Walking Disaster

(Paperback)

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WALKING DISASTER is a riveting story of excess lived in the limelight, told with candour, humility and a thoughtful introspection rarely found in rock memoirs.

An unlikely rock and roll success story, Derek is an unassuming, intelligent, sensitive and insightful creative who is most at home in Sum 41's ecosystem, bringing their high-energy shows to crowds around the globe on marathon tours that typically last a year or more. He isn't the fame-seeking type, but he has had to contend with an unexpected degree of tabloid and paparazzi attention throughout his career due to two high profile relationships, one with Paris Hilton and the other, his four-year marriage to pop singer Avril Lavigne.

His life prior to the band is just as compelling. Raised in a single parent household under difficult circumstances, Whibley found solace and an avenue for his musical gifts in punk rock. Deryck's father abandoned him and his mother just after he was born, after which his mother remarried. His stepfather, who worked in construction and dealt drugs, was violent and abusive. When Deryck's mother eventually fled with her son and filed for divorce, they were forced to live at a campsite in Western Canada for a year, hiding from his stepfather who had vowed to kill them both.

Introspective and revealing, in WALKING DISASTER Derek discusses the evolution of his music, fame, his own story cheating death, as well as the radical societal changes that have taken place since he began his career - culminating in a phenomenal rock and roll story and artfully capturing the nineties and noughties era.

Author Bio

Deryck Whibley is a Canadian musician: a singer-songwriter and record producer who plays rhythm guitar and keyboards. He is the founder, only constant member, and primary songwriter of the band Sum 41 since 1993. Formed in 1996 as Kaspir, Sum 41 released their debut album All Killer No Filler in 2001, which went platinum and their first single, 'Fat Lip' reached #1 on the Billboard chart. But this early success was only the beginning of a fanbase with a slow upwards trajectory, always growing organically year on year, with 2022 seeing a significant jump in enthusiasm from fans all over the world, ending a year of touring to their biggest North American audiences ever. That success was also mirrored in London where they played their biggest show ever in October 2022 at Alexandra Palace, and throughout Europe (especially Italy and France) followed by Australia. The band is slated to release a double album this year.

Anthony Bozza is the author and co-author of multiple New York Times bestsellers. He has written with a wide array of figures from Tommy Lee and Slash to Tracy Morgan and Derek Jeter.