Audiobooks narrated by Pete Simonelli

The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll

A riveting saga in the history of rock 'n' roll: the decades-long rivalry between the two men who innovated the electric guitar's amplified sound—Leo Fender and Les Paul—and their intense competition to convince rock stars like the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton to play the instruments they built. In the years after World War II, music was evolving from big-band jazz into the primordial elements of rock 'n' roll—and these louder styles demanded revolutionary instruments. When Leo Fender's tiny firm marketed the first solid-body electric guitar, the Esquire, musicians immediately saw its appeal. Not to be out-maneuvered, Gibson, the largest guitar manufacturer, raced to build a competitive product. The company designed an "axe" that would make Fender's Esquire look cheap and convinced Les Paul—whose endorsement Leo Fender had sought—to put his name on it. Thus was born the guitar world's most heated rivalry: Gibson versus Fender, Les versus Leo. While Fender was a quiet, half-blind, self-taught radio repairman from rural Orange County, Paul was a brilliant but egomaniacal pop star and guitarist who spent years toying with new musical technologies. Their contest turned into an arms race as the most inventive musicians of the 1950s and 1960s—including bluesman Muddy Waters, rocker Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton—adopted one maker's guitar or another. By the time Jimi Hendrix played "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock in 1969 on his Fender Stratocaster, it was clear that electric instruments—Fender or Gibson—had launched music into a radical new age, empowering artists with a vibrancy and volume never before attainable.

Ian S. Port (Author), Pete Simonelli (Narrator)

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Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness

'Tim Grover's teachings completely changed how I approached my professional career, helping me navigate the constant ups and downs that sport at the highest level brings.' Marcus Rashford, MBE From the elite performance coach for Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade and many others - and the author of the powerful bestseller Relentless - a no-holds-barred formula for winning that is ideal for business people, athletes and anybody wanting to achieve success. In Relentless, Tim Grover showed that you need to be tough and ruthless - towards others and yourself - to achieve your goals. Now, in Winning he takes that skill repertoire to an even higher level, demonstrating why he is one of the world's most sought-after mindset experts. Based on three decades of work with elite competitors like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade, Winning challenges you to destroy every obstacle in your path, even if, at the moment of greatest triumph, it may be all taken away. Whether you're an athlete striving to win, an entrepreneur building a business, a CEO managing an empire, a salesperson looking to close a deal, or a high achiever determined to stand in the winner's circle, Winning offers thirteen key principles for ramping up your performance to the maximum. If you're addicted to the taste of success and crave more, then you're ready for the results-driven performance formula found here. And if you're already winning and want to learn how to execute excellence repeatedly - so you can own not just this moment, but the next, and the next - then Winning is for you.

Shari Wenk, Tim S. Grover (Author), Pete Simonelli (Narrator)

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Changes: An Oral History of Tupac Shakur

A New Yorker writer's intimate, revealing account of Tupac Shakur's life and legacy, timed to the fiftieth anniversary of his birth and twenty-fifth anniversary of his death. In the summer of 2020, Tupac Shakur's single "Changes" became an anthem for the worldwide protests against the murder of George Floyd. The song became so popular, in fact, it was vaulted back onto the iTunes charts more than twenty years after its release—making it clear that Tupac's music and the way it addresses systemic racism, police brutality, mass incarceration, income inequality, and a failing education system is just as important now as it was back then. In Changes, published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Tupac's birth and twenty-fifth anniversary of his death, Sheldon Pearce offers one of the most thoughtful and comprehensive accounts yet of the artist's life and legacy. Pearce, an editor and writer at The New Yorker, interviews dozens who knew Tupac throughout various phases of his life. While there are plenty of bold-faced names, the book focuses on the individuals who are lesser known and offer fresh stories and rare insight. Among these are the actor who costarred with him in a Harlem production of A Raisin in the Sun when he was twelve years old, the high school drama teacher who recognized and nurtured his talent, the music industry veteran who helped him develop a nonprofit devoted to helping young artists, the Death Row Records executive who has never before spoken on the record, and dozens of others. Meticulously woven together by Pearce, their voices combine to portray Tupac in all his complexity and contradiction. This remarkable book illustrates not only how he changed during his brief twenty-five years on this planet, but how he forever changed the world.

Sheldon Pearce (Author), Aden Hakimi, Ashton Grooms, Cary Hite, Fred Sanders, Guy Lockard, Heather Alicia Simms, Jackie Sanders, Jd Jackson, Landon Woodson, Leon Nixon, Pete Simonelli, Robin Miles (Narrator)

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Sinatra and Me: In the Wee Small Hours

An intimate, revealing portrait of Frank Sinatra—from the man closest to the famous singer during the last decade of his life. More than a hundred books have been written about legendary crooner and actor Frank Sinatra. Every detail of his life seems to captivate: his career, his romantic relationships, his personality, his businesses, his style. But a hard-to-pin-down quality has always clung to him—a certain elusiveness that emerges again and again in retrospective depictions. Until now. From Sinatra's closest confidant and an eventual member of his management team, Tony Oppedisano, comes an extraordinarily intimate look at the singing idol. Deep into the night, for more than two thousand nights, Frank and Tony would converse—about music, family, friends, great loves, achievements and successes, failures and disappointments, the lives they'd led, the lives they wished they'd led. In these full-disclosure conversations, Sinatra spoke of his close yet complex relationship with his father, his conflicts with record companies, his carousing in Vegas, his love affairs with some of the most beautiful women of his era, his triumphs on some of the world's biggest stages, his complicated relationships with his talented children, and, most important, his dedication to his craft. Toward the end, no one was closer to the singer than Oppedisano, who kept his own rooms at the Sinatra residences for many years, often brokered difficult conversations between family members, and held the superstar entertainer's hand when he drew his last breath. Featuring never-before-seen photos and offering startlingly fresh anecdotes and new revelations that center on some of the most famous people of the past fifty years—including Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Sam Giancana, Madonna, and Bono—Sinatra and Me pulls back the curtain to reveal a man whom history has, in many ways, gotten wrong.

Tony Oppedisano (Author), Pete Simonelli (Narrator)

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Badluck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West

The gripping memoir of a young man, a wolf, their parallel lives and ultimate collision, Badluck Way is also an ode to the satisfaction of hard work on some of the wildest and most beautiful land in the world. "Mine might have been a simple, pretty story, if not for the wolves. In late July, they emerged from the foothills . . ." In this gripping memoir of a young man, a wolf, their parallel lives and ultimate collision, Bryce Andrews describes life on the remote, windswept Sun Ranch in southwest Montana. The Sun's twenty thousand acres of rangeland occupy a still-wild corner of southwest Montana-a high valley surrounded by mountain ranges and steep creeks with portentous names like Grizzly, Dead Man, and Bad Luck. Just over the border from Yellowstone National Park, the Sun holds giant herds of cattle and elk amid many predators-bears, mountain lions, and wolves. In lyrical, haunting language, Andrews recounts marathon days and nights of building fences, riding, roping, and otherwise learning the hard business of caring for cattle, an initiation that changes him from an idealistic city kid into a skilled ranch hand. But when wolves suddenly begin killing the ranch's cattle, Andrews has to shoulder a rifle, chase the pack, and do what he'd hoped he would never have to do. Badluck Way is about transformation and complications, about living with dirty hands every day. It is about the hard choices that wake us at night and take a lifetime to reconcile. Above all, Badluck Way celebrates the breathtaking beauty of wilderness and the satisfaction of hard work on some of the harshest, most beautiful land in the world. Called "an important meditation on what it means to share space and breathe the same air as truly wild animals" (Tom Groneberg, author of The Secret Life of Cowboys), Badluck Way is the memorable story of one young man's rebirth in the crucible of the West's timeless landscape, a place at the center of the heart's geography, savage and gorgeous in equal measure.

Bryce Andrews (Author), Pete Simonelli (Narrator)

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Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable

An all-new production of the phenomenal bestseller, now featuring exclusive new conversations with the authors! For more than two decades, legendary trainer Tim Grover has taken the greats—Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and hundreds of relentless competitors in sports, business, and every walk of life—and made them greater. Now, for the first time ever, he reveals what it takes to achieve total mental and physical dominance, showing you how to be relentless and achieve whatever you desire. Direct, blunt, and brutally honest, Grover breaks down what it takes to be unstoppable: you keep going when everyone else is giving up, you thrive under pressure, you never let your emotions make you weak. In "The Relentless 13," he details the essential traits shared by the most intense competitors and achievers in sports, business, and all walks of life. Relentless shows you how to trust your instincts and get in the Zone; how to control and adapt to any situation; how to find your opponent's weakness and attack. Grover gives you the same advice he gives his world-class clients—"don't think"—and shows you that anything is possible. Packed with previously untold stories and unparalleled insight into the psyches of the most successful and accomplished athletes of our time, Relentless shows you how even the best get better...and how you can too.

Tim S. Grover (Author), Pete Simonelli (Narrator)

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Reckoning: An FBI Thrilller

Agents Savich and Sherlock are back in the latest installment in Catherine Coulter’s #1 New York Times bestselling FBI Thriller series, and this time both are enlisted to help women with traumatic pasts who are in mortal danger. When she was twelve years old, Kirra Mandarian’s parents were murdered and she barely escaped with her life. Fourteen years later Kirra is a commonwealth attorney back home in Porte Franklin, Virginia, and her goal is to find out who killed her parents and why. She assumes the identity of E.N.—Eliot Ness—and gathers proof to bring down the man she believes was behind her parents’ deaths. She quickly learns that big-time criminals are very dangerous indeed and realizes she needs Dillon Savich’s help. Savich brings in Special Agent Griffin Hammersmith to work with Lieutenant Jeter Thorpe, the young detective who’d saved Kirra years before. Emma Hunt, a piano prodigy and the granddaughter of powerful crime boss Mason Lord, was only six years old when she was abducted. Then, she was saved by her adoptive father, San Francisco federal judge Ramsey Hunt. Now a 12-year-old with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, she narrowly saves herself from a would-be kidnapper at Davies Hall in San Francisco. Worried for her safety, Emma’s entire family joins her for her next performance, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.. Sherlock and officers from METRO are assigned to protect her, but things don’t turn out as planned…

Catherine Coulter (Author), Pete Simonelli, Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator)

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Vortex: An FBI Thriller

#1 New York Times bestselling Catherine Coulter returns with a brilliant new novel in her FBI thriller series, in which agents Sherlock and Savich find themselves dealing with very powerful figures from the past who could wreak havoc in the present. Seven years ago, Mia Briscoe was at a college frat rave with her best friend, Serena, when a fire broke out. Everyone was accounted for except Serena, who was never seen nor heard from again. Now an investigative journalist covering the political scene in New York City, Mia discovers old photos taken the night of Serena’s disappearance and begins to uncover a sinister string of events going all the way back to that disastrous party. Working with Sherlock, the secrets begin to unravel. But some very powerful—and very dangerous—people will do anything to keep them from learning the truth. CIA Operative Olivia Hildebrandt is a team leader on a mission in Iran to exfiltrate a betrayed undercover operative. She’s nearly killed by an exploding grenade and saved by a team member. But by the time Olivia is released from Walter Reed Hospital, that team member and a critical flash drive he was carrying have disappeared. When Olivia is attacked on her first night home, Savich suspects that the strike is a direct result of the compromised mission and the missing team member and flash drive. But what intelligence was at stake and who betrayed them?

Catherine Coulter (Author), Pete Simonelli, Saskia Maarleveld (Narrator)

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Consumed

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series comes a brand-new novel about arson investigator, Ann Ashburn, who is consumed by her troubled past, her family's scorched legacy, and her current case: chasing a deadly killer. Anne Ashburn is a woman consumed... By her bitter family legacy, by her scorched career as a firefighter, by her obsession with department bad-boy Danny McGuire, and by a new case that pits her against a fiery killer. Strong-willed Anne was fearless and loved the thrill of fighting fires, pushing herself to be the best. But when one risky decision at a warehouse fire changes her life forever, Anne must reinvent not only her job, but her whole self. Shattered and demoralized, Anne finds her new career as an arson investigator a pale substitute for the adrenaline-fueled life she left behind. She doesn't believe she will ever feel that same all-consuming passion for her job again--until she encounters a string of suspicious fires setting her beloved city ablaze. Danny McGuire is a premiere fireman, best in the county, but in the midst of a personal meltdown. Danny is taking risks like never before and seems to have a death wish until he teams up with Anne to find the fire starter. But Danny may be more than a distraction, and as Anne narrows in on her target, the arsonist begins to target her. From the creator of the bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood, get ready for a new band of brothers. And a firestorm.

J.R. Ward (Author), Hillary Huber, Jason Carpenter, Jim Frangione, Pete Simonelli (Narrator)

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A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland

A long-overdue biography of Grover Cleveland—the honest, principled, and plain-spoken president whose country has largely overlooked him. Featuring a wealth of in-depth research and newly uncovered details, A Man of Iron explores the remarkable life and extraordinary career of Grover Cleveland—one of America's most unusual presidents and the only one to serve two non-consecutive terms. Grover Cleveland's political career—a dizzying journey that saw him rise from obscure lawyer to president of the United States in just three years—was marked by contradictions. A politician of uncharacteristic honesty and principle, he was nevertheless dogged by secrets from his personal life. A believer in limited government, he pushed presidential power to its limits to combat a crippling depression, suppress labor unrest, and resist the forces of American imperialism. A headstrong executive who alienated Congress, political bosses, and even his own party, his stubbornness nevertheless became the key to his political appeal. The most successful Democratic politician of his era, he came to be remembered most fondly by Republicans. A fascinating look at a unique man presiding over a transformational era, A Man of Iron is a compelling and vivid biography joining the ranks of presidential classics such as David McCullough's John Adams, Ron Chernow's Grant, and Amity Shlaes's Coolidge.

Troy Senik (Author), Pete Simonelli (Narrator)

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Wolf Boys: Two American Teenagers and Mexico's Most Dangerous Drug Cartel

The story of two American teens recruited as killers for a Mexican cartel, and their pursuit by a Mexican-American detective who realizes the War on Drugs is unwinnable. What's it like to be an employee of a global drug-trafficking organization? And how does a 15-year-old American boy go from star quarterback to trained assassin, surging up the cartel corporate ladder? At first glance, Gabriel Cardona is the poster boy American teenager: great athlete, bright, handsome, and charismatic. But the streets of his border town of Laredo, Texas, are poor and dangerous, and it isn't long before Gabriel abandons his promising future for the allure of the Zetas, a drug cartel with roots in the Mexican military. His younger friend Bart, as well as others from Gabriel's childhood, join him in working for the Zetas, boosting cars and smuggling drugs, eventually catching the eye of the cartel's leadership. Meanwhile, Mexican-born Detective Robert Garcia has worked hard all his life and is now struggling to raise his family in America. As violence spills over the border, Detective Garcia's pursuit of the boys, and their cartel leaders, puts him face to face with the urgent consequences of a war he sees as unwinnable. In Wolf Boys Dan Slater shares their stories, taking us from the Sierra Madre mountaintops to the dusty, dark alleys of Laredo, Texas, on a harrowing, often brutal journey into the heart of the Mexican drug trade. Gabriel's evolution from good-natured teenager into a feared assassin is as inevitable as Garcia's slow realization of the futile nature of his work. A nonfiction thriller, Wolf Boys depicts more than just Gabriel, Bart, and the officers who took them down. It shows, through vivid detail and rich, often moving, narrative, the way in which the border itself is changing, disappearing, and posing new, terrifying, and yet largely unseen threats to American security. Ultimately though, Wolf Boys is the intimate story of the "lobos" themselves: boys turned into pawns for cartels. Their stories show how poverty, ideas about identity, and government ignorance have warped the definition of the American dream. ©2016 Dan Slater (P)2016 Simon & Schuster

Dan Slater (Author), Pete Simonelli (Narrator)

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The Intern's Handbook: A Thriller

John Lago is an intern at one of the biggest law firms in Manhattan. He clocks eighty hours a week getting coffee, answering phones, and doing all of the shit work no one else wants to do . . . and he doesn’t make a dime. But John isn’t trying to claw his way to the top of the corporate food chain. He was hired to assassinate one of the firm’s high profile, heavily guarded partners. His internship is the perfect cover—enabling him to gather intel and secure the access he needs to execute a clean, untraceable kill. A cinematic (and psychopathic) thriller, The Intern’s Handbook is John Lago’s unofficial survival guide for new recruits at Human Resources, Inc.—John’s real employer and a front for one of the most elite assassin training and “placement” programs in the world. What starts as a handbook becomes a darkly comic memoir in which John chronicles his final assignment and takes the listener on a twisted, violent thrill ride in which he is pitted against the strongest adversary he has ever faced—Alice, a federal agent assigned to investigate the same law firm partner John’s been hired to kill. In juxtaposition to John’s blood-soaked bravado are FBI surveillance transcripts in which he unwittingly exposes the deep scars from his horrific childhood, longs to connect with his true family, and, through Alice, hopes that love will help him find redemption from the body count that haunts his past and threatens his future. From THE INTERN'S HANDBOOK: Rule #4: Learn how to make the perfect cup of coffee. This is the single most important part of your job as an intern. Go ahead, laugh. You can make copies and do runs until you’re blue in the face and an exec will not give a shit. You make him the best goddamned cup of coffee he’s ever had and he may not remember your name but he will make damn sure you are at his desk every morning for a repeat performance. That’s repetitive exposure, which begets access and trust. 44% of my kills came from my superior coffee-making ability. It’s simple, puts you in direct contact with the target, and it can be a vector for a variety of weapons. This opportunity presents itself more often than you think.

Shane Kuhn (Author), Pete Simonelli (Narrator)

Audiobook

Audiobooks Narrated by Pete Simonelli