Exit Stage Left: The curious afterlife of pop stars

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As Hardwick begins to unravel the mystery, he quickly comes to realise that Charlie Sparks's death throws up more peculiar questions than answers. Fame is the brightest candle, but in this brilliant collection of interviews, Nick Duerden answers the question: what does a candle do after it’s burned out? There are many cautionary tales here, from survivors of the pop machine to bands that were put together by a group of mates who wanted to escape from school, and the narrow confines from what was expected of them in adult life. Some ex-stars still seem pretentious and over-the-top, but there’s a genuine warmth running through the stories. We live in a culture obsessed by the notion of fame - the heedless pursuit of it; the almost obligatory subsequent fallout.

The music industry is not what it once was and neither am I with regards my relationship to music as I have lost touch with who might be the up and comers these days. At the same time, more could of been made of this source material by not only describing the fates of various musicians, but also with some deeper thematic analysis and reflection. In the end, these are all just people making their ways through their careers, and in some cases, the end of their careers, picking up the pieces and carrying on.I made a conscious decision to end my celebrity career when I suspected that decision was not far from being made for me. Mojo * Today's stars might do well to read Exit Stage Left and plan for the second acts of their careers. Suzanne Vega relates the shame of having to ‘downsize’ her band and crew mid-tour when audiences failed to fill large enues and The Boo Radleys’ Martin Carr discusses saying no to licensing requests for ‘Wake Up Boo’, trying to hold onto his punk credentials, but then ‘teaching himself to say yes’. The opener is a sensitive account of the life and career of Peter Perrett of the Only Ones, whose 1978 release Another Girl, Another Planet is one of punk’s great pop songs. Ex-Frankie Goes To Hollywood guitarist Brian ‘Nasher’ Nash talks about his PTSD diagnosis (as do a few other artists).

What of those pop artists who reached their successes within parameters chosen for them by the Simon Cowells of this world? Some artists I was less enthralled by than others, and some stories felt a little repetitive as their careers seemed to follow the same inevitable path (struggle, fame, not-so-famous, obscurity) without offering anything particularly new or insightful.

The books featured on this site are aimed primarily at readers aged 13 or above and therefore you must be 13 years or over to sign up to our newsletter. How do they go on with their lives when they no longer can fill arena stadiums or sell a million albums?