Stay Alive: The Life and Death of Stuart Adamson

A TOP 5 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

A Best Pop Music Book of 2026 – The Herald

‘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.