Book Review: “A Dose of Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Nancy Lee Andrews

For Christmas last year, my daughter gave me a gift certificate for The Fest for Beatles Fans. My intent was to use the certificate to actually go to the fest, but sometimes life has other plans for us, so instead, I headed over to the fest online store and bought myself a copy of a book I’ve been wanting for a long time…A Dose of Rock ‘n’ Roll by former model and photographer Nancy Lee Andrews that was published in 2008 and is 292 pages.

My copy isn’t just any copy…it’s the deluxe signed and number edition and it’s absolutely gorgeous! A hardcover book complete with dust jacket and a hardcover sleeve to keep it safe. 

I picked this up the other day to finally glance through it for review and an hour later I found myself over one third of the way through it. Definitely way more interesting than I had originally thought it would be. Ms. Andrews starts each chapter telling us about her photographic subjects/friends, how she met each one and their history together. And while not all the photos are her photos, but most of them were taken while she was in attendance at an event or party.

For those of you ‘not in the know’, Nancy is the former fiancè of Ringo Starr, having spent 5 years with the former Beatle in the late seventies. And even though Nancy already ran with the hip and trendy folks of the seventies because of her career as a Ford model, Ringo opened up a lot of doors that allowed her to photograph Sir Richard Starkey in many a situation and so many other stars in and out of the studio. This collection is awe inspiring and the picture of Ringo and his children and precious.

Now here’s the clincher about why there’s not excuse for every Beatles fan and book collector not to have this book – the original cover price on this deluxe edition is $69.00, but…the Fest for Beatles Fans’ online store is currently selling it for just $29 + S&H. And before you ask, no, I have no affiliation with the fest and I’m not receiving any kickbacks or bonuses for telling you to buy a copy at their site. Hell…I don’t even know if Nancy is still getting paid for the copies the fest owns. But I did email them to make sure they had plenty of copies (which they do) for when I post this blog. And for all the reasons above…

I rate this book, 4 out of 4 Beetles!