Buckle up — music biz maverick Steve Blacknell is lifting the lid on a life lived at full tilt in his no-holds-barred memoir Tales From The Bedroom Wall – The Life & Times of a Serial Thrill Seeker, out 9th July via Old Treacle Press.
For fans of sex, drugs, rock’n’roll and raw honesty, this is a must-read. Blacknell — the former BBC TV host, Radio 1 presenter, PR supremo, and record label exec — delivers a madcap ride through fame, fortune, addiction, celebrity encounters and personal demons with his signature charm and chaos.
From flying Concorde to Live Aid with Phil Collins, to bathtub chats with David Cassidy, a boozy interview with Lemmy, and even dating Kate Bush, Blacknell has rubbed shoulders with the icons and emerged with stories that feel almost too surreal to be true. Except, of course, they are.
The book dives deep into the dizzying highs and dark lows of a man who, despite career successes at BBC, MTV and major labels like Decca and Chrysalis, also faced battles with bulimia, drug addiction, financial collapse, and near-death experiences — including a speedboat explosion and six months in a wheelchair.
It’s not all rock-star glitter though. Blacknell recounts humble beginnings in Peckham, a fanboy obsession with pop that led to a handwritten reply from John Peel, and his early gigs in hospital radio, egged on by ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris. His story is laced with humour, grit, heart and the absurd — as seen through the eyes of someone who’s been backstage and back again.
With a foreword by Rolling Stones legend Bill Wyman, who calls their 40-year friendship “brothers-in-arms,” Tales From The Bedroom Wall is a memoir as unpredictable and colourful as its author — and it doesn’t pull any punches.
“I’ve just tried to pack in as many adventures as possible in my allotted time,” says Blacknell, now 72. “As the Buddhists say: You’re only here three billion times, so you’d better enjoy yourself.”
This is the gonzo memoir we didn’t know we needed — one that chronicles a life so outrageous, it makes most rock docs look tame.
