Halfway to Paradise: The Birth of British Rock

From the emergence of Bill Haley and his Comets to the meteoric rise of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Halfway to Paradise is an extraordinary photographic tribute to the forces that invented rock.

From the 1950s until the early 1960s, photographer Harry Hammond's camera captured rock 'n' roll's most famous names — The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Animals, Dusty Springfield, and many other icons. Now, from the legendary Harry Hammond Archive comes this exciting collection of 250 previously unpublished photographs of British and American musicians. Alwyn W. Turner captures the energy of this explosive period in music history as he tells the story of Britain's embrace — and sometimes domination — of rock 'n' roll.

About the Author:

Alywn W. Turner is a widely published writer on British popular culture. He is the author of The Biba Experience, co-author of Cult Rock Posters 1972–1982, and editor of Portmeirion. He has contributed to The Rough Guide to Rock and the BBC website. His most recent book is Crisis? What Crisis?, an account of high politics and low culture in 1970s Britain.