Beatleness

"VERDICT This fun and insightful study of pop music fandom is recommended both to older Beatlemaniacs who were there and to younger fans who want to know what it was like to be a part of the phenomenon. . . . Leonard interweaves highlights from interviews with hundreds of American fans born in the Forties and Fifties, situating their comments against the backdrop of the Sixties cultural, social, and political history and exploring how Beatlemania happened and why the Beatles became much more than just a musical group to millions of Americans. . . . The insight into how admirers interacted with the group's work, felt a personal connection with a favorite Beatle, and responded to the band's ever-changing sound and image is mostly fresh and fascinating." —Library Journal

“Leonard manages to find a new angle of approach to the study of the Beatles . . . The value of the book hinges more on intergenerational comparisons and contrasts of how ‘Beatleness’ affected members of the youth demographic, especially when it comes to differing gender perspectives on the Beatles’ music. Leonard also provides a helpful overall sense of how the average American Beatles fan not only accommodated the lightning-speed stylistic shifts in the band’s music from 1964 to 1970, but how these changes affected the decisions they made in their own personal lives. . . . A welcome . . . sociocultural study for the Beatlemaniac bookworm.” —Kirkus Reviews

“I love this book! The beautifully written Beatleness will not only bring to life all the excitement for those that weren’t living yet during the Beatle years, it will cause major goosebumps, all over again, to those who were there. It’s an incredibly hip and astute account of all the Beatles’ major happenings that affected so many people around the world who were riveted to their every move. I can’t wait to read it again!”—Will Lee, Grammy Award–winning bass player and studio musician, Late Show with David Letterman and Fab Faux

“Very impressive. Beatleness not only describes what it was like to be a hard-core fan from the beginning (like me), but explains it in an historical and personal context. For forty years of The FEST we've been celebrating our love for The Beatles with thousands of fans. Now we have a word for it.” —Mark Lapidos, president, Mark Lapidos Productions, and founder, The Fest for Beatles Fans

“Candy Leonard was ‘possessed’ when she first heard the Beatles, and Beatleness is her story and ours. It's breezy, smart and open-hearted, and everyone who grew up with the band—or wants to know what that was like—will appreciate its insights and feel its emotional impact.”—Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor, Rolling Stone

“From ex-employees to ex-lovers, we’ve seemingly heard from everyone associated with the Beatles. Beatleness finally lets us hear from another group: the fans whose lives were forever altered by rock’s greatest band. These are vivid snapshots of people who rode the wave—and suffered through the crash—of Beatlemania as much as anyone who worked for the band.” —David Browne, Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY and the Lost Story of 1970

Author Bio:

Candy Leonard’s experience as a young Beatle fan, witnessing the transformative events of the 1960s, ignited her sociological imagination. After receiving a BA in Communications, a Master’s degree in Human Development and a doctorate in Sociology, Leonard began a career in academic research on the effects of media and popular culture on child development, gender relations and family life. A lifelong Beatle fan, Candy is intimately familiar with their entire body of work, biography, commentary and fan culture, and has written and lectured on the group from her unique social science vantage point. She currently resides in Cambridge, MA.