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Boys Keep Swinging

A Memoir

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Boys Keep Swinging

By: Jake Shears
Narrated by: Jake Shears
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About this listen

In this “exhilarating yet poignant account of one boy taking flight” (Shelf Awareness, starred review), one of rock music's most entrancing figures transforms the vividness of his musical world into an unforgettable literary account of overcoming the odds and finding his true voice.

Long before hitting the stage as the lead singer of the iconic glam rock band Scissor Sisters, Jake Shears was Jason Sellards, a teenage boy living a fraught life, resulting in a difficult time in high school as his classmates bullied him and few teachers showed sympathy.

It wasn’t until years later, while living and studying in New York City, that Jason would find his voice as an artist and, with a group of friends and musicians who were also thirsting for stardom and freedom, form the band Scissor Sisters. First performing in the smoky gay nightclubs of New York, then finding massive success in the United Kingdom, Scissor Sisters would become revered by the LGBTQ community, sell out venues worldwide, and win multiple accolades with hits like “Take Your Mama” and “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’,” as well as their cult-favorite cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.”

“Brutally honest” (Elton John), candid, and courageous, Shears’s writing sings with the same powerful, spirited presence that he brings to his live performances. Boys Keep Swinging is “a wild, sexy, emotional ride through underground New York at the millennium. From the fringes to the top, it's a tale that speaks to the outsider in all of us” (Andy Cohen).
Biographies & Memoirs Entertainment & Celebrities Music Celebrity New York Inspiring Memoir
All stars
Most relevant
Never has a rise to fame sounded so pedestrian and uninspired.
Jake Shears' flamboyant pop persona as leader of the fun, campy Scissor Sisters would make you think an autobiography would be full of witty observations and fun anecdotes. Instead it's a repetitive score of crappy apartments, loser friends, monotonous nightlife encounters, casual sex and tons of drug taking. In fact, even when Scissor Sisters finally get their breakthrough, most of Jake's memories seem to be full of sleaze and gloom.
It doesn't help that Jake himself just seems interested in becoming famous, and then once he's reached his goal, doesn't really know what to do with it.
Disappointing.

Boys keep swinging...and not much else

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