Blag Steal & Borrow - Softcover

Gary Victor Raymond was born in 1960 in East London before the family upped sticks and moved to The Cockney Del Sol seaside town of Southend-On-Sea. The pie & mash loving son of a professional drummer and publican, he had a colourful upbringing that included living in a zoo, working in a dolphinarium, listening to glam rock and watching Bruce Lee movies - sadly having no hand-eye coordination meant that he was never able to follow in his father's footsteps and take to the stage. But it was when he started working in the music industry that he made his mark, taking 3 unsigned lads from Essex into the top 20, making music chart history, winning a gold disc and having them forever immortalised in The Guinness Book of Records. These days the father of four, having survived cancer surgery, prefers to sit in front of the television with a cup of tea cheering on his beloved Tottenham Hotspur or watching The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and any movie about East End gangsters, leaving behind him those days in the music industry. Gary has had a number of poems published and his thoughtful poem 'The Thrill of the Kill' was used in an anti-hunting campaign.

The Great Old Rock 'n' Roll Swindle? is exactly that, old! But it happened again...Enter stage left our hero, our raconteur and for the first time ever, the real truth about the internal workings of the music industry are laid bare. Music manager Gary Raymond took 3 unsigned lads from Essex and hatched a plan that propelled them into the prestigious top 40 chart and made music chart history.A world of blagging, bragging, bullshit and bust-ups, where betrayal and the use of every trick in the proverbial book to get noticed were all part of rocking a very stormy boat, showing that fact really is stranger than fiction. Humorous, scandalous and with all guns blazing, this is the ultimate insider story. You have to be a certain type of person to entertain the music industry and along with a very curious upbringing; nearly being kidnapped, surviving an unfortunate incident in a kebab shop and living in a zoo, you will see why it was the perfect match of devilish manager and mischievous band.