The Closest Thing to Crazy: My Life of Musical Adventures - Hardcover

Batt, Mike

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1785120840 ISBN 13: 9781785120848

Publisher: Nine Eight Books, 2024

Synopsis

'Fabulously readable' STEPHEN FRY

'Wildly entertaining' DAILY EXPRESS

'Rollicking ... ebullient ... Christmas present problems are instantly solved' MAIL ON SUNDAY

Nominated for the 2025 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research

Described variously as a 'polymath', a 'renaissance man' and 'one of the most colourful characters in the music business', Mike Batt has led an extraordinarily vibrant and challenging life that has been full of both glorious victories and bitter failures.

For better or for worse, he is a man who has always lived life on his own terms. Idiosyncratic but mainstream, complicated but compassionate, steadfastly maverick in spirit but avowedly commercial in outlook. He is a man of great contradictions, but even greater talent.

After starting out in the music business as a teenager, Batt shot to fame in the early 1970s for his part in the creation of the Wombles pop group. But this success proved to be just the beginning as he then went on to work with various artists as a songwriter, composer and producer, including Art Garfunkel, George Harrison, Cliff Richard, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Katie Melua.

Featuring cameos from some of the biggest stars in the business from Paul McCartney to Prince, The Closest Thing to Crazy takes us not only on the rocky (and classical) journey of Mike Batt's life but also on a tour around the inside of his mind.

About this title

About the Author

Mike Batt is a singer, songwriter, producer and composer who has been making hit records for more than fifty years. He was the lead singer and creator of the Wombles pop group in the early 1970s and is a multi-Ivor Novello Award winner, who has written and produced music for many artists, including Art Garfunkel, Cliff Richard, David Essex and Katie Melua, conducted many of the world's great orchestras and worked across many art forms, directing, designing, conducting and engaging in entrepreneurial activities in the entertainment industry.

From the Back Cover

'Polymath'

'Renaissance man'

'One of the most colourful characters in the music business'

Mike Batt has led an extraordinarily vibrant and challenging life that has been full of both glorious victories and bitter failures.

For better or for worse, he is a man who has always lived life on his own terms. Idiosyncratic but mainstream, complicated but compassionate, steadfastly maverick in spirit but avowedly commercial in outlook. He is a man of great contradictions, but even greater talent.

After starting out in the music business as a teenager, Batt shot to fame in the early 1970s for his part in the creation of the Wombles pop group. But this success proved to be just the beginning as he then went on to work with various artists as a songwriter, composer and producer, including Art Garfunkel, George Harrison, Cliff Richard, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Katie Melua.

Featuring cameos from some of the biggest stars in the business from Paul McCartney to Prince, The Closest Thing to Crazy takes readers not only on the rocky (and classical) journey of Mike Batt's life but also on a tour around the inside of his mind.

Edition details

• Publisher: Nine Eight Books
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1785120840
• ISBN 13: 9781785120848
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368