Number One In Heaven

The Heroes Who Died For Rock 'N' Roll.

'Number One In Heaven' is the bible of pop's dead - the ultimate record of all those who arrived, rocked and pegged-out over the last forty-odd years of fast cars, private jets, hard drugs, lethal weapons and reckless living.

Music writer Jeremy Simmonds draws on a lifetime's obsession to match the industry's biggest departed stars - Buddy, Elvis, Ian, Janis, Jeff, Jimmy, Kirsty, Marc, Sid et al - with more than a few lesser-known tales of rock tragedy. His book's compulsive chronology sprinkles those with strange and short lives (from G G Allin to Jimmy Zambo via Frankie Lymon) with some truly shocking demises (cue `pure' soul legend Sam Cooke).

Mortality can be a tricky subject, so should the register of deaths get a little gloomy, relief is at hand with a smorgasbord of lighter-hearted facts and figures (Dead Interesting!), plus some lucky escapes (Close . . . Closer!) and a selection of the author's favoured death-discs in Top Ten form (The Death Toll).