Sylvie Stewart Popular Books

Sylvie Stewart Biography & Facts

Sylvie Simmons is a London-born, California-based music journalist, named as a "principal player" in Paul Gorman's book on the history of the rock music press In Their Own Write (Sanctuary Publishing, 2001). A widely regarded writer and rock historian since the late 1970s, she is one of the few women to be included among the predominantly male rock elite. Simmons is the author of a number of books, including biography and cult fiction. Simmons is also a singer-songwriter, ukulele player and recording artist. Biography 1977–1984 In 1977 Simmons decamped to Los Angeles and became US correspondent for Sounds, one of the four major UK rock music weeklies of the period. She wrote interviews, reviews and a weekly column, 'Hollywood Highs'. One of her earliest assignments was being sent on the road with Black Sabbath. During her first years in L.A, among the hundreds of artists she interviewed were AC/DC, Rod Stewart, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Nicks, Muddy Waters, Steely Dan, Blondie, Frank Zappa, Tom Petty, Beach Boys, Van Halen, Kiss, and Michael Jackson. During the '80s, when Los Angeles witnessed an upsurge in heavy metal, hair metal and glam rock, Simmons wrote what are regarded as the definitive features on the movement, being the first journalist to bring then-unknown acts like Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses to international attention. (She would go on to co-author the first book on Mötley Crüe with rock writer Malcolm Dome, Lüde, Crüde and Rüde, 1994, out of print). In 1981 when Sounds editor Geoff Barton founded the UK heavy metal magazine Kerrang!, he asked Simmons to be its L.A correspondent. She did so, under the pseudonym (and blonde wig) of Laura Canyon, while continuing to write under her own name for Sounds. During her LA period Simmons wrote a weekly music column for the Knight-Ridder newspaper syndicate; a monthly column for the Japanese magazine Music Life; and interviews/articles for a number of European publications. She was a regular contributor to the US rock magazine Creem and co-hosted the syndicated US rock radio show "London Wavelength". 1984–1993 In 1984 Simmons moved back to North London continuing to write for Sounds and Kerrang! along with other UK magazines and newspapers - Q, The Times, the Radio Times and The Guardian. She wrote for US, European, and Japanese magazines, this time as a UK correspondent, including Creem, Creem Metal, Rockin F; Metal Hammer. Among the artists she interviewed during this period were Joni Mitchell; Cyndi Lauper; Kate Bush; Warren Zevon; Little Richard; Boy George; Mick Jagger; Sting; George Michael; Jimmy Page; Robert Plant; Elton John. In 1990 Simmons moved to France. She continued to write about music, making frequent trips to London and L.A. to do interviews. Simmons started writing rock-related short fiction. These would later be published as Too Weird For Ziggy, (Black Cat, ISBN 0-8021-4156-0) a collection of interlinked short stories about the weirdness of celebrity. Grove/Atlantic resurrected its Black Cat imprint (previously home to William S. Burroughs and Henry Miller) to publish Simmons' first collection of fiction. The book bore testimonials from Sharon Osbourne, Marianne Faithfull, Slash of Guns N' Roses, Lemmy of Motörhead and Tori Amos, and was widely praised. During her years in France, Simmons started investigating French pop music and was particularly taken with Serge Gainsbourg. This too would result in a book - the highly lauded Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes (Helter Skelter Publishing, 2001 ISBN 1-900924-28-5). J. G. Ballard chose it as his book of the year. It was published in the UK in 2001 and translated from the English original into ten languages. In 2015 an expanded digital edition of Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes was released, in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. In the Summer of 1993, Simmons was contacted by the editors of Q about a new magazine they were designing, with the focus on classic rock artists. MOJO magazine was launched in October 1993. Simmons wrote for the first issue and has written for MOJO, as Contributing Editor, ever since. 1994–2004 Simmons moved back to London and continued to write. Her Interviews during this period included Tom Waits; Neil Young; Johnny Cash; Leonard Cohen; Brian Wilson; Peter Gabriel; David Byrne; PJ Harvey; Keith Richards; Kate Bush; and Bo Diddley. In 1997 Simmons inaugurated MOJO's influential "Americana" column to give more exposure to the new wave of independent roots music by artists. She has written the Americana column ever since. Subsequently, she compiled and wrote liner notes for the compilation album The Rough Guide to Americana, on the World Music Network, in 2001 and the follow-up album released in 2016. Simmons' essay, "States of Mind", on Country music, Americana and America's myth of itself, was published in the book 1000 Songs To Change Your Life (Random House, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84670-082-8), an anthology that also featured essays by Bjork, David Byrne, Ennio Morricone, Linda Thompson and Tom Waits. During this period she made a number of appearances on radio, TV and DVDs. talking about music, including Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile (director David Leaf, 2004). Simmons contributed essays and writings to a number of books during this period, including The Virgin Story of Rock ’N Roll (1995), Girls Will Be Boys: Women Report on Rock (1997), Kiss: Modern Icons (1997), The MOJO Collection: Ultimate Music Companion (2000), and Let Fury Have the Hour: the Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer (2004). In 2001 Simmons's biography of Neil Young was published: Neil Young- Reflections in Broken Glass (MOJO Books/Canongate, ISBN 1 84195 084X). Simmons compiled and/or curated a number of liner notes for artists ranging from David Bowie to Leonard Cohen to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Perhaps the best known is "Unearthed", the widely regarded hardback book she wrote, at the request of Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin, Cash's producer. It was to be released in conjunction with a CD box set to celebrate Cash and Rubin's decade of working together. (American Recordings, 2003). "Unearthed" turned out to be Cash's first posthumous release, and their interviews – conducted over a one-week period at Cash's home less than six weeks before he died – the last major interviews he would give. 2004–present In 2004 Simmons moved to San Francisco, California. She continued to write and publish interviews, articles, reviews, for MOJO, The Guardian, various European publications, and during her early years in Frisco, her local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle. Her interviews during this period included Joan Baez; the Eagles; Marianne Faithfull; Jackson Browne; Kris Kristofferson; Willie Nelson; Crosby Stills & Nash; Neil Diamond; Rosanne Cash; Glen Campbell. Her liner notes now included Americana and country artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Kris Kristoffe.... Discover the Sylvie Stewart popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Sylvie Stewart books.