Boys Keep Swinging: A Memoir

Product Information

It’s inspiring to read how Shears overcame a lack of confidence, and wide-eyed wonder at the possibility of becoming a star, to seriously start making music that impacted on the charts across the world. Scissor Sisters videos became my soundtrack for reading "Boys Keep Swinging" while I kept wondering what ignorance or music snobbery prevented my indulgence in this brilliant and energizing dance music while the rest of the world was singing and dancing along!

My sisters would get their hair done at a beauty parlor that had a huge painting on its front window of a woman with giant, Medusa-like locks. Shears plucks up the names of people who were significant to his evolution and rise, and shares them with his readers, and, of course, as Scissor Sisters evolved from a concept to a major influencer on the indie rock scene, the list of celebrities he encountered along the way becomes all the more impressive.I was surprised to find out that most of his influences are classic rock, punk, and electronic rather than pop music, only because Scissor Sisters were always marketed as so pop-heavy. By the time I was in second grade, I’d been placed in a separate advanced reading class taught by the school librarian. The following excerpt from the book details the height of Scissor Sisters‘ success at the 2010 Glastonbury Festival, and his encounters with Bono and David Bowie in New York City. There are selfish, bratty scenes and yet I commend Shears for often recognizing that had his parents not been able and willing to help and give support when needed he likely would not have been able to position himself to successfully pursue his career in music. He persevered month after month, and waited for any free afternoon that he could go observe the sky.

On the whole, I didn’t overly enjoy this book I thought it would share more about Jake and the Scissor Sisters.Boys Keep Swinging is his story, and it’s a brilliant one that begins with his childhood in Mesa, Arizona, and eventually leads us to New York City—“the place that people went and fucking did something.

But that’s not enough for Shears, who is currently starring as Charlie Prince in Kinky Boots on Broadway and releasing Boys Keep Swinging , his memoir about how he went from being a shy Arizona teenager to performing in gay nightclubs in New York (and dating Anderson Cooper along the way), and eventually filling arenas with hits like “Take Your Mama,” “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin'” and a cult-hit cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb. I have a memory of Jane Pauley on the Today show introducing a segment about how some scientists thought it was possible that you could get AIDS from a toilet seat.The memoir of Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters (born Jason Sellards) is a raw, honest account of finding your identity and your tribe. We met up with my friends Kat and Will, traipsed across the entire festival to head to Lost Vagueness, a section of the festival that was known for its jaw-dropping installations and debauchery. Starting with his life in Arizona, to his youth in Portland, we follow young Jason as he struggles with his sexuality, his family life and his own self worth. Tales of music and the music industry have always fascinated me and this book is one of the best musician autobiographies I've ever read.

It's a look at the creative influence and process behind people who have put their soul on the line. When a book has already been blurbed by the likes of Armistead Maupin and Sir Elton John and reviewed by Lambda Literary, there isn’t much that my two cents is going to add to the buzz. In fact, I'm embarrassed to admit that because of the intonation he uses in some of Scissor Sisters' songs (say that five times fast), I thought he was Australian. The first time my mom took me to the doctor for my blood to be drawn, for some unknown reason I thought everyone would be wearing Victorian garb, that I’d be auctioned off to the highest bidder in some antiquated display.From his childhood on an island to finding fame with The Scissor Sisters, you can’t help but be drawn into the book. In this deeply affecting memoir, one of rock music’s most entrancing figures transforms the vividness of his musical world into an unforgettable literary account of overcoming odds and finding his true voice. In 2012 the band took an indefinite break, although they insist they haven’t split up, and the last we heard from them was for charity single Swerlk in 2017, a collaboration with MNDR. Our usual babysitter, Dorothy Reed, a shrill, prune-like woman with gray straw hair and polyester housecoats (my sisters hated her, and hated me for loving her), wasn’t available, and my parents thought there was nothing strange at all about asking my teacher to watch me at my own house.