Greg Renoff

Greg Renoff is a historian who reconstructs music before fame fixes its public mythology. Van Halen Rising follows the group's Southern California development from backyard parties and local clubs to its 1978 breakthrough. ECW Press says the book draws on more than 230 original interviews, including bassist Michael Anthony and producer Ted Templeman. Renoff earned a doctorate in American history from Brandeis and previously wrote The Big Tent, a study of the travelling circus in Georgia. He later co-wrote Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer's Life in Music with Templeman.