Pet Shop Boys, Literally

The cult classic, rediscovered and restored

One of the best biographies in pop history. A phenomenal piece of observational journalism. Heath's books offers unprecedented access.

Candid, hilarious and revealing...gloriously gossipy. [They set] a benchmark for music biographies. Engrossing stuff.

Candid, insightful and frequently hilarious dispatches from the front line of pop stardom. An astonishingly intimate and honest portrait of the maverick duo. Page turners of the highest order, saying more about their subjects than any “straight” biographies could ever hope to achieve.

Chris, an investigative news writer, has written for Rolling Stone, Details, Telegraph and Sunday Times, amongst many others. His subjects have varied from Madonna and Lisa Marie Presley to politicians, murderers and artists.

The Pet Shop Boys are one of the most successful and unusual bands of the last five decades. They are the pop duo that proves pop music can be modern, ecstatic and playful as well as serious and intelligent, winning them legions of devoted fans throughout the world. 
 
In 1989, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe invited journalist Chris Heath and photographer Lawrence Watson to shadow them around Hong Kong, Japan and the UK as they embarked on their first-ever tour. This book is the result: an immersive portrait giving access into the duo’s inner sanctum, showing them in brilliantly observed detail as they work, relax, gossip, argue and occasionally try to make sense of what they do. 
 
‘As clear a picture as could be wished for of the seething mass of elegant contradictions that is the 
Pet Shop Boys’ on-the-road experience.’ Independent on Sunday 
 
‘This superbly reported book transcends tired rock journalism cliché. It’s about what it means to be a pop star, what it means to be a Pet Shop Boy… how to love pop, hold it to a higher standard and subvert its expectations.’ 
Laura Snapes

Robbie Williams

Feel

Paperback of 2004's massive Christmas bestseller. The best-written, most gut-wrenchingly honest, stomach-achingly funny book ever written about music, fame and the whole damn thing...

A phenomenal piece of journalism... an absorbing essay on fame and the music industry

Perceptive, sympathetic and sometimes shocking. It is also - because Williams is a genuinely amusing man - wonderfully funny

The most lustrous and scrupulously observed anatomy of the madness of top-flight 21st century celebrity existence that it has ever been my deep joy to read

It's all there, the inside story that the fans have guessed at and the tabloids have done their best to invent...Until Mrs Williams finally does appear, nobody is going to get closer to Robbie than this

Feel is far too good to be confined to Robbie Williams fans. It is one of the great documentaries of our time - a brillianly observed account of what it feels like to live in the bubble of fame... the excellence of this book so absorbingly conveys what it feels like to be a pop star

Chris, also an investigative news-writer, has written for Rolling Stone, Details, the Telegraph and The Sunday Times amongst many others. His subjects have varied from Madonna and Lisa-Marie Presley to politicians, murderers and artists. Chris and Robbie have spent nearly two years working on this book.

The publication of Feel: Robbie Williams by Chris Heath in September 2004 caused shockwaves of controversy and delight. Not only was its publication trumpeted in tabloids, on TV and the radio, but it was also critically lauded by the broadsheets. Finally, a book had been written on the subject of celebrity and the modern world which had intelligence, honesty and humour. 
 
Written by Chris Heath, who spent nearly two years working with Robbie on this book, every word is imbued with Robbie's humour, charisma, talent, memories and complexity. But more than ever before, this book tells the truth about his extraordinary life. You may have seen his face a million times, heard his music every day, followed him from the beginning of Take That, but this is a man with some serious surprises in store. 
 
After years of rumour and lies, the complete, intimate story of Robert P. Williams had been written. 
 
This is a groundbreaking book.

Chris Heath

No other pop group in recent history has faced fame with such intelligence, humour and shrewdness as the Pet Shop Boys. In 1991, the band toured North America for the first time shadowed by journalist Chris Heath and legendary rock photographer Pennie Smith. They visited fourteen cities in one month, confronting the American music industry and colliding with the likes of Liza Minnelli, Steven Spielberg and Axl Rose. This is more than a documentary of a tour; it is an unusually intimate portrait of two maverick British musicians always reluctant to compromise. 
 
‘There was a time when the Pet Shop Boys seemed to exist entirely on radio, television and in magazines. This is the other world of the Pet Shop Boys in concert, travel and backstage, as they bring their art and glamour to America. It’s funny too.’ 
Johnny Marr 
 
‘A brilliant book, to be read over and over again. How could anyone not love these men?’ 
NME

Chris Heath

Pet Shop Boys versus America

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