Gentle Giant frontman and record industry executive Derek Shulman will publish his autobiography, Giant Steps, through Jawbone on October 7.
Subtitled 'My Improbable Journey From Stage Lights To Executive Heights', and co-written by US music writer Jon Wiederhorn, Giant Steps tells Shulman's story in over 300 pages, featuring rare and previously unseen photos. It also boasts a foreword written by veteran music producer Tony Visconti, whoi produced the first two Gentle Giant albums.
Shulman chronicles his remarkable life and career surrounded by music and creativity in many forms, starting with him as a youngster confidently telling his schoolteacher he would grow up to become a star, through early forays in the 1960s pop and r&b group Simon Dupree & The Big Sound, then pushed rock music to the outer edges in the 1970s as frontman of progressive rock pioneers Gentle Giant.
Following the end of Gentle Giant, Shulman moved into the record business, taking on senior roles at labels like Polygram, ATCO, and Roadrunner Records. There, he signed and developed artists including Bon Jovi, Dream Theater, Slipknot, Pantera and Men Without Hats, while also helping to revitalise the careers of AC/DC, Bad Company and others.
"Derek Shulman was there before there was a there," Jon Bon Jovi recalls. "We grew together as a team. We learned as we lived. He was the one real A&R man that we could count on when we needed him."
