Devils & Blue Dresses: My Wild Ride as a Rock and Roll Legend

woman on his tour and I discovered I would.
    In spite of such nonsense, my brother and I were having fun and the show was looking and sounding good. My spirits were once again lifted but the bitter feelings between the Wheels and me continued. Jimmy wasn’t one to sulk, so he joined the group Cactus and did something I had yet to do, and that was to be an artist on a national record label. Atlantic Records. Paramount Records, where Bob Crewe was now working me, had not yet achieved legitimate credentials in the music industry. They had a wonderful reputation as a film company, but not in music.
    To top off the band, which we dubbed Spirit Feel, we acquired a carry over from the last days of the Wheels, road manager. Ray Reneri. Ray cared about me in a way that was special. I mean the guy actually cried when he recognized the way people were trying to take advantage of me or hurt me. But he was not the protector Alan had been, and his position and need for the job dictated his keeping quiet on most major decisions.
    And then there was Romeo, my bodyguard. I had picked up Romeo, a former bodybuilding champion, from a gig we did on Long Island at a place called the Action House. I was exiting the stage after completing my show, and was preparing to be mobbed and torn apart as usual when this huge man grabbed me. Within seconds, I was safely in my dressing room completely untouched. I hired him on the spot. Romeo was so grateful. Due to the generous salary I was paying him, Romeo was able to movehis mother out of their unsafe neighborhood and put her in a nice hotel in lower Manhattan.
    Another gift I acquired from Long Island was a new drummer whose playing I liked named Liberty Devito. He went on to back up Billy Joel, which was interesting because Billy Joel and I would, at one point in the future, both be signed to Paramount Records, but that was a few years down the road.
    Back at the triplex, Mr. Crewe was working on the creation of the “make it or break it” album
What Now My Love
. He was also trying to find a replacement manager for Alan, and a lot of big names were being tossed around. Marty Erlichman, Barbra Streisand’s manager, was one. Jerry Weintraub, who would in the future manage John Denver and also become chairman and CEO of United Artists film studio, was another. Things were still okay between Mr. Crewe and me, but there was a constant friction as we settled into the recording of
What Now My Love
.
    Mr. Crewe attacked the project as if it was going to be the defining triumph of both our careers. At last he would produce the music that would carry me over the threshold of super stardom and in one fell swoop be vindicated and reborn at the same time. Mr. Crewe was putting everything on this gamble and became more involved in this particular project than any other I had witnessed. He was extremely emotional about it and drove me to the heights of my singing abilities.
    The record was a lavish production with beautiful string and horn arrangements by Hutch Davies. This was on top of my physically and emotionally draining vocal performances of classic ballads from a different time and place. I did not like the concept of the classics, but because I was a professional, I gave as strong a performance as I could. I still trusted Bob Crewe’s commitment to my talent, but it felt as if we had become disconnected.
    That was one side of the album. The other side was filled with hard-hitting rock classics and performances of the best studio musicians available. Guitarist Michael Bloomfield, keyboardist Barry Goldberg, and drummer Bernard Purdie were amongst the seemingly cast of thousands. We had developed a fortress mentality, and Mr. Crewe was very secretive about and protective of the raw tapes. At night, he brought them to the triplex, where in the past he trusted them to the engineer. We labored with the project for months. During this time he was invited to appear at the Grammy Awards in New York City and insisted I attend the event with him. I had no desire to be there and told him as much. I didn’t feel comfortable with it.
    I declared I had nothing to wear and he went into his closet, which was the size of a double-wide trailer, and threw a tuxedo at me. He was insistent. I tried on the tux and realized it was five sizes too big, and again said I would not go. He wanted to be there with his little fop on a leash and I suddenly realized that’s just how he viewed me.I was like his boy toy, or his