shockadelicaa said:

Peter Guralnick's books on Elvis are excellent. Last Train To Memphis charts his rise to fame, Careless Love continues with his exit from the army to his ultimate decline. They are both thoroughly researched and stick with the facts.
Ray Coleman's biography of John Lennon is a similar read.

At the moment I am reading Bill Wyman's history of Blues music. It is really interesting and charts the development of blues from Africa via the Delta plantations up to the present day.