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Robin D.G. Kelley spent 14 years on a new book, which some are calling the definitive work on a jazz legend. In Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, he portrays the great pianist as a trained musician, a psychiatric case and a father.

As a member of the glam rock band Queen, May wrote "We Will Rock You" and played that guitar solo on "We Are the Champions." But the curly haired musician also dreamed of a career in astrophysics. Three decades later, he's gotten his doctorate and written a book about the history of the universe.

Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields have quietly made some of the most groundbreaking pop music in recent history. LD Beghtol, who sang and played on the Fields' epic 69 Love Songs, presents a guide to the band's new record, Distortion.

Mary Poppins, the star of the P.L. Travers books and Walt Disney movie, has followed the east wind from London and landed on Broadway, where her stories have been turned into a lavish $20 million musical. The show opens Thursday night — but if you're expecting a live-action replica of the Julie Andrews film, you're in for a big surprise.

The organ has been described, along with the clock, as the most complex of all mechanical instruments developed before the Industrial Revolution. Miles Hoffman unravels the complexities and the mysteries of the musical giant.

For over 100 years, the composer's "Allegretto" movement from his Seventh Symphony has haunted musicians and music lovers. Once you start to listen, says pianist Helene Grimaud, you simply can't do anything else.

Peggy Lee's most memorable tune was "Fever." A biography borrows the title of the 1958 hit, which encapsulated what many remember about the singer: her playful delivery, charisma and sexuality.

A major big band leader is the subject of a new book: Tommy Dorsey: Livin' in a Great Big Way. With his brother Jimmy, Dorsey helped define American popular music from the 1920s through the mid 1950s. Peter Levinson tells Linda Wertheimer about his biography.

Singer, guitarist, and author Alex Kapranos is the frontman for the Glasgow-based indie rock quartet Franz Ferdinand. The band, best known for its single "Take Me Out," has produced two hit CDs. Kapranos has a new book about eating on tour, called Sound Bites.

Host Liane Hansen talks to author David Berger about the photography of the late jazz bassist Milt Hinton. Berger has co-authored the book Playing the Changes: Milt Hinton's Life in Stories and Photographs.