As the lead singer of Modern Romance he toured the world, as the screenwriter of Kinky Boots he conquered Hollywood, now comes Geoff Deane's latest act as a quite brilliant and witty ranconteur in his hilarious memoir From Mohair Suits to Kinky BootsâŠ.
Geoff has been a fly-pitcher working out of a suitcase, and flogged suits on Brick Lane market in London's East End. He was the singer in a much-loved culty punk band the Leyton Buzzards, a floppy-haired pop star in Modern Romance, a songwriter, and record producer. He wrote a gay anthem for John Waters drag queen muse Divine, worked as journalist and restaurant critic for style magazines The Face and Arena, before becoming a successful writer and producer of TV comedy. And then hewrote a couple of films, one of which, Kinky Boots became a Tony Award winning Broadway stage show.
This is the tale of life lived large, a collection of uproarious and often moving stories from Geoff's youth as a clothes obsessed Jewish suedehead, hanging out in Tottenham dancehalls, via straight Bowie Boy frequenting London's gay clubs, gender confusion in Manhattan's Studio 54, and on to huge career success as a screenwriter.
With a cast ranging from local oddballs to international celebrities, Geoff Deane's unique take on the world is only matched by his extraordinarily rich use of language, with a smattering of Cockney rhyming slang, Yiddish and Polari.
Introduction by Maurice Gran
âA very funny book packed with very funny stories, written by a very funny and often peculiar man' - Jonathan Ross
The missing link between Micky Flanagan and David Sedaris' - Kimberley Chamber
âFrom Mohair Suits to Kinky Boots is to London's east end as early Mamet is to Chicago. Your morning coffee WILL come out of your nose repeatedly' - George Wendt (Norm from Cheers)
âThe Samuel Pepys of East London' - Maurice Gran
âThere are worse groups than Modern Romance. But can anyone seriously think of one?' - Morrissey