Access All Areas, Barbara Charone
Access All Areas, Barbara Charone
List: $27.99 | Sale: $19.59
Club: $13.99

Access All Areas
A Backstage Pass Through 50 Years of Music And Culture

Author: Barbara Charone

Narrator: Barbara Charone

Unabridged: 6 hr 42 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: White Rabbit

Published: 06/23/2022

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

First as a journalist and then a publicist at Warner Brothers Records for nearly twenty years, Barbara Charone has experienced, first-hand, the changes in the cultural landscape. Access All Areas is a personal, insightful and humorous memoir packed with stories of being on the cultural frontline, from first writing press releases on a typewriter driven by Tip Ex, then as a press officer for heavy metal bands taking the bus up to Donnington Festival with coffee, croissants and the much more popular sulfate. To taking on Madonna, an unknown girl from Detroit, and telling Smash Hits 'you don't have to run the piece if the single doesn't chart', and becoming a true pioneer in music, Charone continues to work with the biggest names in music, including Depeche Mode, Robert Plant, Foo Fighters and Mark Ronson at her agency MBCPR.

The story of how a music-loving, budding journalist from a Chicago suburb became the defining music publicist of her generation, Access All Areas is a time capsule of the last fifty years, told through the lens of music.

About Barbara Charone

Born in Chicago, Barbara Charone moved to London after graduating from Northwestern University. The first half of her career was spent as a music journalist working for NME, Sounds, Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy and Cream before writing the authorised biography Keith Richards: Life As A Rolling Stone in 1979.In November 2000, after almost 20 years at Warner Brothers, Barbara co-founded leading independent music agency MBCPR with Moira Bellas where she still works now. Within six months it became one of the country's top music PR firms. Barbara Charone is one of the most respected women working in the music business. In November 2001, Charone and Bellas, were honoured as Women of the Year by Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and The Brit Trust and in 2006 and 2009 won the coveted Music Week PR Award. In May 2022 Barbara Charone was presented with The Strat at the Music Week Awards, for lifetime achievement. Charone was involved in a recent successful bid to buy her beloved Chelsea Football Club, and will be a non-executive director.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Gary on June 09, 2024

Interesting book about Barbara Charone’s life in the music industry. Definitely worth a read, I really enjoyed it. Apparently she’s on the board of Chelsea FC but I had never heard of her until I started reading this book.......more

Goodreads review by LA_FAIRY_AIR on September 03, 2022

It’s mystifying how such an exciting life could make for such a boring book.......more

Goodreads review by Keith on November 09, 2023

It's hard to believe Charone made her reputation as a writer. Still I guess it takes a special talent to make such a full, star-studded life appear so dull on the page. It's soul-less list, just page after page of Charone writing "then I did this, then I did that, then I met whoever". Understandably......more

Goodreads review by Patty on October 23, 2023

A brilliant book, the author is incredibly gustsy in that she goes from getting lucky with a spare ticket to see The Who at The Royal Albert Hall to writing a biography of Keith Richards (of The Rolling Stones). She left the comfort of her parent's home in Chicago to moving to London in the 1970's a......more

Quotes

Barbara is the quintessential force of nature. In this great memoir her insatiable thirst for beauty and adventure is fabulously quenched, be it by great music, interesting people or ultimately a fine rosé, all for the reader to sit back and enjoy. Of course, having been in the right place at the right time also helps, and every day I thank my lucky stars we crossed paths years ago and I was permitted to join her on such a fabulous adventure.

From Keith Richards to Madonna to Mark Ronson, the inimitable BC is a music industry legend and Access All Areas is the story of a life like no other

Barbara Charone had a massive role in shaping my career over the past 15 years and she's one of the most adored figures in the music industry for good reason. Access All Areas is a warm, funny, boozy take on the last 40 years of the British music industry from the perspective of someone who helped shape it but is also obviously still a massive fan at heart. Her teenager-like enthusiasm for every project and artist she's ever worked beams from very page and as a music trivia junky, I lived for all the 80's Smash Hits-era insider information . . . This book rules

I loved this book! Smart, sharp and hilarious

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