Hancock, 71, has become a pioneering force in the jazz and blues music world, earning 14 Grammy awards and an Academy Award over his five-decade career, and seeing many of his songs become music staples.

"There are few artists in any genre who have had a career as rich and influential as Mr. Hancock's, and his memoir promises to be not only the record of a remarkable life and career but a singular chronicle of one of the most fertile periods in the development of jazz," said Clare Ferraro, president of Viking Press.

The pianist and composer, from Chicago, rose to fame in the 1960s playing with trumpeter Miles Davis in his "second great quintet," and composed hits such as "Watermelon Man," "Chameleon" and "Cantaloupe Island."

Hancock is currently an ambassador for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), pledging to use music to cross cultural boundaries and promote literacy and creativity among youth around the world.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy)

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