Author(s): Jeremy Simmonds

Music

"Number One In Heaven" is a Bible of pop's 'dead' - the ultimate record of all those who arrived, rocked and pegged-out over the last forty-odd years of fast cars, private jets, hard drugs, hot guns, reckless living and killer riffs. Music writer Jeremy Simmonds draws on a lifetime's obsession and his voluminous knowledge to provide definitive entries for the industry's biggest stars - Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Sid Vicious, Brian Jones, Michael Hutchence, Jeff Buckley, Kirsty MacColl, Ian Curtis and many others. But the book's compulsive chronology doesn't stop there: studded throughout are entries for artists with short, strange lives - take a bow Mr GG Allin - and/or bizarre ends - witness soul singer Sam Cooke's extraordinary demise. Mortality can be a tricky subject, so should the register of deaths get a little gloomy, relief is at hand. Entries for the deceased are broken by a smorgasbord of lighter-hearted facts (Dead Interesting!), lucky escapes (Close ...Closer ...!), and Top Tens of some of the most morbid tunes committed to vinyl or CD (The Death Toll).