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Chapter 1
"Sorry Rosie, we need to do another take of that," said C.J., the producer over the intercom in the sound booth.
"Again?" asked Anne with a tone of exhaustion in her voice. "We've been at this for five hours now."
"We just have to get one more take of this one, Rose, then we'll be done for the day," said Jacob, Anne's manager, over the intercom.
Anne groaned and put her headphones back on. She sang Winter Lilies, again. She loved the song, it was one of the coolest she had written, but they had already done fifteen takes and she was tired.
"Good, we're done. Thanks Rosie, see you tomorrow, bright and early."
"Good night C.J., see you tomorrow," Anne called back to C.J.
Anne took off her headphones and put them on the music stand. She picked up her old Alvarez acoustic, which her father had given her as a college graduation present, and put it in the case. Anne grabbed her Les Paul Custom and began to play a few random chords. The unamplified strings twanged. "Midnight blue," she thought, "I have to remember that, it might make a good lyric." She ran her fingers over the deep blue paint and put this guitar away too, she was alone in the quiet studio. It was odd, she finally could go home, and now she did not want to. Still she was tired, she had to admit that. Anne grabbed her backpack and walked out of the studio. In the lobby Jacob stopped her.
"Rose, I've got some great news for you."
"What?"
"You remember when our old label got bought out, right?"
"Yeah, vaguely, Columbia was the one who got us right?"
"Yes, well anyway, your contract was just bought by Jive Records."
"So?"
"So? Do you know what this means, Rose?"
"No, Jake. Hey I have a quick question for you?"
"Sure, shoot."
"Are we in the studio right now?"
"No."
"Am I on stage?"
"No."
"That's what I thought. Jake, when I'm not working, just call me Anne, can you please try and remember that?"
"Geez, sorry."
"I'm trying to hold onto my life a little longer, please."
"Anyway, they want to send you on a tour."
"On a tour? Jake, I'm in the middle of recording my next album."
"They know that. Look, Anne, everyone loves your stuff, everyone on this side of the Atlantic anyway. They want to send you to Europe to build up the fan base there before the album comes out. You appeal to a lot of different people, and the company thought it would be a good idea of more people got to know you before the record came out."
"But Jake, it's not done yet."
"They'll give you some time in Paris if you need it, you don't leave for another three weeks yet, and you only have four more tracks to do, that should be easy to do."
"Easy for you to say. So who am I touring with?"
"The Backstreet Boys, you'll be opening up for them."
"The Backstreet Boys!" she exclaimed. "But they're a boy band."
"Boy band or not, they're really successful. And your music tested well with their prime audience, this could be good exposure for you."
"Don't give me that test audience bull, Jake, my stuff did well with people my parent's age too, so are you going to send me on a tour with the Stones next?"
"Don't you dare get smart with me. Look, this will be good exposure for you. They're big in Europe and you're not, yet."
"Fine, we'll talk about this tomorrow. I want to get home. Good night."
"Night, Anne. Can I walk you to your cab?"
"Sure."
Anne got into the
cab, it was one of the old Checker ones, every year there were fewer and fewer
of these in New York.
"78th and Park please."
"You got it Miss," said the cabby who spoke with a thick Brooklyn accent. Anne looked at the radio, it was tuned to a nice oldies station. Cat's in the Cradle was playing, she had to fight the urge to sing along.
"78th and Park, here we are Miss, that'll be $3.20."
Anne paid the cabby and went inside her building, and into the elevator, she pushed the button for the 6th floor and rode the elevator up. She got off and went into her apartment, number eight. She threw her keys on the table. "God, another day of being in the studio," she sighed.
She made a cup of tea, read a little more in her book and went to bed. Anne heard the monotone buzzing of her alarm clock and looked over at it.
"It can't be seven o'clock already?"
She hit the snooze button and went back to sleep. The alarm went off again and she got out of bed. She made a bagel for breakfast, showered, and dressed to go back to the studio. When she got into the studio, she ran into Jacob.
"Okay, Jake, I'll do the tour. Let's get this next track done today, I want to get this done before I leave. Trying to record on the road would really suck."
Anne worked that day and for the next two and a half weeks, she got all the tracks recorded, and did a little post work.
"Now you'll meet up with them in Belgium, on June 1st, and then you'll be with them until August. Do you think you can deal with all of that? This is the biggest tour you've been on."
"Yes, Jake, I'm a big girl you know," Anne said with heavy sarcasm.
"You'll get to go to Paris and London, most of the old cities, I know you'll love it."
"Paris? London? I've missed those places."
"Well have fun, I'll check up with you all during the trip."
Anne finished the last track, Stars, that Friday and flew out Monday night, she was going to leave the remaining post production work in the producers' hands. She slept almost the entire plane ride. The record company put her up in a very nice five star hotel. Anne thought it was a little excessive, but she was never one to argue with opulence. She grabbed her room key and her purse and decided to explore the hotel. As she was walking down the hall, Anne was looking at everything and everywhere but where she was going. All of a sudden she bumped into someone, she did not even see him coming, both people dropped what they were carrying.
"Excuse me," they both said.
Anne looked up at the face of the handsome young man, with copper colored hair and pale sapphire blue eyes, a bit puzzled.
"Do I know you?" she asked.
"Uh oh, here it comes."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh nothing, it's just when people recognize me, well, it's bad."
"Wait, you're one of them, um...A.J., right?"
"Brian."
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to get you guys mixed up, well I'm glad I finally got to meet you. I'm Anne, er...The Rose, I am going to be touring with you."
"The Rose? Then I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, we have your album in our room. It's just you don't look like your photos."
"Thank you, I think? I'm glad I got to meet you," Anne replied.
"You know what, let's just try this again. Hi, I'm Brian Littrell, it's nice to meet you," he said extending his hand.
"Rose Gray, it's nice to meet you too," Anne said shaking his hand. "You can call me by my real name, Anne, if you want."
"All right. You know, all of us are in the hotel, and we were going out to get something to eat, and hang out. I'm sure the other guys would love it if you join us."
"I'd love to. Where should I meet you guys?"
"We're in 519, 520, and 521, right down the hall, we'll all be in 520. So we'll see you in fifteen, twenty minutes?" Brian asked.
"Sounds good." Anne went back to her room and shut the door. "God, I am so stupid! I didn't even recognize one of the guys I'm on tour with," she said to herself as she looked in the mirror. Her hair was pulled up in a pony tail, she still was wearing her baseball cap, and wasn't wearing any make up. "I look awful, no wonder Brian couldn't recognize me." Anne quickly rummaged through her luggage to find something to wear. She decided on a pair of flared jeans, brown boots and a light-blue knit top. Anne put her hair up in a clip and put on some makeup, and left to meet the Boys. She knocked on the door, a tall man with black hair answered the door.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Um..." Anne stammered. "I...a"
"I'm sorry, do I know you from somewhere? It's just you look really familiar."
Anne swallowed. "I'm Rose, I'm going to be touring with all of you. Well, earlier I bumped into Brian, literally, and he invited me to go to lunch with all of you."
"Oh, well come in then. Sorry it's a little messy. I'm Kevin, by the way."
"Yes, I know," Anne lied. She examined the enormous suite. "This thing is bigger than my whole apartment," she thought to herself. "Actually it's not that bad, the only reason mine is still nice and clean is, I just got here," she said aloud.
"Hey Kev," called a voice from a bathroom off of one of the bedrooms. "Have you seen my toothbrush? Well hello there..."
"Don't try and get all smooth with her, A.J., you wouldn't want to offend this one."
"Who said anything about offending anyone, I'll just be my normal charming self." A.J. said trying to be debonaire, he grabbed Anne's hand and kissed it.
"Rose, A.J., A.J., Rose." Kevin said trying not to laugh at A.J.
"Hey, I didn't know you were flying in today?" Anne started to talk to Kevin again, A.J. went back to hunt for his toothbrush. "Found it!" he called.
"Where was it?" Kevin asked.
"Next to the sink," A.J. called back.
"Who would have ever thought to look there?" Anne jokingly asked Kevin. A.J. finished brushing his teeth and came back out into the main part of the room. Brian and Nick walked in together.
"...and then I saw her, she's...she's, oh man you have to see her. She's shorter than I expected, and she's got...she's got these curves..."
A.J. was making a 'cut' sign to Brian but he missed it because he was too busy talking to Nick. The two boys turned the corner and when Brian saw Anne standing there, he stopped dead in his tracks. His jaw dropped and his face turned bright red.
"Judging from my articulate friend's reaction, I'm guessing you're Rose. Need a shoehorn there, Bri? I'm Nick, nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too, Nick," they shook hands.
"Are we almost ready?" asked Kevin.
"Almost, we're still missing Howie," replied A.J. The group could hear singing coming from down the hall. "Here he comes," he added. Howie walked in.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late, ready to go?" He saw Anne, their eyes met for a second. "Rose, it's nice to finally meet you, I'm Howie."
"Howie, do you know you are the first person to recognize me all day?" Anne said.
"He should," said Brian.
"Why is that?"
"Because he's the one who bought your CD for our little group collection," added A.J.
"Really? I'm impressed."
"What can I say, I hear good music I buy it," Howie said.
"Thanks, maybe I have a prayer on this tour after all. Anne said. "Are you guys ready to go?"
"Yeah," said several of the guys.
The six singers went down to the elevator, after the door closed Anne spoke to the Boys, "Hey guys, I don't mind being called Rose, or Rosie or whatever, but most of my friends just call me by my real name, Anne. Just thought I'd let you know."
The guys uttered words indicating they understood. When they got to the lobby they split up into two groups and decided to meet at a little cafe down the street a ways.
"I don't get it, why are you guys splitting up?" Anne asked Kevin.
"The fans," he replied.
"It's a little less conspicuous," Howie added. "Not a lot, but it helps."
Both sets of people met up in the cafe. In order to avoid any passing fans they all sat around a big table in the back. After their food came, Kevin asked Anne a question. "Hey Anne, tell us a little about yourself. You know, background and stuff?"
"Okay, but there's not really a lot to tell. Well, my name is Anne Gray, I'm 5'4", I grew up in a little town in Michigan called Haslett. It's one of those that's so small that when you're driving by if you blink you'll miss it. In fact my house is there, man, I miss my house. My parents still live in Haslett, they're still married. I graduated from Haslett High School, and I went to Alma College, where I majored in education. Actually, I'm a certified English teacher. I've lived in Paris and London, I'm a French speaker. I guess that's about it, my life isn't terribly exciting."
"I don't think so," Brian said, "You've done a ton of stuff. How did you get started in the business?"
"I always
did theatre, right through high school and college. Well my theatre professor
sent a tape of me singing, to a friend of his in London, without telling me.
Well, his friend, Graham, the director of a show in the West End, liked it so
much, well after he saw that he wanted to cast me. The summer after my junior
year I went to London and did the show for about four months. I was going to
stay in London, do the show and go to school, but at the last minute I had to
come home, so I finished school back at Alma. I've since been back to visit,
but nothing very long. Anyway, I found Jacob, my manager, through a friend of
a friend, he kept tabs on me whole time I was in London. I've always written
and performed, Jake had me record a bunch of my stuff and sent it to record
companies. The first six turned me down, I still think it's funny, they all
said my voice was 'too trained.' I think it's hilarious, I can sing like a lot
of Carmen, but they said I couldn't s!
ing pop music."
"That makes no sense," Brian said.
"Well finally I got signed by a small indy label, and got a lot of air play on college radio, then my album, There and Back, broke through, the end of my senior year in college. Columbia eventually bought out my old company, and Jive then bought my contract. The 'Queen of College Radio' somehow ended up in the mainstream. I always hated that nickname, but I do owe a lot of my success to Jake. He was always tough, I think that's what initially drew me to him, he got me some good deals. He could give Peter Grant a run for his money." Nick and Kevin laughed, they was the only ones who understood the reference to Led Zeppelin's manager, Howie tried to laugh, but it was clear he did not get it. "Brian, I feel like a complete idiot for not recognizing you."
"Don't worry about it," he replied.
"No you have to hear this, it's a little sad. I have your new disk, Jive gave me a copy of Millennium before I left, just out of courtesy I suppose. Anyway, here's the part that says I'm really a moron. I got my two cousins tickets to see you guys at The Palace in Detroit last year. They gave me a tape of your first disk, it was a hint apparently, I still have the tape, I liked it. The concert was just after There and Back broke, so Jake pulled some strings and got me the tickets. They said you guys put on quite a show."
"It's no big deal," Brian replied. "Actually, I liked not being recognized, usually fans figure out who I am, scream, and then chase me. It's not fun. I just feel bad I didn't know who you were."
"It's okay,
really. I'm at this point in my career where I get the weirdest looks from people
on the street. They're all like 'Wasn't that...? Nah, can't be.' Or when I'm
at parties the people are like, 'I know you from somewhere, did we go to school
together? Didn't we live in the same dorm?' I like it, it's kinda cool. Here's
my main problem, when Jake got me signed, he created for me, but it's not really
me, my job is just to live up to that image. Look at those pictures again, they
practically made me blond, it's funny, that's me, but it's not me. I just hope
I'm not going to be a dissapointment."
"Not unless he created the singing voice too," Kevin said.
"Oh no, that's all me."
After they had all finished eating they all headed back to the hotel. They all hung out and got to know each other a bit better. "So what's your plan for tomorrow?" Howie asked.
"Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more. It's going to be hell," Anne replied.
"Our band and dancers are really cool, you'll get along great," added Howie.
Anne went back to her room, she wanted to get to bed early, she was suffering from major jet lag. The next morning she woke up, showered, dressed and began to work with some lyrics she had come up with the week before she left, and a set list for the show. At 11:00 she headed over to the building where the concert was going to be that night. She had a long and difficult rehearsal ahead of her. She walked in and was immediately met by security, they finally let her in, after she had to explain who she was. Once past security, she walked right up onto the stage.
"Hi, Rose, right on time," said Nicole, the woman in charge of basically everything backstage. "Okay, we have to talk about a few things," she said, picking up the pen attached to her clipboard. "We need to decide on a set order and wardrobe."
"All right, I figured I'd do a little of everything, probably start out with Home, a good straight rock song, maybe two or three of those, then go into Back to Before, the big hit. And finish off the set with some pop dance stuff. Wait, I have a list in my backpack, hold on." Anne grabbed the list and handed it to Nicole.
"What about wardrobe? Do you want to handle it, or get with Kiki and try and figure something out? I don't care." Nicole said.
"I'll just take care of it, I think Kiki has enough to do right now as it is, we can change it around later."
"Okay, I'd go with two outfits, one for dancing, and then another for all of your other stuff."
"No problem, I'll bring a bunch of stuff back here before the show, and we'll find something later."
"Cool, I'd better let you get to work, I'll introduce you to the band." Nicole took Anne over to where the band was tuning up. She was a little surprised to see her guitars set up and ready to go. "Rose, this is the band, Tommy, Bubba, Dennis, Guy, Louie, Mindy and Paul, guys, Rose."
"Hey Tommy, I've been to your site, it's really cool."
"Thanks, Tommy replied."
"Let's get to work," said Bubba, the drummer, who was also music director.
Everyone got to work and rehearsal went well, and they actually got done sooner than they had thought. After a quick break for a very late lunch, Fatima Robinson, the Boys' choreographer and female dancers joined Anne and the band on stage. In three hours Anne had learned very basic versions of the routines for the three dance songs she was going to perform, fourtunately, since she was singing she did not have to dance as much as the other girls. As the tour progressed, they planned to expand her dancing. After it was all over Anne went back to the hotel and took a quick nap, ate a little dinner and grabbed all the clothes that she thought might work in the show. Nicole, Kiki and Anne eventually decided on a black knee length skirt, a red knit sleeveless top, and knee high black boots. For the songs where she was going to dance they decided she should wear the same thing, but she could do a quick change into black bar pants and add black tennis shoes. After one last quick sound check, Anne changed and relaxed in her dressing room, it was almost show time. She figured the guys were in the building someplace, but she did not know where.
She was killing time before the show was supposed to start, and was flopped
sideways in the large armchair in the corner, her legs dangled over one of the
arms. She started to read her book, without realizing it sitting like this made
her skirt slide about three inches above her knees. Nick and Howie walked in
attempting to 'borrow' some of the junk food on the table.
"Woah, Anne, you're all legs there aren't you?" Nick joked. Howie reached over and smacked him on the arm. "Ow," Nick said as he rubbed his arm. Anne realized what Nick had said and quickly adjusted her skirt. Nick snagged the bag of M&M's on the table and left.
"Don't mind Nick," Howie said.
"It's no big deal, actually, it's flattering in a strange sort of way. Besides he's still pretty young."
"Yeah," Howie said with a laugh.
"Do you want to sit down?" Anne asked.
"Sure," Howie said as he pulled up a chair. "So what are you reading?"
"Ragtime, they made a musical out of it, it's doing really well. I'm finally going to see it, and I want to know what I'm getting into."
"That's cool."
"Do you want to listen to a CD or something?" she asked.
"All right, what do you have?"
Anne pulled out her book of CDs, Howie leaned over her shoulder, she slowly flipped through the book. She began to read the names of the artists aloud: "Beatles, Beatles, more Beatles, Smashing Pumpkins, No Doubt, Smashing Pumpkins, Barenaked Ladies, Kid Rock, Limp Bizkit, you guys, mine. Les Miserables, Rent, both the disks, the Ragtime Soundtrack. Garbage, Dave Matthews, Dave, Dave, Jewel, Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, I really loved the swing thing when it came out. Janis Joplin, Harry Chapin, Beach Boys, Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth, DC Talk, Dixie Chicks, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Hole, Lauryn Hill, Phish, La Boheime. Over here I've got Beastie Boys, the Clash, Pretenders, Fleetwood Mac, Springstein, Elton John, Billy Joel, Verve Pipe, and Ben Folds Five. My friends say I'm the most eclectic of all of them."
"I can see why. Why don't you just choose something?"
"All right, how about a little Ella Fitzgerald, it's nice and soothing, it makes great background music," Anne added. "Oh hey just to warn you the type of music I blast before a show usually reflects my mood. You know so you'll hear Kid and Limp when I'm mad, and stuff like Sarah, Jewel, and just other mellow stuff when I'm depressed."
"Good to know, hey isn't the Verve Pipe from Michigan too?" he asked pointing to the CD.
"Yes, they're from East Lansing, there are some good acts coming out of EL, I remember I caught them when they first came out. So is Kid, he's from Detroit there are lots of Michigan people on the scene now, Eminem is another Detroiter." Anne put in her Ella Fitzgerald CD.
"Your music is pretty diverse, who are you influenced by? It's got to be a bunch of different people?"
"It is, who haven't I been influenced by? Basically everyone in here," she said pointing to her CD case. "Defiantly Sarah, and Jewel, they're great writers, Chrissy Hine, Joan Jett and Lita Ford, could all play great a rock guitar."
"I've heard of the other two, but who's Lita Ford?" Howie asked.
Nick happened to walk past the door. "Hey Nick," Anne called out, he stuck his head in.
"Sup?"
"Do you know who Lita Ford was?"
"Yeah, she was in the Runaways with Joan Jett. Those girls could really rock."
"Thanks Nick." He left. "They were an early punk band, all female, they could rock just as hard as guy band."
"That is pretty cool, so is that where you get it from? There is some pretty hard rocking stuff in there," Howie said pointing to Anne's CD case.
"Yep, I love it. Tonight I'm going to rock and I'm going to dance. It sucks, the closest thing I think I'm going to get to ballads are Back to Before and Stars. I wish I could sing some of my slow stuff, but there's no way I could get my acoustic up on that stage and get out alive."
"You're probably right."
"I still don't know why you guys picked me, I'm different."
"How so?"
"Well, let's think about this one, nothing personal, I'm nothing like the people you normally have. I'm over twenty-one. I don't just sing, I play instruments, I write, a lot, and I'm proud of that. I'm a rocker at heart, you saw some of the stuff I listen to. I don't want to offend you, but I'm not 'teen pop,' Jake always figured I was a shoe in for Lilith Fair again this year."
"None taken."
"I guess it's because of who influenced me a lot through high school and college."
"Like who?"
"I listened to a lot of Elton John, I guess that's where all the piano stuff comes from, oh, Tori Amos too. I used to love to watch female lead singers in bands, to see how they could just own the stage, Gwen Stephani and Shirley Manson blew me away. They are my idols, I would love to meet them. I remember the first time I saw video for Just A Girl, my roommate and I were just jumping around our dorm room going nuts, we loved it. Let's see, I was living in Newberry at the time, so that would have been like '95. I love Gwen."
"You and A.J. both."
Anne chuckled and continued. "Back in '96 I caught the Pumpkins on the Melloncollie Tour, and Garbage opened, I remember listening to Shirley and kinda pulling a Wayne's World 'we're not worthy' thing. I decided that's who I want to be, I want to be on stage doing that."
Howie chortled. Guy, the lead guitarist, stuck his head in the room. "Hey Rose, sorry to bug you, but a tech guy was moving your electric and one of the strings broke, you're going to have to re-string it."
"Thanks for telling me, which string was it?"
"I think it was the E-String."
Anne reached into her electric guitar's case and pulled out an envelope with strings in it. "Hey Howie, I'm going to go fix my guitar, you're welcome to come with, if you want?"
"I would, but I'd better catch up with the rest of the guys. And I probably should get A.J. out of the band's dressing room before they throw him out. He's pretty aerodynamic, he usually can fly a good five or six feet."
Anne laughed, and went to re-string, and recheck her guitar. Afterwards she came back and read a little more in her book.
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