Mick Jagger, like many artists big and small had a ghostwriter for his book. The ghostwriter, Barry Coleman is now speaking up and the experience that he shared with Jagger in the pivotal moments that led to a huge choice that Jagger had to make…<a href="http://britpopnews.com/gene-simmons-drops-drug-bombshell-to-kiss-fans/">Gene Simmons Drops Drug Bombshell To KISS Fans.
Barry Coleman recently spoke about the “awful experience” of working with Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger on his autobiography that was never published or seen by the public.
In conversation with The Guardian, Coleman remembers how he was only given two weeks to complete the now-axed book. He was subbed in by publisher Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1983 to carry on the work of another writer who failed to finish the project.
When the publishing company first called Coleman in to an “urgent and disorienting” meeting, he recalls how he thought something must had gone “horribly wrong”. In fact, it appeared that Mick Jagger had cashed in £1m for a proposed autobiography, but failed to produce the book. It was also explained that the financial risk presented an “existential threat” to the company. This prospect added to the severity of the situation, as well as the weight put on Coleman’s shoulders when he was brought in to take over. Coleman explains: “They said: ‘You’re the only person we know who can do this.’ So rather surreally I became Mick Jagger’s ghostwriter’s ghostwriter.”
Coleman said: “All the big stuff was in there, there just wasn’t anything interesting said about it,” Coleman says of the material. “There was always this sense in the transcripts that Mick was holding back, or trying not to hurt anybody’s feelings.”
Eventually, Jagger decided to scrap the autobiography, telling BBC 6 Music’s Matt Everett that in the end, he “couldn’t be bothered with it”, and that it was a “dull and upsetting” process.
