No Off Switch

One year Andy Kershaw was Billy Bragg’s roadie, the next he was presenting Live Aid on TV to 400 million people: the new voice of youth. A passionate enthusiast for music, he is a man with an obsessive curiosity about the world. Over a twenty–five year career, he has worked for the Rolling Stones, shared an office with John Peel, and introduced world and roots Music to Radio 1 (and later Radio 3). He has won more Sony Radio awards than any other broadcaster. He has visited 97 countries and as a foreign correspondent filed numerous reports for Radio 4, in particular from the ‘axis of evil’ countries and from Africa. He was one of the very few journalists present during the Rwanda genocide. In 2007, he separated from his partner, had a breakdown, and spent time in prison on the Isle of Man for his non-violent breaking of a restraining order. But he has put this behind him, writing this book, and returning to the airwaves fronting the BBC’s Music Planet series. Andy Kershaw writes about his life with candour, insight, immediacy and humour. This is a real book by a man who has no truck with celebrity nonsense.