The First European Promotional Tour:
London Hotel

Before heading over to the UK for my first European promotional tour, I did a number of TV appearances in the States, including my very first shot on American Bandstand, singing “Surfin’ USA” and “Special Kind of Girl.” It was a real thrill to meet Dick Clark, and as I got to know him over the years, appearing on the show a number of times, he was never anything less than very gracious and kind with me. I had always watched the show as a kid, and it was surreal to be out there on that stage and having him come over to talk to me after I was done lip-synching.

And then it was time to get on a plane for my big trip. I had no idea what to expect. We’d heard the record was doing pretty well in Europe, and all I would be doing was visiting radio stations and appearing on TV shows to lip-synch “Surfin’ USA.” We were going to start in London and then work our way through Spain and Germany. Traveling with me would be Stan Moress. My mom had tears in her eyes the day I left: November 6, 1977. Her birthday. Two days before my sixteenth birthday. This was a big deal. It was starting to feel as if this music thing was going to be pulling me away from and affecting my family. But that’s just how it was. I was nervous, but it was a good kind of nervous. It was an adventure.

I was actually starting to feel famous at this point, but nothing prepared me for the Dorchester Hotel in London. It’s one of the world’s most prestigious and expensive hotels, a five-star luxury extravaganza. And it has so much history. Many famous writers and artists, such as Cecil Day-Lewis and W. Somerset Maugham, stayed here. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton also frequently stayed there. It is located right by Hyde Park and was one of the prettiest buildings I’d ever seen. After we checked in, it got even better. We were not staying in just any room; we had booked the exquisite Terrace suite. This was where royalty and heads of state would stay. And now it was mine? What did this thing cost? Obviously, money was no object to the Scotti brothers. They wanted to take good care of me because, after all, I was “family,” remember? I unpacked my bags and began wandering around the enormous suite. I had never been in any place that had even approached having this kind of grandeur.

After the long flight, I was hungry, and I picked up the phone to order room service. Several moments later, there was a knock at the door and my own private chef came in. What? All I was in the mood for was maybe a scrambled egg or something. But the chef was prepared to make me whatever I felt like. He had actually taken a private elevator up directly from the kitchen to cook right in my suite. “Any special dietary restrictions, Mr. Garrett?” This was incredible. I called my mom from the room and told her all about it. She wanted me to describe everything. The next day we started making the rounds. I appeared on Top of Pops to sing “Surfin’ USA,” along with an appearance on Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, a Saturday-morning live kids’ TV show on the BBC, and incredibly, the young girls there were as enthusiastic as the ones back home in America. There really was something happening. The Scotti brothers must know what they’re doing, I thought. They had marketing muscle. They were making this happen for me. And not only that, but I could fly first class and stay in the best places in the world. This all seemed too good to be true.