Victoria Starr

I loved k.d. lang's voice, her music and her quirkiness. This book gave me a deeper appreciation for her strength in being true to her art and herself. Although it is dated (written in 1994), it was a great read for me. I stopped several times to listen to various songs and performances referenced in the book, which added to my enjoyment.

We learn about k.d.'s early life, and her struggles in Nashville. We watch her achieve success with her music, but learn little about her personal life. show more The author appears to be as big a fan and I am, so I suspect the book is biased towards the positive and steers clear of things k.d. would not want to make public. show less

This is an unauthorized biography and I have seen some negative reviews on it in that regard. I do not find any of it salacious or prying even. I see it as interesting to follow the development of the artist based on apparently a lot of interviews with associates.

The books goes from growing up in small-town, "country" Alberta on to Ingénue (Sire, 1992). During that time, lang developed as a rural bohemian artist operating in more than just music; painting for instance. Discovering Patsy show more Cline has a huge impact on her and she deserves a lot of credit building a successful touring and major label recording career in the country music genre with an image that made for a lot of headwinds getting radio play, positive press support etc. Of course, her vocal talent allowed her to reach legions of fans despite that and grow outside the genre, which was really a phase or as she says a "project". show less

This book has been sitting on my shelf - unread - for years.

The problem I have with biographies - especially biographies about people I already am familiar with - is that I tend to get tired by the authors' attempts to explain everything and give meaning to everything. Quite often this attempt backfires because their interpretation is somewhat removed from plausibility.

This is worse when the author is a fan.

I have no doubt that Victoria Starr was/is a k.d. lang fan, and to this day, show more her book is probably the most comprehensive biography there is.

The problems I have with the book however are that:

- it contains some glaring factual errors.

- it contains a lot of rumors and speculation that was going around at the time when the book was written.

- it focuses on the music industry and the reported / second-hand information that was available in the media, but doesn't give many details about the sources - which enhances the feeling that a lot of the book is speculation.

- it doesn't go into k.d.'s music much at all. And I would have thought that would be a major part of the biography of a musician.

Also, the book was published in 1994 and is obviously outdated.

Overall, it was an entertaining read, but you have to read this biography with a pinch of salt, like fan-fiction. show less

In K.D. Lang: All You Get Is Me, Victoria Starr explores the life of the artist who has broken all the rules of pop culture while becoming one of the world's most beloved singers. K.D. Lang: All You Get Is Me traces K.D.'s path from college dropout to pop superstar. Along the way we discover the inner strength and unwavering vision of an artist determined to make her own wild dreams come true.