The cover of Bernie Taupin’s memoir, “Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton & Me.”
Bernie Taupin, best known as Elton John’s longtime songwriting partner, will sign copies of his new memoir, “Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton & Me” (Hachette, 416 pp., $32.50), Sept. 13 at the Books & Greetings bookstore in Northvale (Bergen County).
For information, visit booksandgreetings.com.
According to promotional material for the book, which is scheduled to be published on Sept. 12:
From his childhood in the East Midlands of England whose imagination was sparked and forever informed by the distinctly American mythopoetics of country music and cowboy culture, to the glittering, star-studded fishbowl of ’70s and ’80s Beverly Hills, “Scattershot” is simultaneously a “Tom Jones”-like picaresque journey across a landscape of unforgettable characters, as well as a striking, first-hand account of a creative era like no other and one man’s experience at the core of it.
Taupin writes about encounters with famous musicians (John Lennon, Bob Marley, Frank Sinatra) and famous non-musicians (Graham Greene, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dalí). According to the promotional material, the cast of characters includes “scores of notable misfits, miscreants, eccentrics, and geniuses, known and unknown. Even if they’re not famous in their own right, they are stars on the page, and we discover how they inspired the indelible lyrics to songs such as ‘Tiny Dancer,’ ‘Candle in the Wind,’ ‘Bennie and The Jets,’ and so many more.”
In a promotional blurb for the book, Elton John raved, “This is the most glorious of books. I am besotted by the life I never knew he had.” And Pete Townshend said every page of the book “is a delight, a joy, a name-dropper fan’s delight. Divine. I couldn’t put it down.”
In addition to writing songs with Elton John, Taupin has written lyrics for songs recorded by artists such as Rod Stewart, Alice Cooper, Ringo Starr and Marianne Faithfull; recorded as a solo artist and a member of the band Farm Dogs; published a book of poetry; and displayed his visual art.
Visit scattershotbook.com for a list of all of Taupin’s United States book signings.
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