampton was touring incessantly and finding new sounds with the talkbox, which would become his signature guitar effect.

Frampton remembers his enduring friendship with David Bowie. Growing up as schoolmates, crossing paths throughout their careers, and playing together on the Glass Spider Tour, the two developed an unshakable bond. Frampton also shares fascinating stories of his collaborative work with Harry Nilsson, Stevie Wonder, B. B. King, and members of Pearl Jam. He reveals both the blessing and curse of Frampton Comes Alive!, opening up about becoming the cover boy he never wanted to be, his overcoming substance abuse, and how he has continued to play and pour his heart into his music despite an inflammatory muscle disease and his retirement from the road.

Peppered throughout his narrative is the story of his favorite guitar, the Phenix, which he thought he’d lost in a fiery plane crash in 1980. But in 2011, it mysteriously showed up again — saved from the wreckage. Frampton tells of that unlikely reunion here in full for the first time, and why the miraculous reappearance is emblematic of his life and career as a quintessential artist.

Bonus Links:

• Bookshop.org
• Add to Goodreads

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Title: Let Love Rule

Author:  Lenny Kravitz

Synopsis: “I see my story as a suite of songs that have a magical connection. I never understood that connection until I sat down to write. It was then that the magic started to flow.”

Let Love Rule is a work of deep reflection. Lenny Kravitz looks back at his life with candor, self-scrutiny, and humor.

“My life is all about opposites,” he writes. “Black and white. Jewish and Christian. The Jackson 5 and Led Zeppelin. I accepted my Gemini soul. I owned it. I adored it. Yins and yangs mingled in various parts of my heart and mind, giving me balance and fueling my curiosity and comfort.”

Let Love Rule covers a vast canvas stretching from Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant, Los Angeles’s Baldwin Hills, Beverly Hills, and finally to France, England, and Germany.

It’s the story of a wildly creative kid who, despite tough struggles at school and extreme tension at home, finds salvation in music.
We see him grow as a musician and ultimately a master songwriter, producer, and performer. We also see Lenny’s spiritual growth–and the powerful way in which spirit informs his music. The cast of characters surrounding Lenny is extraordinary: his father, Sy, a high-powered news executive; his mother, Roxie Roker, a television star; and Lisa Bonet, the young actress who becomes his muse.

The central character, of course, is Lenny, who, despite his great aspirational energy, turns down record deal after record deal until he finds his true voice. The creation of that voice, the same voice that is able to declare “Let Love Rule” to an international audience, is the very heart of this story.
“Whether recording, performing, or writing a book,” says Lenny, “my art is about listening to the inspiration inside and then sharing it with people. Art must bring the world closer together.”

• Bookshop.org
• Add to Goodreads
• Article: How ‘Catcher in the Rye’ Influenced Lenny Kravitz’s Memoir

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What is the Nonfiction Book Party? All month long I’ll be sharing newly released nonfiction titles and some of my 5-star favorites too! Join me on Instagram for an epic book party with an amazing prize pack. Tag all your posts #NonfictionBookParty

Bloggers: Make sure to blog along with DoingDeweyDecimal, JulzReads, What’s NonFiction, and Shelf Aware and follow #NonFicNov. Over on BookTube, get the details on  #NonfictionNovember20 and join the Goodreads Group here.

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Want to see which books I’ve posted about in previous years? (And which books are STILL on my list?!)

2019 Posts  Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Wrap Up

2018 Posts  Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4

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