By Lyndsey Parker, Yahoo Music | Self-described “genre-fluid” songwriter Desmond Child has one of the most varied discographies imaginable, having written for everyone from KISS, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith and Joan Jett to Cher, Barbra Streisand, Katy Perry, Ricky Martin and Kelly Clarkson and even Kermit the Frog and Mickey Mouse. A musical storyteller for decades, he’s now telling his own stories in the autobiography Livin’ on a Prayer: Big Songs Big Life, which of course takes its title from one of his biggest hits for Bon Jovi.
As the memoir details, Child was grinding — something he learned from his ambitious mother, who was a songwriter herself — as early as 10th grade, when he formed a ‘70s musical duo with classmate Debbie “Virgil Night” Walstein called Nightchild. The two teens marketed themselves by dressing up like John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a brilliant promotional stunt that almost worked its magic on record mogul Clive Davis.
“We went up to Woodstock and made our first demo with Van Morrison’s band; we were 17,” Child recalls with a chuckle. “Then went back to Miami Beach, where we were from, and we went to this NARM convention, a music-business convention. We didn’t know how we were going to get in, so we decided we’d impersonate John and Yoko. [Walstein] wore all black with a floppy hat and big, black glasses, and I parted my hair down the middle and wore all white. We just kept our heads down, and everyone was saying, ‘John and Yoko, John and Yoko, John and Yoko!’ The crowds parted, we went into the showroom, and there was a table with two empty seats — right next to Clive Davis’s table.”
Child and Wall managed to fool everyone for most of the night — until the lights came on. “Clive looked at me and started laughing hysterically. I guess he really thought we were John and Yoko! But we had our tape in our hand, and I gave it to him,” says Child. “A couple of months later, I actually got a handwritten note from him telling us we weren’t ready. I mean, it wasn’t terrible, but it was bad. Maybe he felt sorry for us. But 40 years later to the day, in 2012, he hands me the Clive Davis Legend in Songwriting Award; I was the fourth recipient. So, there you go: You hand Clive a demo, and 40 years later, he hands you an award. That’s called the hustle.”
> > > > > > > > >
Read the rest of the story here:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/desmond-child-aerosmith-bon-jovi-kiss-190030118.html
Hitmaker Desmond Child Talks True Identity of Aerosmith’s ‘Dude’ and More
