Paul Stenning

Paul David Stenning (born 12 June 1976) is an English author, ghostwriter, poet, and motivational speaker. He has written twenty-six books, of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and biography. The best-known of his books is The Robert Pattinson Album, a biography of Robert Pattinson, first published in 2009 and appearing in seven languages since then.[1] According to WorldCat Stenning has released 28 works in 99 publications in 7 languages.[2]

Paul Stenning in Mauritius, 2019

Early life

Stenning was born in Brighton in East Sussex. He had trials with the Brighton & Hove Albion youth team and wanted to be a footballer or a writer.[3][4] Stenning's primary school teacher remarked that he would be a writer at the age of four.[5] His family moved to Manchester when he was eight years old.[6] Stenning attended Urmston Grammar School amongst others, including Bury Church of England High School. He did not attend college or university. Despite early encouragement at school, Stenning is a mostly autodidactic writer.[7]

Career

Stenning wrote poetry through his late teens and submitted his first poem in late 1999, which was published as part of an anthology titled Magical Memories, a year later.[8] During this time he worked with Take That and Peter Kay.[9] He also worked as a DJ, often playing sets before live concerts, particularly before shows at the Manchester Apollo. Stenning's sets appeared before concerts by No Doubt, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bruce Dickinson. He also once worked at a famous toy store where he met Karel Poborsky.[10]

Stenning has said music was his first love and he wrote music reviews for fun during his teens.[6] In the mid-1990s he submitted reviews to Metal Hammer where he soon became a regular contributor. Other music magazines he wrote for included Rolling Stone, Record Collector, Metal Maniacs, Decibel, Terrorizer and Alternative Press. He has also written for FHM, Front and, after moving to Cyprus in 2008, the Cyprus Weekly.

He has conducted hundreds of interviews including Meat Loaf, Pete Best, Alice Cooper, Steve Guttenberg, Kathy Sledge, Peter Steele, John Myatt and Linda Hamilton. Stenning's interviews often run over the allotted time allowed. He spoke to Peter Steele and Leslie Easterbrook for almost 3 hours despite an interview restriction of an hour. Easterbrook told Stenning he asks "great questions".[8][11][12] In 2006, Stenning interviewed Steven Adler live onstage at The Cavern Club in Liverpool.[13][14]

Stenning's work on Guns N' Roses was cited as the most accurate book on the band by guitarist Slash.[13][11]

Since 2009 Stenning has worked primarily as a ghostwriter, working with Patty Schnyder, Jason Newsted, Frank Abagnale, Tomáš Berdych, Slash, Steven Adler, Margaret Nolan, Adam Dubin,[15] U.S. Marshals 15 Most Wanted Fugitives Jody K Thompson[11] and British champion wrestler Ray Robinson.[16][17] Stenning was considered as ghostwriter for the memoirs of Amanda Knox due to his sensitivity and empathic interview style and ability to deal with harsh subject matters, the same reason he was chosen to handle the memoir of David Gill, the controversial owner of South Lakes Safari Zoo.[10]

In 2013 Stenning released Success – By Those Who've Made It, which featured Mario Andretti, Jörgen Elofsson, Ching He Huang, Cherie Lunghi, Roy 'Chubby' Brown, Greg Merson, Susan Polgar, Phil Gallagher aka Mister Maker and Penelope Spheeris.[18] Anne Wafula Strike was the last personal biography featured in the book, which Stenning explained was because her story was the most powerful and the greatest example of success.[19] After the book was released, Stenning gave talks on success at corporate events, festivals and schools.[20]

He is working on biographies of Archbishop Makarios III and Jayne Mansfield, which he considers "labours of love".[11]

Stenning describes Tommy Vance and especially the Friday Rock Show as big influences on his early career. He dedicated his biographies of Iron Maiden and Slash to Vance.[21][22]

Asked in 2015 if he would like to write an Axl Rose autobiography, Stenning replied, "without question". In the same interview Stenning revealed he could potentially work with Jason Newsted on a memoir in the future.[10]

Stenning's books have been released in multiple languages with several titles in Bulgarian, Polish and Portuguese.[2]

He currently serves as the official poet for the tourist board of Guinea-Bissau.[23]

Stenning is a member of the Society of Authors.

Former managing director of Virgin Books, KT Forster, has described Stenning as a polymath and a ghostwriting chameleon.

Personal life

Stenning has a wife and daughter. He travels around the world to ghostwrite and is based in the United States and Cyprus.[24] Stenning has been an active campaigner for animal rights since his teens and is a vegetarian.[25] He is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.[5]

In August 2020 Stenning expressed his support on Twitter for Rowan Atkinson and the coalition of authors and journalists campaigning against the hate crime bill.

Bibliography

As official biographer or co-writer

As writer
  • The Band That Time Forgot (history of Guns N' Roses, with foreword by Steven Adler, 2004)
  • Maximum Rasmus (history of the band on audio CD, 2004)
  • AC/DC: Two Sides To Every Glory (history of AC/DC, 2005)
  • Maximum Velvet Revolver (history of the band on audio CD, 2005)
  • My Chemical Romance: Something Incredible This Way Comes, (history of My Chemical Romance, 2006)
  • Iron Maiden: 30 Years of the Beast (history of Iron Maiden, 2006)
  • Slash: Surviving Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver And Rock’s Snakepit, (biography of Slash, 2007)
  • Thrash Metal – A Seemingly Endless Time, (History of the genre, featuring contributions from Scott Ian, Mille Petrozza, Martin Walkyier, Eric Peterson, 2007)
  • Rage Against the Machine: Stage Fighters (history of Rage Against the Machine, 2008)
  • The Robert Pattinson Album, (biography of Robert Pattinson, 2009)
  • Waste Of Money! Overspending in Football – A Tragic Loss to the Beautiful Game, (Focus on Premier League and other football finances, 2010)
  • Metallica: All That Matters, (history of Metallica 2010)
  • Success – By Those Who've Made It (2013)
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References
  1. Formats and Editions of The Robert Pattinson album [WorldCat.org]. OCLC 428777221.
  2. http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no2005032110/
  3. Stenning, Paul (24 November 2013). Success – By Those Who've Made It. Pg.230. In Flight Books. ISBN 978-1628475869.
  4. http://www.edicoesideal.com/paul-stenning/
  5. https://storyterrace.com/en-GB/paul-stenning/
  6. Brett Davison Interview, BBC, July 2005. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01g28s9
  7. Live Preston & Fylde http://www.live-magazines.co.uk/regions/preston-fylde/ magazine interview 2014, Pg. 117 Arts & Culture.
  8. "Live Preston & Fylde magazine", March 2014
  9. http://www.ghostwriterandauthor.com
  10. BBC Radio 5 Live interview with Dawn Dunlop, December 2015
  11. "The ghost writer".
  12. "U.K. Journalist: Music Will Be Lesser Without PETER STEELE's Impact". 15 April 2010.
  13. Devolution magazine interview https://devolutionmagazine.co.uk/ Issue 20, 2009.
  14. The Cavern Club: The Rise of The Beatles and Merseybeat, Spencer Leigh
  15. "Press – Adam Dubin". adamdubin.com.
  16. "Wrestler hoping life story will be great hit".
  17. "Marty helps Ray's book to be a forearm smash". oldham-chronicle.co.uk.
  18. "News – Page 2". jorgenelofsson.com.
  19. Stenning, Paul (24 November 2013). Success – By Those Who've Made It. Pg. 203–207. In Flight Books. ISBN 978-1628475869.
  20. Live Preston & Fylde http://www.live-magazines.co.uk/regions/preston-fylde/ magazine interview 2014, Pg. 118 Arts & Culture.
  21. Iron Maiden: 30 Years of the Beast (2006). ISBN 978-1842403617.
  22. Slash: Surviving Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver And Rock’s Snakepit (2007). ISBN 978-1786064196.
  23. http://www.gbissau.org/wp2013/en/ambients/rios-and-lagoons/
  24. http://www.scribiomemo.com/Stenning.html
  25. The Cyprus Weekly, 20 May issue, 2016
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