After spending months, rather frivolously cutting into my large artist advance eventually the dust settled and I started to adapt to my new London lifestyle.
The realization of how lucky I actually was to have a Record deal at 17 was hitting home. All my friends were working full time jobs, some in apprenticeships earning £56 pounds a week and all of them still living with their parents and here I was with my days my own, going to the gym and dining out in fancy restaurants with my own apartment in the capital.
The problem with this life, being 17 and on a rather premature executive salary is that it became very lonely. Unless I was with my Manager, I was on my own. I had a boyfriend who worked long hours in a five star Hotel but us spending time together was a rarity and before long he was sleeping with some Spanish waitress and I was kicking him out.
All this in hindsight was way too much for a young girl just out of school and from a very ordinary working class Irish background. The novelty of my freedom and wealth soon wore off and turned to boredom. It actually felt like I sang less being signed to a label than I did when I wasn't. How does that work?
Finally, however after the long months passed by the time came for me to meet with my Head of A&R, Steve Wolfe and the Head of Marketing.
Brian (my manager) picked me up in his White BMW Convertible and off we went to discuss the plans that would launch my Career.
Brian and I had grown very, very close since we had first met having spent a lot of time with him, his Wife and 2 gorgeous Daughters in the early stages before we secured my deal. I would stay at their family home in Hertfordshire and have tea with them at least 2 or 3 times a week and I always admired their relationship as a couple. They practically became like a second family to me and I have to say I trusted him with all my heart plus he had a great sense of humour which I loved. I always treated him like he was a brother...in fact looking back he was probably too open with me from the very beginning..telling me things about himself that he probably shouldn't but I liked it it felt like home.
Brian would always debrief me on the way to a meeting, telling me what was on the agenda and how I should act and even what to wear; I'm sure this is the norm for most POP artists. It was important that I always took every opportunity to reaffirm the company's belief in me as an Artist and investment. Therefore I was always on my best behaviour, carefully choosing my words and looking flawless.
Steve Wolfe's Office was on the top floor of the building and had a glass front and I always remember that when the lift doors opened to the A&R department the first thing that hit you was the music and the energy. Every person on that floor was a filled with enthusiasm and you could tell that they just lived for their jobs. Music blaring through precision speakers and excitable shout outs of "Hey, you've gotta hear this...this is the next___single."
You go into labels now and they are like libraries...listening to music at their pod like desks through headphones nothing at all like it was back then. The huge corporations with their bottom line mentality have killed the child like enthusiasm that echoed through the Music business and to be honest I am glad that I got to see the industry at its finest.
Steve Wolfe or Wolfie as he was known, always reminded me of a white Coolio, he talked in rhyme and chain smoked 'Dunhill' cigarettes. He was like the Godfather of the A&R department and everyone adored him. I don't think I ever saw Wolfie raise his voice once or get angry the whole time I had known him, he always remained softly spoken so that you would hang on his every word.
Wolfie again lived and breathed Music.....his passion was contagious and once more I felt like this was a man whom I could trust and whom I had copious amounts of respect for.
In the meeting Wolfie explained that the last few months had been spent having conversations with Producers, working in time frames and of course looking for Songs and now they were ready to move forward and start recording.
The first recording session was to be in New York in 2 weeks time and was with Uber Record Producer Ric Wake, Ric had previously produced Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Taylor Dayne, Celine Dion to name but a few....although overjoyed by the prospect my throat tensed at the idea.
At the time Rick had an empire called The Hit Factory in NYC which housed and helped launch the careers of some of the Worlds most incredible writers and artists such as the legendary Billy Mann (Pink) and the uber talented Andy Marvell amongst others and his production house had churned out some of the biggest hits of the 80's and early 90's.
Was I ready for this??
He then went on to inform me that I would then continue to work with some of the biggest names in Music at that time, C&C Music Factory, the epic Brothers In Rhythm and of course not forgetting the incredible Nigel Lowis who I had already worked with prior to my deal.
I had songs being sent for me from Burt Bacharach, Lou Lou, Billy Mann, Andy Marvel, Diane Warren, the World's top drawer writers (what the industry calls the writers that write the hits) and they don't just write for anyone you had to be a priority act.
.....and that was just the Music...the conversation then progressed to the Photographers that would be shooting me. The names of Steven Meisel, Herb Ritts, Steven Kline were thrown around flippantly like they were unknowns...this was WAY too much for for my humble beginnings. Dreams were not meant to become reality, not this soon anyway.
That was it...the pressure just got heavy....I was speechless...HAPPY... but christ I have never been so nervous in my life. Was I capable of mixing with such greatness, really?
Was this 17 Year old Tammy able to deliver??
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