Chris Heath Explained

Chris Heath is a British writer and journalist. He was a regular contributor to the popular English music magazine Smash Hits in the 1980s and early 1990s and has subsequently reported on a wide variety of non-fiction topics for GQ, The Atlantic, Esquire and Vanity Fair; as well as writing a number of books on popular culture. He won the 2013 National Magazine Award for Reporting.^[1]

In the late eighties, he travelled with Pet Shop Boys on their first ever world tour and the result was the book entitled Pet Shop Boys, Literally, released in 1990. In 1993, he published Pet Shop Boys Versus America which was written as he accompanied them on a US tour. He wrote the liner notes to the 2001 reissues of the band's first six albums, and assisted in the compilation of additional songs for inclusion. Alongside Pet Shop Boys, he contributed to the commentary track on the 2003 PopArt DVD. He writes and edits the Pet Shop Boys' fan club magazine, also called Literally, and conducts an interview for each of their tour programmes.

He is also the author of the best-selling biography of Robbie Williams, Feel (2004), and its follow-up, Reveal (2017).^[2]

He has been a Contributing Editor at Details, Rolling Stone,^[3] and American GQ.^[4]

In 2019 he co-wrote the lyrics for the musical The Boy in the Dress, which was presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company.^[5]

He will publish his investigation of events at Ponar, Lithuania during WW2, and their aftermath: No Road Leading Back: An Improbable Escape from the Nazis and the Tangled Way We Tell the Story of the Holocaust, in September 2024.^[6]

His articles include:

For GQ Magazine:

• 18 Tigers, 17 Lions, 8 Bears, 3 Cougars, 2 Wolves, 1 Baboon, 1 Macaque, and 1 Man Dead in Ohio, February 2012; for which he won the 2013 National Magazine Award for Reporting^[7]
• Graduation Day, February 2012; about the Japanese tsunami^[8]
• The True Story of Gary Faulkner, the Man Who Hunted Osama bin Laden, September 2010^[9]

For The Atlantic:

• A Lost Trove of Civil War Gold, an FBI Investigation, and Some Very Angry Treasure Hunters, June 2022^[10]
• The Truth Behind the Amazon Mystery Seeds, July 2021^[11]

For Esquire:

• The Militiamen, the Governor, and the Kidnapping That Wasn’t, October 2022^[12]

References

1. Web site: 2013-06-12 . Longform Podcast #45: Chris Heath · Longform . 2024-07-16 . Longform . en.
2. News: James Flint . 20 February 2005 . A writer's life: Chris Heath . 22 January 2016 . The Telegraph.
3. Chris Heath . . 22 January 2016.
4. Chris Heath . . 22 January 2016.
5. News: Billington . Michael . 2019-11-28 . The Boy in the Dress review – Robbie Williams has a ball with David Walliams . 2024-07-16 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
6. Book: NO ROAD LEADING BACK Kirkus Reviews . en.
7. Web site: Heath . Chris . 2012-02-06 . Terry Thompson and the Zanesville Ohio Zoo Massacre . 2024-07-16 . GQ . en-US.
8. Web site: Heath . Chris . 2012-03-12 . Surviving the 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami . 2024-07-16 . GQ . en-US.
9. Web site: Heath . Chris . 2010-09-09 . The True Story of Gary Faulkner, the Man Who Hunted Osama bin Laden and Inspired Nic Cage's 'Army of One' . 2024-07-16 . GQ . en-US.
10. News: Heath . Chris . 2022-06-17 . A Lost Trove of Civil War Gold, an FBI Excavation, and Some Very Angry Treasure Hunters . 2024-07-16 . The Atlantic . en . 2151-9463.
11. Web site: Heath . Chris . 2021-07-15 . The Truth Behind the Amazon Mystery Seeds . 2024-07-16 . The Atlantic . en.
12. Web site: 2022-10-17 . The Militiamen, the Governor, and the Kidnapping That Wasn’t . 2024-07-16 . Esquire . en-US.