National Network for Equitable Library Service

When singer, musician, and broadcast journalist Malka Marom had the opportunity to interview Joni Mitchell in 1973, she was eager to reconnect with the performer she’d first met late one night in 1966 at a Yorkville coffeehouse. More conversations followed over the next four decades of friendship, and it was only after Joni and Malka completed their most recent recorded interview, in 2012, that Malka discovered the heart of their discussions: the creative process.

On October 15, 1967, bass player Steve Boone took the Ed Sullivan Show stage for the final time, with his band The Lovin’ Spoonful. Since forming in a Greenwich Village hotel in early 1965, Boone and his bandmates had released an astounding nine Top 20 singles, the first seven of which hit the Billboard Top 10, including the iconic Boone co-writes “Summer in the City” and “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice.”

With more Top 10 hits than any other female-fronted music group in history, beginning with such '70s classics as "Crazy on You," "Barracuda," "Magic Man," and "Straight On," Rolling Stone hailed Heart's "sister team of Nancy and Ann Wilson...[for] shrewdly pulling off a Led Zep role reversal," while still succeeding in mainstream Top 40 Radio.

Published in autumn 2001, Have Not Been the Same became the first book to comprehensively document the rise of Canadian underground rock between the years 1985 and 1995. It was a tumultuous decade that saw the arrival of Blue Rodeo, The Tragically Hip, Sarah McLachlan, Sloan, Barenaked Ladies, Daniel Lanois, and many others who made an indelible mark not only on Canadian culture, but on the global stage as well.

By 1987, David Bowie was at a creative, critical, and commercial low. His most recent album was dismissed by the music press, his latest tour written off as a disaster. Fifteen years after becoming the most colourfully controversial superstar in recent rock history, Bowie was seen as a spent force. Almost twenty years later, Bowie has re-established himself at the very peak of his profession in one of the most extraordinary comebacks in rock history. His 1995 release of the critically-astonishing 1:Outside album has been followed by equally groundbreaking efforts.

Grunge Is Dead weaves together the definitive story of the Seattle music scene through a series of interviews with the people who were there. Taking the form of an “oral” history, this books contains over 130 interviews, along with essential background information from acclaimed music writer Greg Prato.

A bold narrative written by a man trying to stay alive by staying on the move. Within a ten-month period, Neil Peart suffered family losses so devastating that they left him a ghost — physically a man but with nothing inside: no hope, meaning, faith, or desire to keep living. One year after the first tragedy, Neil was choosing between life and his own death. Finally, all he could decide was motion. He got on his BMW R1100GS motorcycle, and over the next 14 months, rode 55,000 miles, in search of a reason to live.

Fresh at Twenty: The Oral History of Mint Records is first and foremost the story of an independent record label and the people who helped build it. But it’s also the story of a place and time in popular music —; Vancouver through the 1990s and 2000s. Mint helped launch the careers of the New Pornographers, Neko Case, the Evaporators, the Smugglers, the Sadies, the Pack A.D. and countless other acts. In doing so, Mint not only shaped the sound of Vancouver at the end of the 20th century, but helped usher in a golden age of Canadian popular music that still thrives today.

Catch a wave with original insights behind the best tunes of the Beach Boys

An original look at a beloved band, Fifty Sides of The Beach Boys chronicles the story behind 50 of their greatest songs through exclusive interviews with the Beach Boys, their collaborators, fellow musicians, and famous fans.

The first biography of superstar rapper Drake. At a time when album sales were plummeting, Drake's 2010 debut album, Thank Me Later, went platinum, hit number one on the Billboard 200 chart, and spawned numerous Top 10 hits including 'Over,' 'Best I Ever Had,' and 'Find Your Love.' His sophomore release, Take Care, also debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, went platinum, and has been downloaded at a record pace.