Simon Napier-Bell 
I’m Coming to Take You to Lunch [EPUB ebook] 
A fantastic tale of boys, booze and how Wham! were sold to China

“A veteran manager of groups like the Yardbirds, Napier-Bell was just about ready to retire when Wham! fell into his lap…those interested in what goes on backstage and behind the scenes will find Napier-Bell’s stories worthwhile and entertaining.” —Publishers Weekly

A gossipy, rollicking music memoir about bringing Wham! to communist China in the ‘80’s—now, in paperback

London, 1983. Pop impresario Simon Napier-Bell has had enough.
Tired of managing groups, and sick of the constant grief at home, with his two ex-boyfriends bickering and bleeding him dry, he’s ready to give up the music business for good. But before he gets the chance, he falls in love with a new passion: a dynamic young duo, George and Andrew, jointly called Wham!.

Soon, he finds himself offering to arrange for Wham! to be the first-ever Western pop group to play in communist China – a masterstroke of publicity which, in one swift move, would make them one of the biggest groups on the planet.

What follows is an exciting and unpredictable globe-trotting adventure in the company of a cast of petulant pop stars, shady businessmen and a confusion of spies, students and officials, as Napier-Bell edges closer to inadvertently becoming one of the first Westerners to break down the walls of communist China.

As one reviewer put it, “some of it reads like a big, gay Bond thriller.”

Содержание

Part I April 1983
1 Happy birthday 3
2 Cherry blossom 7
3 Such a remnant 13
4 Fresh as daisies 21
5 A bit steep 38
6 Soyoung 46
7 Muscle Shoals 55
8 Messing about in Asia 60
9 Belly dancing 71
10 Berlin 82
11 Sore throat 89
12 Black fairies 99
13 Broken glass 108
14 Settlement 117
Part II April 1984
15 Happy birthday 127
16 Quite excited 135
17 A painfully pointless meal 145
18 A very bad thing
19 The truth
20 Because you’re delicious
21 So grand, so bitchy, so broke 181
22 Red telephone 194
23 Not so famous 206
24 Somersaults 216
25 No photos 223
26 Invitation 230
27 Tears 237
28 This sporting life 244
29 Stay in your seats 252
30 The last post 259
Part III April 1985
31 Happy birthday 269

32 Talent night at the Apollo 277

33 Six thousand bicycles 288

34 Bit of a nutcase 296

35 Rough cuts and helicopters 306

36 Funeral rites 319

37 Selling up 324

38 American Music Awards 333

39 Sun City

40 Kites and anchors

41 Freedom

Part IV April 1986

42 Happy birthday

43 And then?

Об авторе

Simon Napier-Bell has been a film composer, songwriter, record producer, and author, but he is best known for having managed such artists as The Yardbirds, Marc Bolan, Japan and Wham!. Under his management, Wham! became the first Western pop group ever to play in Communist China. He is the author of three other books about the music industry: You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,  Black Vinyl White Powder and The Business, as well as the forthcoming memoir Sour Mouth, Sweet Bottom. He is CEO of the Pierbel Entertainment Group, and continues to consult, write and broadcast on the music industry.