‘Gods, Gangsters & Honour’ is a no-holds-barred, insider account of over three decades in the music industry. It is a story about oversized egos, multi-million dollar pay-offs, and every kind of scandalous behaviour – a world of gods and contenders, gangsters and pretenders. Now selected chapters from the book are available to buy through iTunes.
Steven Machat, the author and narrator of “Gods, Gangsters & Honour”, was born into the music business. His father Marty Machat, was one of the industry’s first transatlantic, deal-making lawyer/entrepreneurs, representing legends such as James Brown, Sugar Ray Robinson, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Leonard Cohen, Phil Spector and many others. For months Bobby Darin slept on the family couch…
Having been surrounded by the glitz and glamour from a young age, Steven Machat ended up following in his father’s footsteps. After graduating from the University of Miami he joined the family firm which from thereon became known as Machat & Machat. In addition to helping out his father with his clients, Steven built up a roster of his own which included: Ozzie Osbourne, John Waite, New Edition, Bobby Brown, Genesis, ELO, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, Seal and Donnie Osmond among many others. In addition to accumulating years of experience as a lawyer Steven Machat has also functioned as a record company owner, a music publisher and a manager of music talent.
‘God’s Gangsters and Honour’ is Steven Machat’s dispassionate and humorous insider’s account of over three decades of the music industry. Following Steven’s footsteps through the audio stories, the listener discovers the virtues and demons of legends behind and in front of the curtain. From Ozzie Osbourne, Leonard Cohen, Peter Gabriel and Phil Spector through to Ahmet Ertegun, Neil Bogart, Don Arden and Suge Knight, we hear as he gets into scrapes with super-star celebrities or saves them from their own gaffes. Spanning the world of popular music as we know it – from Frank Sinatra through Michael Jackson to Dr Dre – ‘Gods Gangsters & Honour’ tells stories of how artists are groomed and created in a largely corrupt industry through the eyes of a man who put together the deals that made or broke them.
One part social history, one part tabloid tale-telling and one part the chronicle of his struggles with his own success and his own demons, ‘God’s Gangsters &Honour’ is both the behind-the-scenes story of many key figures in popular culture as we know it, and the personal turn-around story of one man. The stunning events of Steven Machat’s life strung together assemble into a portrait of a man finding himself through a most unlikely voyage in an industry that is at the focus of many people’s interest. Part ‘You’ll Never Eat Lunch in this Town Again’ (by Julia Phillips) and part ‘Hit Men’ (by Frederick Dannen), ‘Gods Gangsters & Honour’ is a biography that will grab readers not because the central character is famous, but because of the many famous people Steven Machat has encountered, done deals with, argued and fought with.
