The Scotti brothers knew Atlantic Records had never had a teen idol on its label, and they figured Atlantic would provide all of the credibility to get someone like me played on regular rock ’n’ roll radio. It was a risk for sure, but I’m glad they took it. After all, Atlantic Records was the home of Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, not to mention many other legendary rock ’n’ roll, rhythm and blues, and jazz artists. I honestly couldn’t believe they signed a deal with Atlantic. What had I done to deserve this kind of notoriety on a label like this? I hadn’t paid any dues. This was the beginning of the insecurity I started feeling as someone who had never, ever sung before. Why would Atlantic hire somebody who could not sing? The Scottis were good salesmen, obviously. And they had convinced Atlantic I would be good for some hit records.
After I met Bob Greenberg at the Atlantic office in Los Angeles, we soon flew to New York and met his brother—the president of the label—Jerry Greenberg and, of course, Ahmet Ertegun. The Greenbergs were both incredible men: down-to-earth and very likeable. Ertegun was the founder of Atlantic, a Turkish immigrant, an elegant and dynamic man whose charms totally won over my mom and me. We had a big signing ceremony in which pictures were taken because, back then, everything I did was merely for the sake of a photo op. This was the big time.
Standing in the boardroom signing a contract, I started thinking, Hey, maybe this is the start of my career as a real rock star. Of course, I barely even knew what I was signing. My mom and I were so happy and excited that we didn’t think too hard about what exactly it was we were getting involved with. This was the story of our lives. Like many other artists, we just signed on the line and thought all good things would follow. We were “family,” right? I was just happy to now be a rock star in training. Maybe I could take singing lessons and maybe—just maybe—I could get good. I truly thought I was going to get good. I thought, Maybe I’ll even write some songs once in a while, or maybe I’ll be able to choose material that I like and feel comfortable with. That’s what I thought it took to be a real rock star: You couldn’t just have the look and be a poser. You had to back it up with the songs. All the bands I loved, no matter how cool they may have looked, had what I considered to be the greatest singers in the world. That’s what I wanted to be. I want to be a great rock ’n’ roll singer. That’s how I approached my acting, even at an early age; I always wanted to learn, and I always wanted to get better. I always tried to apply myself, and my directors liked that. I assumed that this would also be the right approach to singing—that I could be myself and do whatever it took to get better and that I would get support in those efforts.
I could not have been more wrong.