I Was There

A TELEGRAPH AND LONDON STANDARD BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024

'Alan is such a wonderful storyteller' Debbie Harry

'If you love music, you should definitely read this book' Nihal Arthanayake, BBC Radio 5 Live

'Alan Edwards is a class act: observant, attentive, always in the right place at the right time. I Was There tells you how' Jon Savage

'A beautiful, warm, jaw-dropping, once-in-a-lifetime, lifting-the-stone guide to a secret world … I loved it' Tony Parsons

'Revelatory' Will Hodgkinson, The Times

'Gossipy, insightful and a whole lot of fun' Neil McCormick, Daily Telegraph

'An absorbing read … Raw, warm and packed with incident' Barbara Ellen, Observer

Alan Edwards, the godfather of British music PR, has worked with some of the most legendary artists of our time, from David Bowie to the Spice Girls via the Rolling Stones, the Stranglers, Prince and Amy Winehouse.

In I Was There, he describes getting his break in the mid-'70s as a scruffy, stoned 20-year-old just back from the hippie trail; his encounter with London's thriving punk scene, which inspired him to set up his own PR company; broadening his horizons as his work with the likes of Blondie takes him to the US and beyond; and his move into the world of pop with the Spice Girls during the tabloid-crazed '90s.

At the centre of this story sits the defining relationship of Edwards' career: his close, thirty-year collaboration with David Bowie. He guides us through a series of vivid, funny, always insightful behind-the-scenes reports, whether he's playing a spontaneous game of football with Bob Marley, listening to Prince discuss the future of civilisation in a nightclub VIP area, or being used as a pawn in the power struggle between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Above all, we're treated to Edwards' fascinating observations about the brilliant artists he has worked with and what makes them tick, as he looks back on his role in the last five decades of music and culture.