SHE BOP: The Definitive History of Women in Popular Music

“It will make you want to form a band, it will make you angry, it will make you laugh, and it will educate you.” — Gina Birch

Drawing on more than 270 original interviews with female artists and women working behind the scenes in A&R, marketing, music publishing, and production, SheBop presents a feminist history of women in popular music, from 1920s blues to the present day. Talking to iconic artists from Eartha Kitt and Nina Simone to Debbie Harry and Beyoncé, acclaimed author Lucy O’Brien charts how women have negotiated ‘old boy’ power networks to be seen and to get their music heard.

This revised edition updates that story through many fresh interviews and new perspectives. Since She Bop was first
published in 1995, digital downloading has transformed the music landscape. But has the issue of gender inequality changed too? In a new introduction and closing chapter, O’Brien celebrates the rise of unique women such as Lizzo and Billie Eilish, who are bursting through and creating new possibilities for female artists, while also looking at the struggles of artists like Kesha, and wondering whether the pop industry has had its #MeToo moment yet.

- Published to celebrate the original book’s 25th anniversary – and in a year that also marks 50 years of Women’s Liberation.
- This new She Bop will appeal to a huge cross-section of readers, from music fans to the LGBT audience and
women of all generations.