Showing titles in Entertainment & Celebrities

From reckless drug addict to one of Australia’s top chefs and television stars: MasterChef judge Jock Zonfrillo's powerful life story will shock and inspire. Jock’s life spiralled out of control when he tried heroin for the first time as a teenager while growing up in 1980s Glasgow. For years he balanced a career as a rising star amongst legendary chefs with a crippling drug addiction that took him down many dark paths.

Anybody can get lucky. Nobody controls the odds like Billy Walters. Widely regarded as “the Michael Jordan of sports betting,” Walters is a living legend in Las Vegas and among sports bettors worldwide. With an unmatched winning streak of thirty-six consecutive years, Walters has become fabulously wealthy by placing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in gross wagers, including one Super Bowl bet of $3.5 million alone. Competitors desperate to crack his betting techniques have tried hacking his phones, cloning his beepers, rifling through his trash, and bribing his employees.

An exploration of all aspects of the Abba member’s lives and careers. Amazingly detailed, it examines the group member’s family backgrounds, the pre-Abba days, the legendary 70s, the marriages, the divorces, the business ups and downs, and the post-Abba solo careers.

The intimate biography of the iconic DJ who was lost too soon. Tim Bergling was a musical visionary who, through his sense for melodies, came to define the era when Swedish and European house music took over the world. But Tim Bergling was also an introverted and fragile young man who was forced to grow up at an inhumanly fast pace. After a series of emergencies resulting in hospital stays, he stopped touring in the summer of 2016. Barely two years later, he took his own life.

Long before Cold Chisel and Barnesy, long before the success and excess, there was the true story of James Dixon Swan - a working-class boy whose family made the journey from Scotland to Australia in search of a better life. Working Class Boy is a powerful reflection on a traumatic and violent childhood, which fuelled the excess and recklessness that would define, but almost destroy, the rock’n’roll legend. This is the story of how James Swan became Jimmy Barnes.

When eleven-year-old Cornelius Vanderbilt began to work on his father’s small boat ferrying supplies in New York Harbor at the beginning of the nineteenth century, no one could have imagined that one day he would, through ruthlessness, cunning, and a pathological desire for money, build two empires—one in shipping and another in railroads—that would make him the richest man in America. His staggering fortune was fought over by his heirs after his death in 1877, sowing familial discord that would never fully heal.

What if being a bit weird is actually entirely normal? What if sharing our internal struggles wasn’t a sign of weakness, but strength? For over thirty years, award-winning broadcaster and comedian Robin Ince has entertained thousands in person and on air. But underneath the surface, a whirlwind was at play – a struggle with sadness, concentration, self-doubt and near-constant anxiety. But then he discovered he had all the hallmarks of ADHD and his stumbling blocks became stepping stones.

Christine Brown Woolley had always dreamed of having a picture-perfect family—beautiful children, an adoring husband, and of course, a sisterhood of wives to share him with. Raised in Utah by practicing polygamists, Christine knew her life was less than normal, but that didn’t stop her from loving the full house of her childhood any less. Becoming Kody Brown’s third wife in 1994, Christine finally found the big, happy family she had hoped for.

Julie Goodwin was catapulted into our hearts as the first-ever winner of MasterChef Australia. In many ways her win was unlikely. As a child Julie adored music and art, but her career began in youth work, including in a juvenile detention centre housing troubled boys and a toxic all-male staff. After her three sons were born, she and her husband started an IT business. Then came MasterChef - a record-breaking juggernaut of a show. It was by all appearances, a successful, rewarding life. But under the surface relentless pressure from Julie's outer and inner worlds was taking its toll.

Outsider. Misfit. Criminal. Convict. . . . Movie star. Family man. Comedy legend. Joey Diaz has been called every name in the book (and then some). Now, for the first time, he shares the story of his unlikely rise to fame in his own words—with no punches pulled.

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Who Is Michael Ovitz? by Michael Ovits, read by Dennis Boutsikaris. If you're going to listen to one audiobook about Hollywood, this is the one. As co-founder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Michael Ovitz earned a reputation for ruthless negotiation, brilliant strategy and fierce loyalty to his clients. He reinvented the role of the agent and helped shape the careers of hundreds of A-list stars and directors, including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Sean Connery, Steven Seagal, Bill Murray, Robin Williams and David Letterman.

Anna Faris has advice for you. Since October 2015, a whole lot of people have been getting relationship advice from a very well-intentioned but untrained source — actress Anna Faris — on her ridiculously popular podcast, Unqualified. Anna's own personal life was messy, even while her career soared as the lead in the Scary Movie franchise, and as the star of the CBS comedy, Mom.

John Farnham is the quintessential Aussie legend. As a teenager he gave up an apprenticeship to chase his musical dreams, hitting the big time with the catchy pop ditty 'Sadie (the Cleaning Lady)'. But it wasn't smooth sailing from there. A family man at heart and the most loyal of friends, John was sometimes uncomfortable with the spotlight and for many years struggled to make his music career as successful as those close to him - including Glenn Wheatley and Molly Meldrum - could see it could be.

Bruce Lee is a cultural icon, world renowned for his martial arts and film legacy. But Lee was also a deeply philosophical thinker, believing that martial arts are more than just an exercise in physical discipline - they are a perfect metaphor for personal growth. In Be Water, My Friend Shannon Lee shares previously untold stories from her father's life along with the concepts at the core of his teachings.

George Michael was an extravagantly gifted, openhearted soul singer whose work was both pained and smolderingly erotic. He was a songwriter of true craft and substance, and his music swept the world, starting in the mid-1980s. His fabricated image—that of a hypermacho sex god—loomed large in the pop culture of his day. It also hid—for a time—the secret he fought against revealing: Michael was gay. George Michael: A Life explores the compelling story of a superstar whose struggles, as well as his songs, continue to touch fans all over the world.

‘Hey, how you doing readers? Adam Buxton here… Let's begin with a recap. No, don't skip it! It's great stuff in the form of a montage of scenes from a film that would certainly revive the flagging fortunes of the cinema were it to be made: The Adam Buxton Story…’ So begins Love You, Bye – Adam Buxton’s wonderful follow up to the bestselling Ramble Book.

John and Paul were more than friends, collaborators or rivals in the sense we normally understand those terms. They were both exceptionally intense young men who had the fabric of their world ruptured at a young age. There have been millions of words written about The Beatles, but this is the first book to focus on what lay at the heart of this phenomenon: the alchemy of two young men. Ian Leslie explores this volatile, madly creative quasi-marriage and misunderstood story. The result is a wildly enjoyable biography, told through the songs, which will make us see and hear John and Paul afresh.

An icon. A household name. One of our best-loved actors. Noni Hazlehurst is finally telling a story of her own. A fourth-generation performer, Noni Hazlehurst has storytelling in her blood. She has graced our screens, stages and airwaves for fifty years—and won our hearts and respect in the process.

At ten years old, Chelsea opened a lemonade stand and realized she’d make more money if the drinks were spiked. So she added vodka to her recipe and used her earnings to upgrade herself to first-class on a family vacation—leaving her parents and siblings in coach. She moved to Los Angeles and got fired from her temp job when she admitted she didn’t know how to transfer calls. She’s played pickleball with the scions of an American dynasty. She’s sexted a governor. She shared psychedelics with strangers in Spain.

“This isn't strictly speaking an instructional manual, but a work of comedic philosophy.” Elvis Costello - songwriter, singer, author, and Fender Jazzmaster known to his admirers as “The Little Hands of Concrete” - spins his tale with wit, grit, and spit to spare. How to Play the Guitar and Y, Costello’s new entry into Audible’s Words + Music series, combines recitation, impersonation, and musical illustration to show you how to turn a three-chord trick into a four-chord caper and let your curiosity take you where it will.