You can’t spell success without suck, you’ve got to push through the difficult stuff, and Shears did that, which is what made this memoir possible. I felt that the book dragged a bit in places, particularly in the lead-up to the birth of Scissor Sisters. The peaty smell of books and their filmy, lacquered library covers incited a Pavlovian response, to browse and thumb, inspect and comb through bookshelves I’d already looked through many times.

Jake Shears is so damn honest about everything, and it makes for an insightful read that leaves little to compare it to.While watching The Muppet Show with my sisters one evening, I turned to them and said that I was going to marry the episode’s guest host, Christopher Reeve. As soon as the first specter popped out at the five-minute mark, the fabric of my reality unraveled even further. But I was certain we would walk into the wrong theater and see something just as horrible as those kids falling into the meat grinder.

He was always on the outskirts, never the in-crowd, and his entire life is filled with colorful people who make us want to be friends with them, too. While I was learning to read, I realized I could also tell myself more intricate stories with my toys.There was a Wednesday-evening church group that I attended, and one night everyone brought their fathers. 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. He experienced bullying and derision for being himself but started on his journey of self-discovery when he moved to New York at the age of 19. You'd be hard-pressed to find many mainstream memoirs by popular musicians, let alone gay ones, that are as honest as this. It wasn’t until years later, while living and studying in New York City, that Jason would find his voice as an artist and, with a group of friends and musicians who were also thirsting for stardom and freedom, form the band Scissor Sisters.

Savage even brought young Jason to the funeral of someone who had died of AIDS to demonstrate the importance of staying safe. Best-known as the frontman of the Scissor Sisters, Shears became a global star when the band took off with the release of their self-titled 2004 album thanks to hits such as Take Your Mama and Filthy/Gorgeous. I was disappointed when they finally emerged from the salon, not with giant, freaky hairdos that could barely fit into the car but with simple, feathered blowouts. Fast forward to February and March of 2020 when I watched The Masked Singer UK and fell in love with a flamboyant unicorn prancing on the stage. In 1943, the Rosemead airport, east of Los Angeles, was the perfect spot to get a job, small but active enough where he could be close to the planes and begin learning how to fly.We were in such good spirits, someone could have robbed us at gunpoint and we would have thought it hilarious Chris and I got in bed together and laid our heads on the pillow, looked into each other’s faces horizontally. So this is really a book about how a kid named Jason Sellards, who grew up feeling like an outcast, became the platinum-selling rock star Jake Shears, and hints at why he had to walk away from it all for a while. Unlike some memoirs, Shears doesn't paint himself as perfect in any way—he's more than willing to enumerate his flaws and how he mistreated some of those people closest to him.