Phil Manzanera, one of the UK’s best-known musicians and record producers, having shot to prominence in the early ‘70’s as the lead guitarist with the seminal band, Roxy Music, has written his memoir, titled ‘Revólución to Roxy’.
The book, with over 100 colour and black and white photographs, does of course cover Manzanera’s life and times with Roxy Music, David Gilmour and many of the luminaries of popular music, but its his startling family history, dating back to the expulsion of the Sephardic Jews from Spain in 1492, via the 1959 revolution in Cuba and the discovery of a Neapolitan Opera musician grandfather, that grips the reader every bit as the tales of being part of one of the UK’s greatest bands.
Phil commented on the reason for writing the book: “I’ve written this memoir for my English and Colombian family, dear friends and music fans, who have followed my musical twists and turns for over half a century. It’s a memoir that spans my 50’s childhood in Cuba, Hawaii and Venezuela, when everything seemed in the brightest technicolor, to monochrome but very cool ‘60’s London and the start of a music career that continues to enrich my life. Roxy Music is an important part of the story but I hope the reader will find my family history every bit as fascinating as my music adventures: I’m proud to be related to the most famous 17thcentury Sephardic Jewish pirate of the Caribbean, a British spy and an Italian opera musician.”
