Pride of Our Alley now available to order

Sebastian Lassandro with copies of his books

A double-volume book documenting Dame Gracie Fields’ life story in its entirety for the very first time is now available to order.

Presented in two volumes, Pride of Our Alley exhaustively covers Gracie’s entire public and private life and career: Volume 1 covers 1898-1939 and Volume 2 covers 1939-1979 and beyond.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/126787/pride-of-our-alley--the-life-of-dame-gracie-fields-to-be-published-in-april

Gracie rose from humble beginnings above her grandmother’s fish and chip shop in Rochdale, to become the world's highest paid film star, the first female variety artiste to be awarded the CBE, one of the first million-selling recording artists and the recipient of over 250,000 messages of goodwill and support following a major illness in 1939.

In a career that spanned over seventy years, Dame Fields became a British household name and one of the most popular artistes in the early years of the 20th century.

Recognised worldwide by the intimate nickname 'Our Gracie', her image maintained a strong working class identity within her film and recording career, ensuring that by the outbreak of the World War Two, 'Our Gracie' had become a widely recognised metaphor for solidarity and traditional working-class values, presented through comedic and sentimental songs and her persona of an unsophisticated Lancashire mill girl.

‘Pride of Our Alley,’ by Gracie super-fan Sebastian Lassandro, tells her incredible story for the first time in minuscule detail, correcting many of the misconceptions, errors and complete factual inaccuracies previously published about Britain’s First Lady of the Music Hall Stage.

Over six years in the writing, Sebastian has spent hundreds of hours researching in public and private archives, trawling through tens of thousands of newspaper cuttings, unpublished diary extracts, private letters, radio broadcasts and personal stories.

From 2015, Sebastian spearheaded a campaign with Rochdale Council and Rochdale Rotary Club East to permanently honour Gracie Fields in her hometown, which resulted in the unveiling of eight purple Gracie Fields heritage plaques around the town and a 1.5x life size bronze statue of Gracie Fields outside Rochdale Town Hall.

‘Pride of Our Alley’ is available in paperback, hardback and ebook formats.