Egan, Sean

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Egan, Sean

PERSONAL:

Male.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Pollinger Ltd., 9 Staple Inn, Holborn, London WC1V 7QH, England.

CAREER:

Writer, journalist, television screenwriter, and music critic. Contributed scripts to British soap opera Eastenders.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research nomination, Association for Recorded Sound Collections.

WRITINGS:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Anabas, 1998.

Verve: Starsail, Omnibus Press (London, England), 1998.

Animal Tracks: The Music and History of Newcastle's Rising Sons, Northdown Publishing (Hampshire, England), 1999, published as Animal Tracks: The Story of the Animals, Newcastle's Rising Sons, Helter Skelter (London, England), 2001.

Not Necessarily Stoned, but Beautiful: The Making of "Are You Experienced?", Unanimous (London, England), 2002, published as Jimi Hendrix and the Making of "Are You Experienced?," Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 2002.

Sick of Being Me (novel), Rhapsody (Felixstowe, England), 2002, new edition, Askill Publishing (London, England), 2003.

The Guys Who Wrote 'Em, Askill Publishing (London, England), 2004.

Our Music Is Red—with Purple Flashes: The Story of the Creation, Cherry Red Books (London, England), 2004.

Essential Media Law and Practice for Writers in Film and Television, edited by Pam Bernard, illustrated by Simon Pearsall, Medialex Publications, 2005.

Rolling Stones and the Making of "Let It Bleed," Unanimous (London, England), 2006.

100 Albums That Changed Music, Constable & Robinson (London, England), 2006.

The Rough Guide to the Rolling Stones, Penguin (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to Web sites and periodicals, including Classic Rock, Discoveries, Goldmine, Billboard.com, Mojo4Music.com, Serve and Volley, Record Collector, Record Mart & Buyer, Rollingstone.com, Sky Sports, Uncut, Vox, and Tennis World.

Author of liner notes for numerous CDs and recordings.

SIDELIGHTS:

In Jimi Hendrix and the Making of "Are You Experienced?," author and music journalist Sean Egan brings together a diverse collection of memories, archives, and facts to produce an account of the recording of an album that helped define the burgeoning rock-and-roll era of the late 1960s. To produce the book, Egan sought out numerous persons who knew Hendrix and or were involved in the album's production. Through these detailed interviews, Egan discovered insights into the music, specific songs, Hendrix's bandmates, and the great guitarist himself. For example, the lyrics of "Purple Haze" had their genesis in Hendrix's love of science fiction, noted a Publishers Weekly reviewer. Egan recounts details about the recording of seminal tracks such as "Foxy Lady" and "Hey Joe." He also reports on how Hendrix and his band could "master a previously unrehearsed song in a take or two, and wonderfully describes the fecund rock scene in London," the Publishers Weekly reviewer stated. He assembles a portrait of Hendrix himself that is far from that of a rebellious rock 'n' roller, but instead depicts Hendrix as shy, polite, and thoroughly professional. In the minutiae of the stories he uncovers about the actual recording process, and with the coverage of the aftermath of the album's release, Egan explores how groundbreaking Hendrix's sound actually was, and the profound effect it had on the music and musicians of the time. Library Journal reviewer Eric Hahn called the book "an original contribution to the enormous body of Hendrix literature." A reviewer in Onstage concluded: "All in all, a fascinating read."