Melody 5 - Rising Stars

Chapter 6 - (i) Amy

--- AMY ---

It was their third day in the studio with Tony Ward and it was not going well.  Jadine had stormed out.  Molly had run after her.  Even Rhian was close to tears.  Only Olivia was hanging on to Tony’s every word, which didn’t surprise Amy in the least – she always did the opposite to the rest of the group.

From the moment they’d walked in at the start of the week, it had been a total disaster.  Tony had refused to let them write any of their own material yet and was hell-bent on them recording unreleased material he’d written in the ‘90s - an out-dated selection of soppy tunes about boys and broken hearts.  Amy suspected it was stuff that Sherri Holt had passed on ‘back in the day’, so why he expected the girls to record it now, was totally beyond her.

Now alone in the studio with Tony, Amy was determined to turn the situation around before her dreams of pop super-stardom vanished completely.

“I’ve got over 30 years experience in this industry,” said Tony, for the hundredth time.  “You lot have only been in the business five minutes.”

It was on the tip of Amy’s tongue to say that’s exactly why they should be writing their own material.  The girls wanted to be fresh, exciting and new.  Not old-fashioned pop tarts totally irrelevant to anyone under the age of 45!  However, Amy knew that guys like Tony Ward needed to be handled much more subtley.

Amy sidled over to him and gently touched his arm.  “And we really appreciate you sharing all your experience with us,” she said, softly. 

“I know what works,” he continued.

Yeah, 20 years ago, thought Amy.  Even so, she nodded, gave a faint flutter of her eyelashes and continued to stoke his ego.  “We know you do, Tony.  You wrote some amazing tracks for Sherri.”

“Exactly,” said Tony, calming down slightly.

“We all really enjoyed recording Candy Kisses on Monday.”  That wasn’t exactly true, but it was the least awful of the tracks he’d made them record so far.

“That was the last song I wrote for Sherri,” mused Tony.

Just as she’d thought – these songs were Sherri Holt’s old cast-offs.  And not only that – cast-offs from when her career was on the slide!  Why hadn’t he written them any new stuff? 

“That line about ‘candy kisses and near misses’ was really moving,” said Amy, grappling for something positive to say about the track.

“That was when she met James Holland,” said Tony abruptly.

So that’s what had inspired the track.  Clearly Tony had been in love with Sherri and then James had swooped in and taken her from him.  Maybe he was still in love with Sherri, otherwise why else would he be involved in this project.  He’d clearly put in zero effort – he was probably only doing it to get close to Sherri again.

Amy was incensed.  Here was this middle-aged guy treating this whole project as an opportunity to get it on with Sherri Holt, whereas Amy’s entire future depended on this band being a success.

She’d just endured a painful weekend at her parents assuring them – yet again – that this was definitely her big break.  Then as she was leaving, her dad had taken her to one side.

“Baby girl, you know I love you,” he said, in his Cockney twang.  He’d left London’s East End 30 years ago, but the accent hadn’t left him.  “And I only want the best for you.”

“I know that, dad,” she replied.

“If this pop malarkey doesn’t work out this time, promise me one thing?”

“What’s that?”

“That you’ll come and work with me at Carpet Magic.”

Amy sighed.  “Dad, it will work out.”

“But if it doesn’t…” he let the sentence hang in the air and Amy had no choice but to agree.

“Okay, dad.  But trust me, this band is going to…”

“I’ll train you up and you’ll be the M.D. of your own company.  You won’t have to struggle like I did.  10 years I worked the markets ‘til I got my first shop.  And do you think it was an over-night success?  15 hour days I put in, to get where I am today…”

For the umpteenth time, Amy endured her dad’s ‘rags to riches’ tale and then suffered a ten minute sales pitch about how running her own soft furnishings company would be the best career choice of her life.

Finally her dad said, “Now, do you need any money, darlin’.  A little something to tide you over?”

“No, dad.”  Her old refusal to accept any help from her parents kicking in.  “We’re all getting paid.”

And with that she’d returned to the girls’ house, determined that she’d do whatever it took to make sure this group was a success, yet here it was crumbling all around her.

Sensing that Tony might finally be receptive to her thoughts, she ventured.  “It’s just that we’d also like to have some input into our sound.  After all, we’ll be the ones out there performing it.”

She sensed Tony tense up again, but at least he didn’t argue back this time.

“Working with you yesterday was so inspiring,” she lied, “that last night we all got together and wrote a little something.  We’d love to hear what you think.”

Tony bristled.  “So you want to record that instead of my stuff?”

“Well, maybe we could record it along with your stuff?”

Amy knew he wouldn’t let them have it all their own way, but maybe if she could broker a compromise.

“Fine,” he conceded.  “If you record Missing You Like Crazy, we can have a look at it.”

Amy’s heart skipped a beat.  It would probably take a lot to convince Jadine to record Tony’s tired old track - she was the most frustrated of them all about Tony’s intractability - but hopefully Molly would be able to talk her round in her usual calm and considerate way.

“Thanks Tony,” cooed Amy, and just for good measure she gave another flutter of her eyelashes.  “I’ll go and tell the girls.”

As Amy got to the door, Tony said, “You know, maybe you and I could go out together sometime?”

“Sure,” said Amy, not wanting to reject Tony, when she’d worked so hard to win him over.  “But let’s concentrate on work for now, eh?” she added playfully.

As Amy hurried out of the studio, she shuddered.  A date with Tony Ward?  Ugh- no way.