The Day the World Turned Blue: A Biography of Gene Vincent

Singer-songwriter Gene Vincent (""Be-Bop-a-Lula'') was called a hero by the Beatles and was an idol of Jim Morrison of the Doors. Crippled in a Navy accident, Vincent performed with one leg in a metal brace, yet remained ``the very essence of wild rebellion,'' Hagarty notes. The 16-year career of the Black Leather Rebel peaked with his wildly frenetic British shows of the early '60s, then faded during the Psychedelic Era. His crippled leg developed osteomyelitis, and he died in 1971. Musician-novelist Hagarty (Prisoner of Desire, Sad Paradise talked with Vincent's former wives and associates, and the resulting comprehensive biography rekindles the fire of a tortured rock legend who, Hagarty argues, ``never attained the success he deserved.'' (April)