All That Glitters: The Ava Cherry Story Paperback – January 25, 2022

If u like Bowie, this book fills in lots of info about his rise to fame.

This was a fun book. I am a HUGE Bowie fan and always want to read more to understand his life from a different angle. And it turns out that Ava Cherry, his girlfriend and backup singer for several years in the 70's, has a hell of a story to tell herself. No wonder he liked her!

My review deals only with the part of the book devoted to David Bowie, as I cannot comment on the rest (except to say I enjoyed reading about Luther Vandross). There are quite a few factual mistakes, as other reviewers have pointed out, which doesn't bode well for the book's credibility or reliability about that troubled period of David Bowie's life. The insights into David Bowie's life, character, and work are staggeringly superficial to the point of being banal. The writer comes across as vapid and banal, which is a surprise because Ava Cherry's contributions to other Bowie biographies routinely show depth and articulateness. It is also incompetently written and chaotically organized, I am sorry to say this is not a book to recommend for a David Bowie fan.

Brilliant biography of this amazing lady what a life what a woman

This, without doubt, the worst written book I have ever read. I had high expectations. Ava had a long relationship with Bowie and therefore has knowledge of what went on behind the scenes. Sadly, the book appears to be written by a breathless, infatuated teenager who talks about how much she loved Bowie, so much so that 20 odd years later she was still feeling jealous of Iman when she attended Bowie and Iman's engagement party (though why she was there is a mystery). What this book lacks is a clear narrative - it jumps all over the place - and some decent editing. It reads like a very rough draft. There are numerous errors  e.g. Ava lived in Daska House, not Dasca House, and its Heddon Street, not Heddon Street Alley. Many of these errors could have been corrected within seconds by checking on the internet. Furthermore, the book is incredibly repetitive, and on one page the same sentence  is reproduced word for word within a few lines. Ava is clearly miffed she didn't get any writing credit on any of Bowie's songs, telling us (several times) she added 'boy' or 'girl' to the lyrics here and there, and that she is responsible for introducing Bowie to those who would help him make the Philly sound.  I assumed Ava would have some really good behind the scenes photos too, but if she does she's not sharing them with us. All in all, this book was an enormous disappointment. Sorry Ava.