As an avid pop music fan I was over the moon to have the opportunity to read this! Insightful and fascinating peek into showbiz. Highly recommend!

If you like your Smash Hits era pop then Tom Watkins is a name you'll have come across more than once. Most famous for managing Pet Shop Boys and East 17, Watkins constantly has his eye on the prize and is amongst the breed of band manager who likes being in the spotlight as much as their charges. That's not to say that success came easy for him, from a tough working class background he's had to crawl his way up from nothing and while that's very admirable I always find the childhood part of autobiographies the least interesting. We soon get to the good stuff though and Watkins has a few misfires in the music business before finally finding his magic touch. He's enduringly honest about his failures and anyone looking for success in the music business could do worse than read these sections for lessons in persistence. A few bad experiences don't dent Watkins' enthusiasm and he hits the big time first with Frankie Goes to Hollywood then by managing the Pet Shop Boys. He follows this with stints managing Bros (the best section of the book by far, fame and money going straight to the Goss brothers' head) and then East 17. The stories come thick and fast in the final third, more than making up for a plodding first third. I suspect Watkins is being slightly economical with the truth at points and I'm sure there's some band members with another side to certain stories but this is an entertaining enough read by one of pop's larger than life figures.

I received an ARC from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.