So Tell Me What You Want: My story of making it in the mad, bad and fab pop music industry

by Nicki Chapman

*One of Waterstones' Best Entertainment Books of the Year 2024*

1987. Armed with a Filofax, a brick of a mobile phone and steely determination, 20-year-old Nicki Chapman is walking through the seedy streets of Soho towards her first job in the music biz.

But how did Nicki go from being a looked-over assistant running promo packages over to BBC Radio 1 to a judge on Pop Idol with 15 million viewers tuning in for the nail-biting moment Will Young triumphed over Gareth Gates?

Everyone knows there were the kingmakers in the heady days of 90s British pop music, but this is a queen's side of the story; a down-to-earth, no-nonsense team player who fought to make it in an industry that was very much a man's world.

Empowering, entertaining and sprinkled with stardust, Nicki's inspirational behind-the-scenes story takes in the rocketing highs and heart-breaking lows of promoting, managing and touring with the Spice Girls, Amy Winehouse, David Bowie, Take That, Billie Piper, Phil Collins and S Club 7, all whilst confronting chauvinism and smashing through the career glass ceiling.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

Published October 14, 2025

Reviews

[Mrs]

A not at all in depth account of Nicki Chapman’s career as a music plugger, fun but I could have done with more detail.

[Laura Angell]

This was pretty interesting although in my opinion it felt more like a series of photos that were being described: "here is one moment, let me describe what is happening" rather than a cohesive account of her career.
I thought that it would have flowed better with some context to the events she covered, or even just her thoughts on some things - for example, I struggle to believe she had no opinions on Chris Evans proposing to Billy Piper when he was nearly 20 years older than her!

[Peter]

An easy read Abbas an impressive life story. Felt genuine and not too much name dropping.