Exit Stage Left: The curious afterlife of pop stars

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From Paul from S Club 7 and Robbie Williams to Shaun Ryder and Tim Burgess and everyone in between, Duerden leaves no stone unturned in unearthing what happens when the lights go down on a career in pop music. Allan “Boff” Whalley from Chumbawamba, who retired from the band aged 51, puts it like this: “The bands I loved, when they split up, I always thought it was a beautiful thing. The happiest people in the book are the ones who accept fame when it happened, that know that going out, playing a few gigs a year, featuring the old hits, whilst playing newer songs which go down less well is the fate that awaits them. One fact emerges clearly from every story in Exit Stage Left: there is an unshakable identity that crystallises in anyone who has had any pop success.

Roger Daltrey, then in his late 60s, sang, apparently without irony: “I hope I die before I get old. At the same time, more could of been made of this source material by not only describing the fates of various musicians, but also with some deeper thematic analysis and reflection.As Tony James asked himself after Sigue Sigue Sputnik failed to deliver on their second album: “Do I crawl away and die now? If you come see us live – try to let go of hearing you particular favourite or disappointment will follow. In these interviews, they went really deep and they were quite existential and philosophical and I had gotten the sense that it was a subject that they had given an awful lot of private thought to.

What of those pop artists who reached their successes within parameters chosen for them by the Simon Cowells of this world? He tracks down former chart-topping and famous musicians, and interviews them about what life is like after you stop being a music celebrity. The musicians covered vary widely across genre, success story, and decade: Dexy's Midnight Runners, Musical Youth, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Natalie Merchant, Robbie Williams, Joan Armatrading, Terence Trent D'arby, Tenpole Tudor, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the Sugarcubes, Tears for Fears, Adam Ant, John McLean, Mission UK. It could be argued this is a good thing as I think we're unlikely to get so many one hit wonders and curios as we had before. This is a book for lovers of music, for children of the 80's and 90s, and for readers who are fascinated by bright stars that fade.

This book explores something I’ve always pondered about popular musicians: what happens to them when they’re not “hot” anymore? In music journalist Nick Duerden explores the post fame careers of a variety of mostly United Kingdom based artists. I enjoyed Duerden’s writing style - it’s witty and astute, and subtle enough to know when he’s (deservedly) gently ribbing a particular quote from his interviewees, without being sneery. For fans of music books from David Hepworth, Pete Paphides, Bob Stanley and Craig Brown, as well as thought-provoking human interest stories like Moondust by Andrew Smith, and books by Jon Ronson, Louis Theroux and Stuart Maconie.

Photograph: Pete Still/Redferns View image in fullscreen His story has ‘a redemptive arc’ that is incredibly moving to read: Peter Perrett, left, performing with the Only Ones at Hammersmith Odeon, London, April 1978. And as time passed between chats, Duerden noticed that the artists became more interesting as their lives continued to change. The hard work that goes into developing a sound, a style, the years spent trying to sell a song, or an image to record companies that put the bottom line above musical and artistic concerns.Exit Stage Left is doing what a lot of music autobiographies do not do - which is tell the story of musicians after the spotlight has passed and fallen onto someone else and the brief illumination of fame is no more. This book strips back the idea of glamour in the music industry as any band or artist who attains a bit of attention is put to work like a mule for the time that it lasts, be that months, years or decades.

When he collapses and dies during a stand-up routine at a local pub, mysterious bystander Kempston Hardwick is compelled to investigate his suspicious death.A particularly recurrent theme in the lives lived, is the power in and financial saving grace of nostalgia.