I was accompanied by my Manager (Brian) and my A&R man (Steve) and my excitement couldn't be contained. We stepped off the flight and the miserable faces and unwelcome greeting of the customs officials could not stop my cheesy, ear to ear beam or my slight over enthusiasm as I bounced in to the States, cool I was not!
A Black Chrysler limousine awaited our arrival and I remember whispering into Brian's ear that I was slightly embarrassed to get in to it. Limos to this day still make me very uncomfortable, they are way too grandiose and pretentious for my liking. Even more so for an unknown because you just know that at some point there will be someone standing there waiting for the doors to open with baited breath to see who gets out and then the disappointed face or faces when the limos true contents are revealed. Yeah that used to happen a lot.
We drove into Manhattan and literally my mouth was open the whole time, I was speechless, my neck hurt so much from looking up out of the window (so much so I wish I could have been strapped to the roof). I had never ever experienced architectural porn like it. Seriously... I was in total awe of this City. The atmosphere of New York is nothing short of electric and it will always remain my most favoured city in the World, hands down. I left my heart there. It made London feel like toyland to me. Everything was faster, bigger, taller. The smell of fresh pretzels on the street corners, the sound of honking horns every minute, the steam coming from the subways...this was me, this was the DREAM and I was living it. I was one lucky kid!
We slowly pulled up on 44th Street and outside the entrance to our Hotel, 'The Royalton'. The Royalton Hotel back in the 90's was THE place to see and be seen. It was designed by Philippe Starck and was the epitome of chic, minimalist design.
Two stunning door men held open my door as I climbed out of the limo. Were you kidding me? These were door men? The dark haired and and incredibly polite and smiley one I would recollect many years later as Gil Bellows the actor that played Tommy in Shawshank Redemption. Yes he actually held open my car door, I think maybe it should have been the other way round.
Every person that worked at The Royalton Hotel were of model like proportions. The women were flawlessly beautiful all dressed in little Red shift dresses that just added to the Hotels class and the Men looked like they had stepped right out of a Ralph Lauren campaign immaculately uniformed head to toe in black. Best place to look was at the floor, to save embarrassment.
We checked in and I headed to my room to catch some rest and get showered before we headed down to the lobby again later that night to dine in the restaurant.
To experience such finery at 17 was out of this World for me..I have to state that I would never have stayed in these places if it wasn't for my career and to have had these opportunities I still count as a huge blessing in my life. It all adds to my Life experience and I never ever take it for granted or forget that most people don't get to experience this side of life in their lifetime. I think its very important to say that I was a very, very fortunate 17 year old.
I was able to get a full days rest and see a bit of New York before I was due in the Studio with Ric Wake (Mariah, Whitney, Celine, Jennifer) and although I couldn't wait to start recording I was also extremely nervous at the prospect.
The Day of the recording I was up very, very early as my Jetlag and excitement combined was like downing 20 Redbulls but it was a positive as at least my voice had enough hours to wake up before I was to start singing. The Song I was recording was a Song called 'Swept Away' which was penned by Andy Marvel (Celine Dion, Diana King, Jessica Simpson), Shelly Peiken (Christine Aguilira) and Arnie Roman (Karyn White, The Real Thing, Taylor Dayne). I'd had the song sent to me 2 weeks prior to my trip and fell in love with it. I thought it had a real magical quality and I really felt that it would suit the tone of my voice. I learned the song off by heart so that I would feel as comfortable as possible performing it under pressure.
We arrived at The Hit Factory and it was a buzzing hive of creatives, writing and producing tracks in every room and studio throughout the building. A kingdom of hitmakers, where Ric ruled. I was booked into the main studio to lay down the vocals and as I entered the room my head filled with all the legends that had come before me.
Ric Wake introduced himself to me for the first time and shook my hand; I'm sure trying to make me feel as relaxed as possible. He was very down to earth and friendly but his reputation shadowed my judgement and ability to relax as I would have wanted to with him. To be honest there didn't seem to be too much care for small talk and I could see that this was going to be recording with strict timescales and work ethic. In no time at all I was in the vocal booth, mic'd up and ready to go.
Now as I have mentioned in a previous post, the vocal booth can be the most daunting and isolating experience ever if not handled correctly and the best vocal producers in my opinion go out of their way to not exasperate this possible emotional state. Ric, however wasn't this kind of producer (God love him).
The track played through the cans and I started to sing..
"I'm gonna cycle the track a few times to get you warmed up Rebekah"
"Ok", I said but I was already warm I had been rehearsing the track in my hotel room for hours.
I sang the track from top to bottom 2 or 3 times and Ric said nothing just left me in silence in the booth whilst having conversations with my Manager and the Engineer which I was not privy to but could witness through the glass. I began to battle with my nerves and so soon into the session too.
Now the problem with nerves is that unless you can control them they can be your worst enemy. Some nerves are good and can act as adrenaline which evokes spontaneous performance and takes your voice places it's never been, allowing itself to do things you never even thought it could. On the other hand if not leashed, nerves can trap your voice like a caged bird and you forget how to sing. This is why now when I work with Vocalists I go out of my way to build them first before I start to chip away at them. You have to make singers feel comfortable before they are able to take criticism or they just clam up.
"Right, Rebekah we're gonna start taking now ok?
"Yeah, ok".
I think I managed to get to the first Chorus and the track stopped.
"You're singing through your nose at this point".
"Am I? Ok, lets do it again."
Again....just passed first Chorus.
"You're doing this thing with your voice when you reach this point. It sounds throaty. Are you warmed up enough?"
"Erm, yeah I think so."
"Ok. lets go again".
A third time...stop.
"Rebekah try to open up when you get to that part."
Wow, the worst part about this way of recording is that the more times he stopped me to comment negatively, the more my voice really did start to close up.
I began to feel myself holding back the tears...I can't cry...God, Rebekah please don't let him make you cry.
"Ric, I don't know what you mean. My voice feels fine. Lets, go again".
"Yeah, its like you do this thing with your voice, you go throaty...you need to stop that. I don't like it."
Well that was it...my nerves had wrestled me to the ground and pinned me down...I was beat. The tears started streaming quietly down my face.
"Are you ok, Rebekah?"
'Erm, no....I can't do it."
Brian came into the vocal booth and tried to salvage my confidence but to no avail. Then Ric said desperately..."hey, do you want to go for a Beer?"
"Yeah, a Beer would good right about now."
We left the building and just Ric and I went to a local Bar and sat and chatted. I told him how I felt that the more he criticized me the more I would clam up and that I was already very nervous anyway, feeling slightly out of my depth in his presence alone. He apologized to me and said that he was aware that he can be hard on vocalists and didn't mean to make my cry. After his rather humble apology was accepted he concluded our discussion by asking me if I was ready to go back and record with him and well... I had to be honest with him.
"No Ric, I honestly don't think you're gonna get this Vocal out of me now. I am going to clam up with you every time because YOU make me nervous."
"Right, ok. How are we going to get around this as I don't think the label will be very happy" he said through a rather guilty chuckle."What about if Brian records the vocals with you? Would that be easier, instead of me?".
"Really is that an option? Yes please, I think that would work."
So, my first trip to New York to record with the illustrious Ric Wake, after all that the following Day it was my Manager that was able to get the vocals out of me but hey who cares how we got them...we got them. I thank Ric for being gracious enough to let go of the reigns to get the job done.
This was the song that I hoped would have been be my first Single but alas it was never to be heard until now.
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