The MCA Days - A New Home

We've all heard the term 'Pushy Parents' and somewhere along the line I'm sure we've all experienced them.

'Pushy parents' can have a detrimental affect on an Artists career if they get too involved in things they know very little about and in some cases send some managers and labels running for the hills and completely ruin their childs chances of realising their dream.

Thankfully, mine were the kind of folk that did as much as they could to get me where they thought I deserved to be and when the deal was done slipped quietly back into their normal humble existence and watched proudly as their years of guidance and belief seemingly started to pay off.

The Day of the signing was a HUGE DEAL to myself and my family (it was happening). Mom, Dad and I were up bright and breezy to catch the early morning train down to London. My Mom hated London and still does to this day, it's way too big and fast for her. My Mother was born and raised in Tamworth and if I am honest has never really had the desire or inclination to be any where else (I've always secretly wished that I was like my Mother in this way and didn't have such dreams of grandeur) but alas I got stuck with the 'always wanting more' syndrome.

My Father on the other hand is exactly like me...a musician/songwriter who also had some minor success in the 60's being signed to Polydor. Sadly, my Dad was a product of the times and was ripped off massively and left with some pretty bad emotional scars that I don't ever really believe he's truly gotten over but hey...the curse of the Artist.

We arrived in London; all three of us dressed up like we were dining at The Ritz and were collected by our chauffeur driven car which would deliver us rather pretentiously to the MCA offices on Hyde Park Corner. Here we were greeted by my Manager Brian and my hot shot Lawyer at Sheridans.

I remember glancing at my Mom and Dad and feeling their sense of unease about the environment they were in; even though they were overjoyed by the prospect of household success for their youngest Daughter. I wistfully imagined us back in our small Town making small talk in our local Cafe over tea and cake, it all felt so business like now and not creative at all. This new chapter in my life was a far cry from my local drama club or The National Youth Theatre that I was part of where I was surrounded by people of my own age all having fun with our intangible dreams. I felt like I was ageing emotionally already.

We waited briefly in the reception of the Record Label and were soon joined by my head of A&R the lovely Steve Wolfe. As I mentioned in an earlier Post, it was Steve that had actually spotted be on the talent show 'Pot Of Gold' and he that contacted Brian my manager and suggest that he find me (it didn't take too long to find out that me signing to MCA was in fact no coincidence at all). What I learned within this very brief space of time from development to signing was that it was always going to be MCA that won the prize and the other meetings and negotiations over the past few months had all all just been part of the hype. What I mean by this is that shlepping me around to other major labels got people talking (the right kind of people, including BIG industry Lawyers) within the music industry and created a buzz, the outcome was always going to be the same.The deal was done behind my back before I even stepped foot in my first recording studio.

All five of us climbed the grand, curved, all white marble staircase up to the Managing Directors office.

Believe it or not I wasn't actually too familiar with the BIG BOSS himself; Mr Nicholas Phillips. Nick was of a class that I hadn't really frequented myself with at this stage in  my life; a very well educated, public school boy type; crisp Ralph Lauren shirts tucked into flawlessly pressed jeans and a passion for classic cars and immaculate women with double-barrel names.

As we entered Nicks office the first thing that hit me was the light; floor to ceiling windows with a balcony overlooking hyde park and the sheer size of it was totally unreasonable. It must have been bigger per square footage than my mom and dads entire house. The second thing that hit me was the athletic and rather handsome man that politely rose from behind his mahogany desk as the humble party entered the room.

Nick offered out his hand in greeting, first to my Father, then my Mother and finally to me (yeah this Man knew how to work it.).

After the obvious pleasantries, we were very soon down to business.

The hefty, bible like contract was carried in from another room by the Record Labels Lawyer with as much care as a glass slipper on a velvet pillow and all eyes at that moment were on it.

Although I was eager to sign and get this party started anything that thick had to be carrying some kind of complex distortion of the truth, I thought....but hey I was young.....who doesn't believe everything they're told?