. . . It was the official biography of Billy Bragg, Still Suitable For Miners, in 1998. It's since been updated twice and is still in print. But it was Where Did It All Go Right? that, in 2003, changed everything. I now seem to have written five books. You can read about them here.

Most authors put a direct link to Amazon. I have no problem with Amazon, but I'd rather leave it up to you how you buy them, if you buy them. I feel sad that bookshops are closing in our high streets, so popping into one now and again is a good idea. I believe we can live in a world with both. I buy online and from shops and I like it that way. Clicking "browse" is not browsing, is it? Also, there are other online booksellers.

(Thanks to Sarah Richardson, who took this picture in Waterstone's in Nottingham. Always nice to see them out in the wild.)

Published by Ebury: May 2007 (neon edition), July 2008 (white edition)

The third and final volume of my memoirs, taking us from 1988, when I leave college, to 2006. It's the world of work, with a flashback to my first Saturday job in Sainsbury's in 1981, then on into the jungle of the London media: NME, Select, Radio 1, Empire, Q, ITV, Radio 4, Radio Times, 6 Music etc. Largely unreviewed on publication.
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Published by Ebury: 2004 (blue edition), January 2005 (white edition)

Second volume of my memoirs: the student years. Boy from Northampton leaves home, goes to London and has his head turned by the bright lights, the freedom of expression at Chelsea School of Art and the controlled squalor of halls living, followed by rented hell.
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Published by Virgin: Christmas 2003 (hardback), 2004 (paperback)

As a keen supporter of the website I was asked to edit this collection of stories some way into its production cycle. I top-and-tailed it and jollied up the content (ie. thought of some pun headlines), and it was great to be involved. However, nobody seemed to want to buy it.
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Published by Ebury: 2003 (blue edition), 2004 (white edition)

The one that changed my life. An antidote to the all the miserable memoirs which seemed ubiquitous at the turn of the millennium but are even more so now. Boy grows up normal in Northampton in the late 60s/70s, goes down the field, does some drawings, discovers punk rock in 1979 and frightens his parents.
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Published by Virgin: 1998 (first edition), 2002, 2007

Written with full cooperation of Billy Bragg, with access to his amazing archive, this is as close as we could get to a definitive biography of the great man. The timing was perfect: I'd just left my day job, Virgin had a new music editor and Billy was about to turn 40. I'm very proud of this book, and I love updating it every few years.
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