“Perceptive analysis (and) also a fundamentally human story... this superb book rues Adamson's absence while celebrating his music’s still audibly beating heart.” 5/5 MOJO

The official biography of former Big Country frontman chronicling his career highs and tragic death.

This is the story of Stuart Adamson, co-founder of not one but two seminal Scottish post-punk groups, The Skids and Big Country. But this is a book that is about much more than music. 

Stay Alive is about alcoholism, abuse, family, fame, addiction, depression and working-class pride. And along the way there are stories of drug busts, debauchery, flag burning, fist-fights, prison escapes and riots, with a revolving cast of characters from The Clash to the Rolling Stones. 

For the first time, both of Stuart Adamson’s wives, children and bandmates tell their side of the story: unflinching, funny and brutally honest.

"“A full, excellently researched, and comprehensive book that involves interviews with many of the people closest to Stuart, including his bandmates, his managers, his wives and his children. Rowley has given us a book that takes a deep dive into Stuart Adamson’s life and gives us a real, personal feel for who he was”" - Louder than Words

"“Frankly, something of a revelation”" - The Herald

"“An utterly terrific book… a standout celebration of the family and a brilliant and a complex man”" - BBC Radio Scotland

"“Hard to imagine any music biography being more perfectly pitched than this one 5/5”" - Record Collector

"“Stuart Adamson, the post-punk generation’s most gifted guitarist, brilliant songwriter and charismatic performer… here we have the fullest measure of a complex, conflicted man, thanks to the co-operation of Adamson’s family, friends, bandmates and associates, whose candid testimonies the author sensitively shapes into a detailed yet brisk narrative that’s both crushingly melancholy and profoundly uplifting - like the best of Adamson’s music... Fans will relish Rowley’s perceptive analysis of Adamson’s work, yet Stay Alive also tells a fundamentally human story… This superb book rues his absence while celebrating his music’s still audibly beating heart”" - 5/5 MOJO

"“An immensely moving story. Extremely well written and sympathetic”" - Word in Your Ear

"“There’s barely anyone who was important in the frontman’s story that hasn’t contributed here, and Rowley unearths some disquieting truths that help explain the pain that Adamson suffered his entire life… painting a picture of someone who could - with greater confidence - have been just as iconised as Springsteen 4/5”" - Classic Pop