Cole Porter - William McBrien

The definitive biography of Cole Porter - the urbane American composer of musical comedies and of over 1000 songs - which reveals the darker side of the star whose life and work epitomizes the romance of Caf Society.

Cole Porter - composer of Night and Day, Easy to Love and I've Got You Under My Skin - is familiar to three generations. His tunes conjure up romance, glamour and cultivated sensuality.

William McBrien charts Porter's life, beginning on a fruit farm in Indiana and moving on to Yale, Harvard and the Paris Conservatoire. After roaming bohemian Europe for a decade with his rich and beautiful wife, Porter made his name in the 1930s with hit shows like Anything Goes. A riding accident left him in constant pain, but he continued to write shows like Kiss Me Kate and Silk Stockings until his death in 1964.

McBrien contrasts Porter's refined, elegant music with the pain and passion of a life which mixed devotion to his wife with numerous homosexual love affairs. Having talked to friends and colleagues (including Bob Hope, Diana Vreeland, Stephen Sondheim) who have never spoken about him before, and researched Porter's lyrics and correspondence, McBrien makes new links between his life and work, revealing how his own particular brand of hedonism was his protection against encroaching darkness.