No More Mr. Nice Guy! The world's top entertainment publicist tells his superstar clients exactly what he thinks of them! Book

Keith Altham, one of the rock industry's top press agents steps out from the backroom in the sharply titled, No More Mr. Nice Guy!--his blistering collection of open letters to celebrity clients. His credentials are impeccable. This is the man who suggested that Hendrix set fire to his guitar and who, all too often, has witnessed young, ferociously ambitious and talented people becoming weighed down with habits, entourages and attitude, finally vanishing into their own hype or into the league of dead legends. One of the greatest ironies, and perhaps the most poignant, is that along with tearing new orifices for figures such as tightwad Rod Stewart (who Ronnie Wood declared to be "tighter than two coats of paint") and bolshie Van Morrison ("What a talent. What a singer. What a songwriter. What a pain in the arse."), Altham doesn't shrink from showing affection for other giants, including Sting and Marc Bolan, despite their often giant egos and stadium-sized flaws. Altham himself comes across as a mix of pragmatic pressman who needs his clients to be better copy and passionate music fan who wants them to be better human beings.What emerges is a patchy, yet fascinating trawl through a veritable who's who of rock royalty and minor nobles who caught a ride on the Lear jet of fame, only to miss the connecting flights to true stardom. Altham writes with verve and bite, with his final letter to Pete Townsend, in particular, being amongst the finest and warmest writing on the Who yet.No More Mr. Nice Guy! has enough juice and venom to feed those eager to see idols cut down to size, but also terrific insight on what drives such talent and ambition in the first place.--Fiona BucklandRead More