I don't make music, I write: Biddu

Three years ago, Biddu, the musician who gave India the Bollywood cult number Aap Jaisa Koi..., decided to swap his guitar for the pen - partly because "music was not the important thing in the world any more".

"Record sales were dipping and the X-box was moving in - unlike 15 years ago when music was the most important thing. I did not want to keep doing music year after year till I grew old with a foot in the grave," Biddu told IANS here. Last week, the musician cut his teeth in the literary world with his autobiography, Biddu: Made in India. "I hadn't intended to write an autobiography. In 2007, I decided to write a novel. I started writing in Spain where I spend a lot of my time. Two years later, in March 2009, I came to Delhi with my manuscript and met several publishers. They liked the story, but suggested why don't you write an autobiography first since you are known for your music. Then we will take a look at your fiction," Biddu said.

The musician returned home to write his memoirs in April 2009. "The book was ready by September. It is the first of a three-book contract that I have signed with HarperCollins-India," he said. The book traces his life as Coorgi tribal boy Biddu Appaiah, born to a gregarious mother and a doctor-father in Bangalore, when "the city was a pleasant little heaven of 700,000 people" in 1945.

Full report here Times of India