Michael Gray (author)
Encyclopedia
Michael Gray is a British author who has written extensively about popular music
.
Gray grew up on Merseyside
, attended Birkenhead School
, and read History and English Literature at the University of York
. Gray subsequently lived and worked in North Devon, Birmingham, West Malvern, London and North Yorkshire. He is married to the food writer Sarah Beattie. In 2008, they moved to South-West France.
Gray is regarded as a leading authority on the work of Bob Dylan
. In 1972, Gray published the first critical study of Dylan's work, Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan; this work was greatly expanded into Song & Dance Man III: The Art Of Bob Dylan (1999, 2000). In 2006, Gray published the Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, which received favourable reviews from the music press and newspapers.
In 2007, Gray published Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes - In Search of Blind Willie McTell, both a travelogue and a detailed biography of the influential blues singer Blind Willie McTell
. This work was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
for Biography in 2008.
Gray was the Mary Amelia Cummins Harvey Visiting Fellow at Girton College, Cambridge
, in 2005. He established a Bob Dylan blog in 2006 and created his official website in 2011.
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
.
Gray grew up on Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, attended Birkenhead School
Birkenhead School
Birkenhead School is an independent, selective, co-educational school located on the Wirral Peninsula in the northwest of England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.-Overview:The school is subdivided into...
, and read History and English Literature at the University of York
University of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
. Gray subsequently lived and worked in North Devon, Birmingham, West Malvern, London and North Yorkshire. He is married to the food writer Sarah Beattie. In 2008, they moved to South-West France.
Gray is regarded as a leading authority on the work of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. In 1972, Gray published the first critical study of Dylan's work, Song & Dance Man: The Art of Bob Dylan; this work was greatly expanded into Song & Dance Man III: The Art Of Bob Dylan (1999, 2000). In 2006, Gray published the Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, which received favourable reviews from the music press and newspapers.
In 2007, Gray published Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes - In Search of Blind Willie McTell, both a travelogue and a detailed biography of the influential blues singer Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell , was an influential Piedmont and ragtime blues singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues, although, unlike his contemporaries, he used exclusively a twelve-string guitar...
. This work was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
James Tait Black Memorial Prize
Founded in 1919, the James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are among the oldest and most prestigious book prizes awarded for literature written in the English language and are Britain's oldest literary awards...
for Biography in 2008.
Gray was the Mary Amelia Cummins Harvey Visiting Fellow at Girton College, Cambridge
Girton College, Cambridge
Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. It was England's first residential women's college, established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon. The full college status was only received in 1948 and marked the official admittance of women to the...
, in 2005. He established a Bob Dylan blog in 2006 and created his official website in 2011.
Principal works
- Mother!: The Frank Zappa Story (1985, 1992, 1994, 2007, also published in Italy 1986 and Germany 1994)
- The Elvis Atlas: A Journey Through Elvis Presley's America (1996) - co-author
- All Across The Telegraph: A Bob Dylan Handbook (1987, 1988) - co-editor
- Song & Dance Man: The Art Of Bob Dylan (1972, 1973)
- The Art Of Bob Dylan: Song & Dance Man (1981, 1982)
- Hand Me My Travelin' Shoes: In Search Of Blind Willie McTell (UK hardback Bloomsbury, July 2007, UK paperback October 2008, US hardback Chicago Review Press, September 2009 ISBN 978-1-55652-975-7)