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Simon Napier Bell

@simon.napier.bell

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This South Kensington institution opened in 1953 was one of Londons earliest Bistros....popularising garlic bread. Owned by novelist Walter Baxter and Fergus Provan it closed in 1993.

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🎧Audio Book Review🎧

I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch: How Wham! Were Sold to China

Simon Napier-Bell

🌟🌟🌟🌟

I was just about finding my way with pop music when I came across Wham! - my first band obsession and yep, my bedroom wall was full of the Smash Hits photos and lyrics from the beginning.

But I was only 12 and pretty naive when it came to pop bands and concerts etc.

So, you can imagine my excitement when I spotted this memoir, written by the band's manager at the time.

Now, I'll admit that this wasn't quite as I'd been expecting and although there's a fair amount of Wham! trivia and insight, I'd say that this is quite a small part of what this book reveals.

I obviously loved heading back to the 80's and remembering all the songs and the Wham! mania around at the time.

I loved watching them on Top of the Pops and seeing them in interviews - but this really did give us a glimpse of what really goes on behind the scenes of band management.

This whole memoir is set back in the 80's - times were pretty different back then and as such there were some parts of this that current day readers may be uncomfortable with - but having grown up through this era, as much as I notice the lack of sensitivity in some parts, this was accepted behaviour back then.

This really made me wonder about how things have changed in the last 40+ years as there were some parts of this that shocked me.

Simon states that once a concert was set up and the band were performing, he would head out to restaurants and clubs and leave them to it - I'm sure nowadays, the manager is literally attached at the hip!

Maybe I'm wrong?

I was also totally invested in seeing how people navigated the communist rule in China.

This was pretty eye opening in places and the idea that Wham! we're paid in bicycles at one point, had me laughing!

A very interesting read and one that took me right back to my childhood.

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🎧📖AUDIO BOOK REVIEW📖🎧

I would like to start off by saying how excited I was to get this audiobook, as I’m a huge Wham! fan. I really enjoyed listening to the backstory of how they came about.

I also loved hearing about George Michael and what he was like behind closed doors. I believed my mum for years when she told me she was going to marry him! Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go was the song of my childhood, so I absolutely loved hearing all the Wham! stories.

However, I wasn’t a fan of some of the language used in the book. I appreciate that it’s a memoir and that language and attitudes may have been different a few years ago, but some of it still made me feel uncomfortable.

Overall, I’d say this was a book of two halves for me. I loved hearing the stories about Wham! and George Michael, but some of the language made it difficult for me to fully enjoy the experience.

#ad #lbtcrew #freebookreview

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🎵 Wham! are on tour....book tour! 🎵

Summary
In 1983 I started managing the group Wham! To speed up their fame in America, we had the idea of making them the first Western pop group to ever play in China. As their manager, that was my job. And this book tells the story of how I did it and all the other behind-the-scene things of my life and Wham!'s during the three years that followed.

Thank you to the author @simon.napier.bell and @lovebookstours for sending me an audiobook copy!

🎵💿🎶🎵💿🎶🎵💿🎶🎵💿🎶

#wham #georgemichael #music #bookstagram #books

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📗📕AUDIO BOOK REVIEW 📕📗
📖 "I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch:
How Wham! Were Sold to China"
by Simon Napier-Bell 📖
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Having watched the recent documentary "Wham! 10 days in China" which follows the historic 1985 China Tour when Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael of Wham brought western pop to communist China I found Simon Napier-Bells audio book chronicling
his attempt to make the tour happen fascinating. While being very familiar with the music written by Wham, I was unaware of who their manager was and that they'd gone to China. The rigmarole that Simon goes through to get the band into China is daunting and you feel that someone else might have just given up. But he did eventually succeed in his aim to make them a Worldwide sensation which helped them break into the US market.
What comes across in both the audiobook and film is how uncooperative and moody George Michael was, I think I must have been living in my own little bubble!
Simon has an easy to listen to, interesting voice and he presents people he meets and events, including all the set backs, in an amusing way in short concise chapters. An open window into culture, values and lifestyle of the 1980s which may not be everyone's "cup of tea"!

@Simon.Napier.Bell @LoveBooksTours
@LBT.Crew #Ad #LBTCrew #Bookstagram #FreeBookReview @promising_pages
@ukbook_reviewer @book_a_holic_17
@turningpagesturningheads
@booksbakesbloomsandtea
@myscottishbookstagram @daisyhollands
@readsleepgame @bexbookreviews

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#Ad #Gifted #AudioBookReview

For a long time now, I have said “you can take the girl out of the 80s, but you can’t take the 80s out of the girl” and that holds true to this day. A Wham! fan from the very beginning, I remember the whole China experience with staggering clarity even after all this time. I bought the video on the day it was released and played it so many times I almost wore it out. So for me this was a truly fascinating behind the scenes look at one of mv favourite bands in the best decade musically. Overall I found the audiobook really enlightening and the stories were recounted in a warm friendly manner. However, I can’t lie, some of the language and phrasing used made me particularly uncomfortable. I know it’s of its time and is no doubt an honest retelling. but I also think that on the other hand, times and standards change and maybe it should have been recorded with 21st century audiences in mind. When we know better we do better and all that. I don’t want that to detract from what a fun and entertaining memoir this was though. Very enjoyable. #LBTCrew #Bookstagram

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This audiobook, I'm Coming To Take You To Lunch: How Wham! Were Sold To China, is a memoir written and narrated by Simon Napier Bell and published by @canopyaudiobooks.

Simon was the manager of the much Idolised pop group as they rose to fame in the Eighties. He managed them for 4 years beginning in 1983.

The book details the ups and downs of not only dealing with rising popstars but the difficulties and ambition to enable the band to be the first western band to play in Communist China.

I really enjoyed listening to this book, it was a great insight into the regular visits to China, the many meetings, the entertaining of public figures and government officials such as the Head of State, the acquaintances and friends picked up along the way in trying to make this happen all the while trying to look after other clients such as Diana Dors and living his own adventures in life too.

It was very interesting to find out what is involved from the managers point of view and what drove him. I enjoyed the narration and could listen to his story telling all day. I'd recommend this book if you enjoyed all things pop culture in the Eighties. It's great to take a step back in time and hear stories from the managers perspective with lots of behind the scenes details.

Huge thanks to @Simon.napier.bell and @lovebookstours for my #gifted copy of the audio book and for having me as part of this #VirtualBookTour for #ImComingToTakeYouToLunch.

#BookReview

[Ad/PR Product]

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📗📕BOOK TOUR 📕📗
Thrilled to receive an audio copy of
📖 "I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch: How Wham! Were Sold to China" by Simon Napier-Bell 📖
for the upcoming @LoveBooksTours
UK Audiobook Bookstagram Tour which runs
🗓 from 12th to 16th October 🗓
👀 Look out for my Review 🖋
on 15th October

BOOK OVERVIEW
Pop manager extraordinaire Simon Napier-Bell had had enough. He'd had enough of pop groups. He'd had enough of the constant grief at home with his two ex-boyfriends bickering and bleeding him dry; and most of all he'd had enough of the music biz. But then he fell in love with a new passion - the Far East; and a dynamic new duo - George and Andrew - jointly called Wham! Soon, in an audacious attempt to have the best of both worlds, he found himself offering to arrange for Wham! to be the first ever Western pop group to play in communist China - a masterstroke of PR which, in one swift stroke, would make them one of the biggest groups in the world.

What follows is an exciting, unpredictable and hilarious romp around the more curious corners of the world as Napier-Bell dives into the unknown, attempting to achieve the unachievable. We soon find ourselves in the company of a wonderful cast of petulant pop stars, shady international 'businessmen', and a hilarious confusion of spies, students and institutionalised officials and ministers as he edges ever closer to inadvertently becoming one of the first Westerners to break down the walls of communist China.

@Simon.Napier.Bell @LoveBooksTours
@LBT.Crew #Ad #LBTCrew #Bookstagram #FreeBookReview

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🎧 AUDIOBOOK REVIEW 🎧

I'm Coming to Take You to Lunch: How Wham! Were Sold to China by Simon Napier-Bell

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Review

I am a child of the 80s and love everything about the decade - even the fashion - but especially the music, so I jumped at the chance to review this audiobook!

I thoroughly enjoyed getting an insight into the music business, and tantalising behind the scenes glimpses of what George and Andrew were really like.

It was also fascinating to see how much went into the China deal behind the scenes and how much food and drink was involved! I should have guessed from the title!

Some of the language used didn't sit comfortably with me, but this is a record of events in the 1980s, and times have changed since then.

Overall, an interesting memoir, delivered in an engaging, chatty manner.

Thanks to the author, Canopy Audiobook, and Love Books Tours for the gifted audiobook. Blurb is below.

Blurb

Pop manager extraordinaire Simon Napier-Bell had had enough. He'd had enough of pop groups. He'd had enough of the constant grief at home with his two ex-boyfriends bickering and bleeding him dry; and most of all he'd had enough of the music biz. But then he fell in love with a new passion - the Far East; and a dynamic new duo - George and Andrew - jointly called Wham! Soon, in an audacious attempt to have the best of both worlds, he found himself offering to arrange for Wham! to be the first ever Western pop group to play in communist China - a masterstroke of PR which, in one swift stroke, would make them one of the biggest groups in the world.

What follows is an exciting, unpredictable and hilarious romp around the more curious corners of the world as Napier-Bell dives into the unknown, attempting to achieve the unachievable. We soon find ourselves in the company of a wonderful cast of petulant pop stars, shady international 'businessmen', and a hilarious confusion of spies, students and institutionalised officials and ministers as he edges ever closer to inadvertently becoming one of the first Westerners to break down the walls of communist China.

#ad #LBTCrew #FreeAudiobookookReview #Bookstagram

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I had obviously heard of Simon Napier-Bell, being Wham!’s manager, so I was excited for this book tour and so glad to get on it! It did not disappoint either!! This is a 5 ⭐️ read for me, I felt like the author was having a chat with me, like I am his friend, and I loved all the side stories that made up what happened during the time he managed the band and they played China. I am a huge 80s fan anyway and I thought the spirit of the 80s were very much alive in the book as well which I thought I was great! We hear things about Diana Dors, Eartha Kitt and Elton John among others. I found this great insight to behind the scenes managing of Wham! and I could listen to Simon’s stories all day long! I will be looking out for more by him.

Swipe for book tour details, blurb and author bio ➡️

#simonnapierbell #lovebooktours #imcomingtotakeyoutolunch #howehamweresoldtochina #fivestarread

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What I’m Currently Reading 📚

Ebook - Tallow & Bone by @rhiannonhargadon

Audiobook - I’m Coming To Take You To Lunch: How Wham! Were Sold To China by @simon.napier.bell

What are you reading right now?

#currentlyreading #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #tallowandbone #wham

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My new docuseries ROCK OUT premieres today on REVRY.com. This was a very personal journey. An attempt to find some answers to the question my late, gay, Rock, Punk, and Metal loving big brother Marcus tearfully asked me: “Are there any other gay people like me?” He was lonely, an outsider among outsiders. I didn’t have a good answer for him, and I would lose him soon after that. He died not knowing that he not only had a place in the music worlds he loved, but that LGBTQ people were instrumental in building the hard hitting music he loved. From Little Richard and the Beatles to Judas Priest and The Dead Milkmen, this docuseries holds the answers and buried history I wish I could have shared with my brother. A history that might have given him a sense of belonging. Some hope. Now I hope it might provide that sense of belonging, history, pride and ownership for those like him today. I’m incredibly grateful for all of the artists, producers and managers who shared their talents and stories. And a loving thanks to Dolly Parton who was so generous with us and is now so missed. This one is for you Marcus. I miss you so much.

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