Alan Light (Photo: Mary Ellen Matthews)

Alan Light

Author / Music Journalist


Alan Light has been one of America’s leading music journalists for the past twenty years. He was a writer at Rolling Stone, founding music editor and editor-in-chief of Vibe, and editor-in-chief of Spin magazine.
He has been a contributor to The New YorkerGQEntertainment WeeklyElle, and Mother Jones and the author of:
  • The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys
  • The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of “Hallelujah”
  • What Happened, Miss Simone?: A Biography
  • Let’s Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain and
  • cowriter of the New York Times bestselling memoir by Gregg Allman, My Cross to Bear.
Let's Go Crazy Prince and the Making of Purple Rain