Guitar: A rock 'n' roll tell-all autobiography from David Bowie's sideman
About this ebook
He's played with everyone from John Lennon to the New York Dolls – and he's got the stories to prove it.
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‘Earl is a legendary guitar star. His playing is earth, timeless and never less than stellar’ DAVID BOWIE
‘You play mean ass blues for a skinny ass white boy’ BUDDY GUY
‘Had a good night out did we . . .?’ JOHN LENNON
Earl Slick was barely out of his teens when David Bowie hired him to play guitar on the ground-breaking 1974 Diamond Dogs tour. It marked the beginning of a relationship that would endure through thick and thin for the next forty years.
Gracing classic albums like Young Americans, Station to Station and the 2013 comeback, The Next Day, Slick played on the tour that followed Bowie’s smash hit Let’s Dance album and was at his side for the epic Glastonbury show in 2000.
But it wasn’t just Bowie.
The young guitarist was in John Lennon’s band at the time of the former Beatle’s tragic murder. Other collaborations read like a roll call of rock ‘n’ roll royalty including Mick Jagger, The Cure, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Joe Cocker, Buddy Guy, Ian Hunter, David Coverdale and Eric Clapton. And in the ‘80s he became an MTV star in his own right with the success of Phantom, Rocker and Slick.
Through it all he lived the rock ‘n’ roll life to the hilt. Until it nearly killed him.
One of rock’s great sidemen, Earl Slick was in the room when music history was made. Guitar takes us there, shining a light on superstars like Bowie and Lennon, while recounting the extraordinary story of the boy from New York City who became a real-life Johnny B. Goode.
About the author
Earl Slick was born Frank Madeloni in Brooklyn in 1951. He made his name as David Bowie’s lead guitarist and went on to become one of rock’s most sought after guitar players. He presented the 2017 BBC documentary Rock N Roll Guns for Hire: The Story of the Sideman. Guitar is his first book. He lives in upstate New York.
Jeff Slate (Author)
Jeff Slate is a songwriter and music journalist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Esquire, Rolling Stone and other publications. He is the co-author of The Authorized Roy Orbison and has written liner notes for The Beatles, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. His latest album, The Last Day of Summer, features Earl Slick.