Mr Hotshot: A Life of Denny Cordell

Denny Cordell (who died in 1995) is one of the great unsung svengalis of popular music. Born in Buenos Aires, by 1960 he was a penniless junkie living in a church crypt in Chelsea, yet he went on to become one of the movers and shakers in the burgeoning music industry, as a producer in London in the 60s and then owner of Shelter Records in LA in the 70s. The list of artists with whom he was associated reads like a mid-century roll of honour - Chet Baker, the Moody Blues, The Move, Procul Harem, Joe Cocker, T Rex, Bob Marley, Marianne Faithfull and the Cranberries. At the end of his life a noted Irish racehorse owner and trainer, he was by all accounts a tight-fisted womaniser who regularly ended up in court with the musicians who made him his fortune, yet his extravagant charm inspired bands to do their utmost and investors to sign over whatever he asked for.

Mr Hotshot is a rollicking story of the formation of today's music business told through the life of a man who mixed drugs, dodgy dealing and musical inspiration with equal abandon. With talking heads and sparring partners ranging from Marianne Faithfull to Chris Blackwell, Bono to Andrew Loog Oldham this vivid and evocative biography will be the must-read music book of its season.