Latest news with #autobiography
ABC News
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Billy Joel finally lets fans into his life in documentary And So It Goes
In 2011, Billy Joel had every copy of his tell-all autobiography pulped just before release. It was a dramatic move, but not completely out of character for an artist who seems to have his guard permanently up. He rarely gives interviews and those that do happen tend not to reveal all that much about the man behind some of modern music's most enduring pop songs. As America's fourth-highest-selling solo artist, he has a lot of fans. But the desire for more information isn't just due to the size of his fanbase, it's also because he seems like the kinda guy you want to know. His songs are plain-spoken and relatable. They're songs we see ourselves in. "He comes across like one of us," Nas says towards the end of And So It Goes, a monstrous two-part, five-hour documentary that offers fans the most intimate insight we'll ever get into the world of Billy Joel. His reluctance to embrace the spotlight is interrogated early and often in the film. Joel considers himself a musician more than a rock star, he doesn't love being on camera and isn't particularly comfortable with the enormity of his success. It's a long way from his roots, raised poor by a loving but manic single mother in Long Island. In the late 1960s, homeless and suicidal after destroying his band and closest friendships, Joel checked into a metal health observation ward. He detested it so much he was determined to never come back, and it was his raw, dark emotions at the time that fuelled his debut album, Cold Spring Harbor. That record heralded the first of a few monumentally unsound business decisions but also started him on a roll of tireless writing and performing that would train him to become both the songwriting and performing force who would ultimately take over pop music. The film generally follows his life and career chronologically from here, showing him cutting his teeth as an opening act before finally cracking the big time with his fifth record, The Stranger. Striving for success is part of the story, but the deeper message lies in Joel's tenacity. Music initially gave him something to live for and was a dream worth pursuing at all costs. Ultimately, it was music more than fame that would inspire him to move forward, try out new moods and styles to the delight of fans and chagrin of critics. There's nothing groundbreaking about the way the film plays out: this is your tried-and-true talking-head music doco, where the artist is revealed through conversations with the talent, friends and famous admirers. Lovely as it is to hear from the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Pink and Paul McCartney, the most illuminating comments come from those who know Joel intimately. His band mates, his ex-wives, his family. It makes sense. Joel says relationships are at the core of his work, and his best songs all revolve around the ways we interact with one another and the ways that shapes our existence. Part one is dominated by first wife Elizabeth Weber, and for good reason. Her role in Joel's life and career has never received much public recognition, and she's a relatively humble but confident subject when speaking about the success she brought to him. Joel's band were as close to him as anyone, and his loyalty to them is another relational aspect that says a great deal about his character. By the time he met his second wife, supermodel Christie Brinkley, Joel was a superstar. She taught him to deal with the spotlight, gave birth to their daughter Alexa, and inspired some of his most enduring work. But another poor business decision forced Joel to spend more time at work than at home, ultimately leading to the breakdown of their marriage. This was another inflection point in the singer's life, and one that changed his trajectory forever. There would be no new pop music (OK, almost none) after this — Billy Joel was done. The length of this film allows directors Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin to tell so many under-appreciated stories from Joel's career. We see so much of his early years in bands like The Hassles and Attila, we learn about the lack of label support for multimillion-selling album The Stranger, and hear the deep-seated personal reasons for making his 2001 classical album, Fantasies and Delusions. Then, there are countless asides, like how he doesn't hate 'Piano Man' as much as you might think, Bob Dylan was the reason he signed with Columbia Records, and Linda Ronstadt and Phoebe Snow convinced him to put his career-saving smash 'Just The Way You Are' on record. If the interviews don't grab you then the archival footage surely will. There is a bevy of it: unseen clips from his youth, from studio sessions, from life on the road, and plenty of intimate home videos shot by those closest to him that show a Billy Joel most fans have never seen. There are also moments of great discomfort. As his family laments his alcoholism, Joel admits that rehab wasn't effective because he simply didn't want to be there. His consistently fractured relationship with critics is never far from the story, and there's clearly no love lost there. At one point, the spotlight even shines on his string of car accidents in the 2000s. Early in the film, Joel says that a chef once told him the key to success is about recovery, how you come back from your mistakes. Such is the story of And So It Goes. A flawed man makes countless mistakes across his extraordinary life but, driven by nothing more than a passion for making music, recovers with finesse. While one can't imagine And So It Goes converting any of the myriad Billy Joel haters out there, it's a rich vein for his many fans who've spent a lifetime in the dark about the extent of the famously guarded Joel's struggles. This is a music documentary like so many others, but it's also a tale of loyalty, tenacity, addiction, adversity, redemption and self-belief. The story of an outsider who happens to find himself at the epicentre of pop culture and whose work endures in the mainstream in a way so few manage. And So It Goes is streaming on Max.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Health
- Arab News
Book Review: ‘When Breath Becomes Air'
Published a year after the author's death aged 37 in 2015, 'When Breath Becomes Air' is an autobiography about the life and struggle with terminal lung cancer of Dr. Paul Kalanithi. In the book, Kalanithi, an American neurosurgeon at Stanford University, talks about his own journey from being a physician providing treatment to his patients to becoming a patient himself facing premature mortality. The narrative moves from talking about how Kalanithi saved lives to confronting the end of his own, reflecting on what makes life worth living in the face of death. Despite his diagnosis, Kalanithi continued working as a physician and even became a father, explaining to his readers how he embraced life fully until the very end. Unfortunately, the book had to be completed by his wife after his passing, and serves as a moving meditation on legacy, purpose, and the human experience. Among the book's strengths are its authenticity and depth of emotions, touching on everything from the day-to-day experiences of physicians to Kalanithi's own love of literature — originally, he had studied English at university. A fitting tribute, then, that his own work would go on to become a New York Times' bestseller. Neurosurgery, though, was in his words an 'unforgiving call to perfection' which not even his diagnosis could check. 'Before my cancer was diagnosed, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn't know when,' he wrote. 'After the diagnosis, I knew that someday I would die, but I didn't know when.' The book garnered praise upon publication, winning the Goodreads Choice Award for Memoir and Autobiography in 2016. Its run on the NYT's bestseller list lasted an impressive 68 weeks. Writing in the Guardian, Alice O'Keefe suggested: 'The power of this book lies in its eloquent insistence that we are all confronting our mortality every day, whether we know it or not. The real question we face, Kalanithi writes, is not how long, but rather how, we will live — and the answer does not appear in any medical textbook.'
Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
A secret meeting, a photo, next a reunion for King Charles and Harry?
Leaks, he's known a few. Prince Harry, that is. A close reading of his autobiography would suggest that there are so many leaks at the Palace that the Windsors risk sinking without trace. Harry rails against a spin doctor who leaked 'the details of our private summits with Camilla' before her wedding to Charles. He is furious that a plan for him and Meghan to move to South Africa 'got leaked and scuppered' and he accuses Palace staff of attempting to 'sabotage' his relationship with Meghan by 'leaking private stuff to the press about Meg and me'. Now a 'peace summit' between Harry's PR team and the King's spokesman has been leaked. Images of the meeting were splashed across a Sunday newspaper — a sign, for some, that the ice was thawing in the long-running feud between Harry and the royal family. Or his father, at least. There were two particularly interesting things about the summit: the first being that it happened at all, given the animosity between the Sussexes and the rest of the family in the five years since they quit royal duties. The second most interesting thing is that the 'pap' pictures of the meeting appeared. Let's deal with them in reverse order. Assuming it wasn't a good old-fashioned journalist's tip, whoever tipped off the press would have had a goal in mind. But it's not entirely clear who the information serves. Harry is understood to be 'sanguine' about the pictures. After all, that's what he has come to expect. His aides, meanwhile, say they are 'frustrated' about the leak. That would point towards the only other party present at the meeting. There's only one problem with that; the Palace is not known for benevolently dishing out such delicious nuggets of gossip to the Sunday papers. • Behold the 'secret' royal summit. Is a Charles and Harry reunion next? The meeting itself was otherwise nondescript — or at least it was meant to be. A chance for both sides to start up 'a new open channel of communication', according to Harry's side. In May, Harry opened up his own channel of communication — via a primetime interview on the BBC. The Palace was not given advance warning. The BBC had expected the duke to deliver a short statement after his defeat in the courts over his long-running bid to have his police security reinstated in the UK. Instead, they got a 30-minute stream of consciousness in which Harry simultaneously set out his stall as the injured party and launched what appeared to be another insult, saying that 'some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book'. He added: 'Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things.' It sounded petulant and it felt like another attack, but it was the first time we'd heard Harry articulate a eureka moment; that it was his family's role to forgive him, not the other way round. He went on: 'I would love reconciliation with my family. There's no point in continuing to fight any more. As I said, life is precious. I don't know how much longer my father has. He won't speak to me because of this security stuff. But it would be nice to reconcile.' On Wednesday that process appeared to begin. Charles and Camilla returned to London after bidding farewell to President Macron and his wife, Brigitte. The Queen had just headed off to Wimbledon and the King had finished hosting a reception with his Tour Artists at Buckingham Palace. Late afternoon, Tobyn Andreae, the King and Queen's communications secretary, left the Palace to keep a commitment at the Royal Over-Seas League (ROSL). The club, of which the King is patron, was a seemingly appropriate setting for a meeting with his PR counterparts from Harry's office, given that the club 'champions international friendship across the world'. Andreae's guests were Meredith Maines, Harry's communications officer and head of his household in Montecito, and Liam Maguire, his PR representative in the UK. Maines was over from the US for a few days and had set up meetings with various London contacts, all with the duke's blessing. The Times has learnt that there was no instruction from Harry for her to contact the Prince of Wales's office. Buckingham Palace, however, was contacted and agreed to a meeting. When the King's spokesman arrived at the club, Harry's aides were already waiting inside. Andreae brought a bottle of wine as a gift for Maines. Should they sit outside or in? The decision was taken, ironically it now seems, to sit outside for fear of being overheard within. On a balcony overlooking Green Park, the conversation began but within ten minutes Maguire had spotted a photographer. He alerted Andreae and the three moved back inside to continue the meeting there. On Saturday night the mystery of the photographer in the bushes was revealed when Andreae had a call from the Mail on Sunday alerting him to the story. He duly informed Harry's team. So, how did they know? And who does it suit? While a social media commentator has remarked that Andreae 'is giving main character energy' he much prefers to be in the background, leaving the 'main character' role to 'the boss', aka the King, and 'the lady boss', aka the Queen. Similarly Maguire, put in post a few weeks ago after the sudden departure of two of Harry's former press officers, appears to enjoy a low profile. A former military man, Maguire has known Harry for several years through his work as a trustee for Blesma, the charity for limbless veterans. Meanwhile, Maines was on a short visit to London and Andreae was just one of several on her list of people to meet. In a previous role she reportedly ruled publicity for the Netflix series The Crown with 'an iron fist'. So, was it leaked and why? Both sides claim innocence. Which brings us to the issue of why the meeting occurred at all. What many don't realise, however, is that the meeting was the result of years of trying on Harry's part to reconnect with the royal family. This latest attempt is the closest he has got so far, which is probably worth a picture. So, why was a meeting granted now? From the King's perspective, it helps that Harry's court case against His Majesty's government has come to an end. Charles cannot be co-opted into saying anything about a case where his son is using his father's courts to sue his father's government about a security decision. With that out of the way, the King is more open to hearing what his younger son has to say. There's another reason too. When Harry's book Spare was published, the duke told Tom Bradby in a television interview that he wanted an apology from the royal family for all the hurt they had caused him and his wife. This repeated demand meant that any possible meeting with the Palace was doomed to fail and promptly rejected. A source described the negotiations as including 'untenable demands from the American side'. The King couldn't possibly be left open to a tirade of abuse from his younger son, particularly after his cancer diagnosis. But now it appears that Harry has changed his objective. He is no longer publicly demanding an apology. A source who has known Harry well for several decades said: 'He appears to be softening on his demand for an apology now. There seems to be a realisation that this is not going to be granted. The meeting may have been a chance to put it all behind them and move on.' This concession on Harry's part appears to have opened a channel whereby the Palace is prepared to meet him. 'Harry has made no secret of the fact that he wants to be reconciled,' says a well-placed source. 'And he knows that talking and communication is by far the best way to go ahead.' In other words, the damaging accusations — and threats of more to come — are now in the past. Or so they say. Perhaps he is finally growing up, knowing that the door is likely to be permanently shut to him when his brother, Prince William, becomes king. Others are less charitable. A well-placed observer described the meeting and its subsequent publicity as a 'desperate' attempt of the duke to get back into the royal fold. With no discernible job, other than that of a supporting role to his highly driven and successful wife, Harry may well be realising what he has given up. He has said that he was left 'devastated' by the decision to leave his charity Sentebale, along with his co-founder and all the trustees, after a row with the chair. Yet he still clings to what he has always known. Maines's title, as head of Harry's 'household', suggests that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have no interest in divorcing themselves from their previous royal lives. They continue to use their duke and duchess titles, as is their right. They are not, however, permitted to use their HRH titles. Meghan appeared to overstep when 'HRH' was used on a card sent to a friend as a personal gift. Whether their children, Archie and Lilibet, will use their prince and princess titles will surely be a matter for them. All this is to say that a very public link with the royal household is no bad thing for the Sussexes, at least from a PR perspective. Could the publicity help his case or at least show his brother that he is serious about reconciliation? It doesn't hurt the King either, whose reluctance to see his son baffled some commentators. Similarly, the King comes across well from the meeting. But whether such a febrile truce can withstand such a major breach of discretion is uncertain. The meeting is said to have 'opened the channel of communication' between father and son for the first time in months. It is probably what Harry should have done in the first place rather than trying to have a dialogue through television networks, a million-dollar book deal and various podcasts and interviews. But it prompts the question: what does Harry want? He clearly wants to see his father, who is still receiving regular cancer treatment. Yet he also wants to be welcomed back with open arms and to come and go in the UK as he pleases so that he can stay in touch with his charities. When it comes to rebuilding a relationship with his family, his past behaviour makes that tricky. Whether he likes it or not, dropping his demand for an apology may not be enough. It may now require one from him.
The Guardian
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on The Salt Path scandal: memoirists have a duty to tell the truth
'All autobiographies are lies,' George Bernard Shaw wrote in 1898. 'I do not mean unconscious, unintentional lies: I mean deliberate lies.' The veracity of autobiographical writing is under scrutiny once again following allegations that the bestselling memoir The Salt Path is not quite the 'unflinchingly honest' account of one couple's triumph over adversity as billed. Even if you are not one of the two million people to have bought the book, and haven't seen the film released this summer, you will doubtless know the story of a couple's 630-mile journey along the South Coast Way after facing homelessness and a diagnosis of terminal illness. Published in 2018, The Salt Path struck a chord during lockdown as readers discovered the solace of walking and nature during the pandemic. But this tale of wild-camping and the kindness of strangers, not to mention the seemingly miraculous healing powers of a long hike, has gone from word-of-mouth sensation to publishing scandal due to the charges of omission (including past theft) and possible commission levelled by the Observer at its author Raynor Winn (real name Sally Walker). Winn has described the article as 'grotesquely unfair [and] highly misleading'. Memoir can be a deceptively explosive genre. 'I feel duped. But more importantly, I feel that you betrayed millions of readers,' Oprah Winfrey told James Frey publicly, after his addiction memoir A Million Little Pieces, which her book club propelled on to the bestseller lists, was exposed as wildly overblown in 2006. Readers feel similarly betrayed by Winn – perhaps more so. Frey, who has just published a novel after 20 years, made no bones about his unreliability as a narrator and former addict. Following in the muddy footsteps of memoirs such as Helen Macdonald's H is for Hawk, Amy Liptrot's The Outrun and Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (shortlisted for this year's Women's prize for non-fiction), The Salt Path was part of the gentler trend of redemptive nature writing that blossomed after the misery memoir had been wrung dry. The line between fact and fiction is inevitably blurred. No one is surprised that memoirists omit or embellish details, or that novelists draw on their own lives. Writers must navigate this conundrum. Julie Myerson was widely criticised for writing about her son's addiction in her 2009 memoir The Lost Child. In 2022 she addressed the same issues in a novel titled Nonfiction. 'This book is completely made up. It is also completely true,' she said in a Guardian interview. Autofiction exists in this grey area. The genre, which claims the Nobel laureate Annie Ernaux, garners acclaim but rarely huge sales. If The Salt Path had been marketed as autofiction the outcry might have been avoided. But its success rested on the belief that it was a true story. Though genre-blurring is part of an evolving literary culture, categories are not just about where titles go in bookshops. Readers need to know what is fact or fiction. Many readers who took comfort from The Salt Path would not be seduced by online wellness influencers or miracle cures. In a post-truth era, the credibility of publishing is crucial. The Penguin logo is a symbol of trust. As Oscar Wilde said 'the truth is rarely pure and never simple'. Readers understand this. But it is the duty of memoir writers to tell their truth, however murky or complicated it may be. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
The Sun
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I was a 90s heart-throb who partied with Spice Girls & Playboy bunnies but ended up homeless & smoking crack in a skip
IN the Nineties, pop star Kavana had dreams of becoming the next big superstar in music. But the I Can Make You Feel Good singer had a dramatic fall from grace when he was unable to curb his booze addiction and keep a lid on his drug-taking. 10 10 He was also forced to hide his homosexuality over fears his female fans would desert him. Now 47 and finally sober, Kavana — real name Anthony Kavanagh — has documented his journey from the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party to the Woolworths bargain bin in a new autobiography. And he leaves no stone unturned. From his unexpected friendship with Amy Winehouse to having a lifetime ban from Loose Women for being drunk on air, it's all in Pop Scars — a memoir of fame, addiction and the dark side of Nineties pop. Kavana says: 'If only people knew this happy-go-lucky pop star who sings about making them feel good, actually feels the complete opposite.' The Manchester-born singer burst on to the scene, partying with the Spice Girls, Steps, Peter Andre and Boyzone among others. Other than a brief stint at McDonald's — where he was fired for stealing a Filet-O-Fish — being a pop star was the only job he'd had. And he had all the credentials for it — good looks, a great voice and an impeccably groomed curtains hairdo. Kavana was signed to a record label in his teens, learning the ropes as a tea boy, before finally landing a deal. He was soon joining Boyzone on the Smash Hits tour and it wasn't long before he realised the Guinness-drinking Irish boys were lightweight partiers compared to him. At one point, Ronan Keating had to tell him his nose had started bleeding during a post-gig booze-up, sparking a mad dash to the toilets. Kavana recalls in his memoir: 'The taste of metal and cocaine and possibly baby powder drips down my throat. I've overdone it again. I simply don't know when to stop lately. 'Greedy cocaine mouse' 'When others decide they've had enough and want to call it a night I go back to my room and feel the need to carry on. 'I saw a documentary on lab mice being fed the stuff once and they kept going back for more. Little scurrying mice, all jittery and riddled with nerves. 'Tiny claws scratching against the ground. That's me. A greedy cocaine mouse. I splash my face with water and wipe any remnants of blood away from my nose. 'I wet a bit of toilet paper, roll it into a ball and put it up the nostril, stuffing it just far up enough to stop the drip and leave it lodged in. 'I'll have to make do with breathing out of one nostril for now. Charming.' Having a cocaine-induced nose bleed in front of Ronan wasn't a good look, especially as he and Ronan's bandmate Stephen Gately — affectionately known as 'Steo' — had eyes for each other. But it would lead to a sweet romance. He writes: 'I've still got the ball of tissue shoved up my nostril but I have somehow forgotten about what happened pre-Steo arriving and am feeling calm and relaxed. 10 ''I think I'll call it a night, lads,' says Ronan, with a genuine yawn. I'm not tired and it's nothing to do with the drugs that have by now thankfully worn off and been replaced with the tranquilising effects of the alcohol and Stephen's presence. "I'd normally be shy and nervous around someone I fancied but it wasn't like that with him. 'It's late. I'll probably go to bed too,' says Stephen, making me wonder if our deep connection is all in my head. 'I say nothing and leave the bar with the others. All three of us get in the lift. Ronan's room is on the same floor as Stephen's and without saying a word I get out with them on their floor, despite my own room being two floors up. I've no idea what I'm doing but my feet keep moving towards wherever Stephen is going, while Ronan walks ahead. 'I don't want the night to end and I've never been so determined for it not to. Stephen keeps talking while we walk towards his room, almost like it's some unspoken agreement we want to be alone together. ' 'Goodnight, lads,' says Ronan, which feels like his way of saying, 'It's OK with me'. 'Hugs all round and it's finally just me and Stephen standing outside his room. He puts his key card in the door and we go in. 'I don't sleep in my hotel-room bed that night, and I get a glimpse of what innocent, real, genuine connection with another feels like.' The taste of metal and cocaine and possibly baby powder drips down my throat. I've overdone it again. I simply don't know when to stop lately. Such was his desire to hit the hard stuff, Kavana moved away from socialising with pop stars in favour of trendier company at London's notorious Nineties hotspot the Met Bar, populated by the Cool Britannia crowd. But he says: 'There's only so many parties or nights out at the Met Bar one can have without feeling like your soul is being sucked out, along with your wallet. 'A night out for me could end up going a multitude of ways depending on the company I keep, and lately I seem to be drawn to those who lean towards the non-stop partying type of evening, which are usually dressed up to begin with as, 'Let's have dinner at Nobu'. 'I don't even like sushi, but sitting in a restaurant a few feet away from one of the Gallaghers or Kate Moss, in the desperate hope I also get invited to the inner sanctum of Cool Britannia does wonders for the ego. 'Not so much when you're back in your hotel room watching the ceiling with the birds tweeting, with a paranoid coked-up empty soul and wallet to go with it. 'Maybe one day I will get invited to Supernova Heights [Noel's former home in Camden] once I become pals with them. I just need to prove that there's more to me than what they think. Plus, I am also a northerner so surely we would get on like a house on fire, hopefully in Noel's £5million one in Belsize Park.' By this point Kavana's hits were drying up. In fact, new stars were pushing him down the pecking order when it came to bagging the cover of Smash Hits or Big magazine. 'Ecstasy in hot tubs' So he tried his luck in Los Angeles as a songwriter, a move made more tempting by the fact he could go under the radar over there. This led to more drink and drugs a nd returning loaded with tales to tell his mates in Manchester. He recalls leaving his pals 'open-mouthed' by his 'Hollywood escapades', including 'partying at the Playboy mansion where I did too much coke and had to be hosed down in a gold shower room by one of Mr Hefner's Playboy bunnies . . . or the wild parties I get invited to in the Hollywood Hills at movie producers' houses, necking ecstasy in hot tubs with A-listers and their hangers-on. "What I don't report back, though, is how lonely I'm starting to feel and that I'm worried I may have made a mistake but am too caught up in the whirlwind of it all to come home. 'Or that when I'm not partying with whichever new group of Hollywood 'friends' I've met randomly in the VIP of my locals, The Standard or The Viper Room, I'm usually on a comedown, eating pizza while watching The Tonight Show and feeling sad that I'm nowhere near getting to be on there myself.' It was in LA where his drugs and boozing hit new depths of despair. He was lured on to crystal meth, and while staying with a sober pal in a booze-free house, he raided the bathroom cupboard and downed a bottle of Joop aftershave 10 10 He says: 'Typically, it had to be the most pungent, campest of scents and the one you can smell a mile away. Still, beggars can't be choosers. The purple bottle stares at me like it knows exactly what kind of desperate low I've now sunk to. 'Fingers shaking as I unscrew the cap, the sickly sweet scent hitting my nostrils. 'It's disgusting, but I'm too far gone to care. I wait for a second, imagining how this would look in a movie: The tragic alcoholic downing aftershave in a posh LA bathroom. 'I laugh at my reflection, what a joke — except the punchline is my life. 'The taste is beyond description, like someone's melted a plastic Christmas tree with battery acid and marzipan. 'Immediately I gag, my body repulsed against yet another foreign liquid, but I force it down. 'One gulp. Two. I can't do a third. It burns all the way down to my stomach.' Kavana returned to the UK in the hope of sparking a music comeback. He starred in ITV talent show Grease Is The Word (designed to find the next Danny Zuko for the West End version of Grease). This led to the disastrous Loose Women appearance where he was so intoxicated his agent was told afterwards he was 'banned for life'. There was also a stint in Panto in Milton Keynes in 2009, playing Prince Charming in Cinderella alongside TV favourites Anthea Turner and Bobby Davro. He was supported by friend Amy Winehouse, who he had recently reacquainted with — plus two random women she had just met in a nearby KFC. Unsurprisingly, the trio were kicked out by security during the second half of the show after numerous Amy outbursts, including 'Oi, you two ugly sisters are bitches'. He also appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in 2015. But after Kavana's dad passed away with cancer, he lived with his mum, who was battling dementia — a far cry from his old life in fancy London hotels when he was labelled pop's next big thing. Summing up his life at that point, he says: 'I tell myself, blissfully unaware of the desperate reality, that's it's perfectly normal for a man my age with no job and an escalating drink problem to be secretly living in an old people's sheltered housing complex with his mother.' Much later, Kavana would tell a rehab group his final almighty binge 'culminated in me smoking crack in a skip with a homeless lady who I bonded with then trusted with my Monzo card to go buy more drugs and who never returned.' But by becoming sober, moving out and writing his new autobiography, it's clear he has now turned a corner.
