Riordan

The author of 45 books, James Riordan's career began in the music industry where as a songwriter, manager, producer and concert promoter he worked with several well known artists. In 1976 he began writing a newspaper column on popular music, Rock-Pop, which he later syndicated. Riordan soon became one of America's premier rock journalists with articles reaching millions of readers including those of Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy, Circus, Musician, The Chicago Daily News, The Kansas City Star, and...See more

The author of 45 books, James Riordan's career began in the music industry where as a songwriter, manager, producer and concert promoter he worked with several well known artists. In 1976 he began writing a newspaper column on popular music, Rock-Pop, which he later syndicated. Riordan soon became one of America's premier rock journalists with articles reaching millions of readers including those of Rolling Stone, Crawdaddy, Circus, Musician, The Chicago Daily News, The Kansas City Star, and many others.His first book, The Platinum Rainbow (written with Bob Monaco in 1980) became the largest selling book ever written about the music business. The guide to succeeding in the music business without selling your soul was praised by Variety, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Las Vegas Sun, The Minneapolis Tribune, Billboard, Record World and many more. The Platinum Rainbow became an industry wide phenomenon and interviews with James Riordan were aired on over 1200 radio stations and numerous television talk shows. Next Riordan collaborated with Pulitzer Prize winner Jason Miller on a mini-series for network television (The Irish) and a movie of the week for CBS (Bless Me Father). In June 1991, William Morrow published Break On Through. Riordan was a consultant on Oliver Stone's film, The Doors, which led to his writing Stone's biography. Published by Hyperion in December 1995, Entertainment Weekly called STONE an unflinching biography... enough spectacle to fill a month of daytime-TV talk shows. The New York Post said reading the book was like the sensory overload of watching all of Oliver Stone's movies back to back. From 1997-2000, Riordan created and co-starred in a local TV program, Kankakee Valley Prime Time, which won six Crystal Communicators, three Tellys, and a Chicago/ Midwest Emmy Nomination for Writing. In the summer of 1999, James Riordan wrote, directed and starred in Maddance, which won Crystal Communicators for Drama, Writing, Acting and Directing. He has written several screenplays since including John Horse (Best Screenplay at the San Antonio Film Festival in 2018). In 2004, Toastmasters International named Riordan Communicator of the Year for Central Illinois, the YMCA gave him their Service to Youth Award and the United Way named him the Outstanding Volunteer of Kankakee County. Returning to writing, Riordan went to Africa to write The Bishop of Rwanda. In 2011, he won the Pledge For Life Harold Award for his work with area youth. In 2012, Lee and Shane Stanley (Gridiron Gang) optioned Maddance and Apothecary Films optioned The Kill Switch. See less