Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Rock Star The Song by Kate Ward Rock Star: The Song (Book 1 of a Bad Boy Romance) No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Rock Star: The Song is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental. A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes superfluous. Ingrid Bergmen. R ock Star : The Song. Rock Star: The Contest. Rock Star: The Deal. A ll of the Rock Star books are stand-alone reads, however, you may find they are best enjoyed in the following order so that you can see the change of the characters over the course of the series. S mall town , coffee store owner, Meghan Sullivan is struggling to keep her business afloat. Just when she doesn't think things could get any worse, they do. A large coffee franchise opens across from her. Forced to make deliveries to compete, she receives a call to a secluded cabin where she finds herself face-to-face with the dangerously sexy, rock star, Chase Bryan. Famous but damaged, Chase Bryan has been given one last chance to write a chart-topping, comeback hit or else he'll be dropped by his label. After a video surfaces online of Meghan singing and the music industry wants more, sparks fly as Meghan and Chase are thrown together to write the song that will either draw them together or tear them apart. I t was the perfect love song in every way but one: I wasn’t singing it. Now it only pained me to hear the words, to hear his and her voice singing in harmony. That was the most gut-wrenching part of it all. The song had soared its way to the number one slot on iTunes within a matter of hours. Social media was abuzz with fans sharing it around the world. Every radio station from coast to coast had it in rotation. It’s said that when you hear your song on the radio for the first time, it’s overwhelming. Some do a happy dance, others cry but most sit slack- jawed, unable to comprehend the surreal moment. Oh, it was overwhelming, surreal even, and tears were streaking my cheeks, but for all the wrong reasons. I wanted to hate him. I wanted to switch the radio off, and scream. But I couldn’t. I felt paralyzed, unable to know how to respond. Truth be told, country rock star Chase Bryan had drawn me into his world with a hook that could have come straight out of one of his songs, and I could still feel him tearing at my heart. Why me? I had asked myself that a thousand times. I never saw him coming. I wasn’t anyone special. Maybe that’s why I found it so difficult to let it go. Perhaps that’s why I sat frozen, unable to get out of my truck as he stood waiting for me outside my coffee shop. Two Months Earlier. I nitially it wasn’t an odd request. Deliveries had become a daily routine. However, what was peculiar was it was the same order every day over the past two weeks; a large coffee, banana chip muffin and one of our toasted cheese sandwiches delivered to a secluded cottage where the owner never came to the door. Outside, there was always more than enough money to cover it, and a small note indicating that I could keep the change. When the bill amounted to $5.25 and they left a twenty-dollar bill each day for two weeks — I would say that was rather peculiar. Especially since no one did that in Lakeside. People were downright nasty without their morning cup of java. If anything there was an air of entitlement from most town folk. At times it was as if the coffee I sold should flow like water and be freely available, along with my muffins. Hell, and for some of the men, they thought my ass was a side dish. Truth be told, the Steamy Beans Coffee House had taken a nosedive over the past year and delivering had become a last resort. I’d never had to go to such extreme measures before and I was pretty sure I was the only coffee house in Lakeside, Oregon, perhaps even the world that delivered coffee. Or at least the only owner dumb enough to do it. Since the new “coffee house that shall not be named” opened up, bringing with its large franchised air of hipster sophistication, locals had begun coming up with all manner of excuses to not get their cup of joe from us. Some even crossed to the other side of the road when they saw me coming, just to avoid being questioned. What ticked me off even more, was that they had the nerve to open their business directly across from me. It was almost like they wanted to rub it in. They had a drive-through, cozy couches, a fireplace and the latest jazz music playing in the background. We had hard stools, candles and a local band called the Dancing Jelly Babies that frequently gave out-of-tune renditions of “Stairway to Heaven” despite having half-eaten muffins tossed at them. One thing was for certain, I was damn sure I wasn’t going to go down without a fight. The café had been the family business since I was knee-high. I filled an order while my employee and best friend Sophie held back the roaring tide of customers — which was exactly two. Bernard, our local hobo who frequently would visit us like a lost puppy looking for any leftover muffins that we planned on throwing out, and Spike, Sophie’s boyfriend, who spent hours lingering around the shop like a fly searching for a pile of manure. All three of us had grown up together in Lakeside. We had attended the same school, shared the same dreams of getting out of town and spent most evenings and weekends together. It was an odd friendship. Two girls and one guy, but it worked. Sophie’s parents ran the library in the town. It was small, but carried some of the best classics. It was through our love of books that we had bonded. I had met her after my grandparents had taken me there one Saturday. As they spent hours reading, I wandered the long rows of shelves searching for books about adventure and love. It was at the end of one of those rows that I found Sophie smoking a cigarette. Her head perched on a window, blowing out wafts of grey smoke. Apparently she would steal a cigarette once a week from her father’s pack when he only had a few left, or when he’d had a little too much to drink. She said that was the best way to avoid detection. Take one too soon and he usually could tell. Take one on a day when he was sober, and he was liable to have a reason why he knew there was one missing. Yep, she was a quite a firecracker. One that frequently got me in trouble. As the only girl in my family, I always felt like she was the sister I had never had. She introduced me to makeup, and boys. When I say boys, I mean Spike. The kid’s house was beside mine. He had been infatuated with Sophie from an early age, however, he spent more time with me than her. Why? Well, I know it wasn’t his choice, his parents were good friends with mine. “Sophie, hold down the fort while I deliver these,” I said, pushing a fully loaded paper cup into a tray and balancing several muffins and a bag of goodies in one hand, all the while snatching up the keys to my truck in the other. “How is our mystery customer?” she asked. “I wouldn’t know, I still haven’t seen him.” “But it is a him?” she smirked. “Your guess is as good as mine. The woman who phoned through the initial order didn’t say.” “It’s not a woman,” she said matter-of-factly. “How are you so sure?” “Men love man caves.” I shook my head smiling as I backed out the door, nearly dropping the entire order on Mrs. Robson; who I might add was another fellow weirdo but an overly enthusiastic supporter of my flailing enterprise. “Oops, excuse me,” I said. “And so you should, you could have killed me.” “Huh?” I muttered, holding the door open with my back. “There was a woman who dropped an entire cup of coffee, and sued…” she began her usual rant. Some days I felt like shoving a muffin in her mouth, and wheeling her on over to my archenemy across the road. I didn’t need the headache, or her verbal diarrhea, and her charitable amount of two dollars a week wasn’t liable to get me out of the red. Instead, I smiled politely and nodded until she could see that she wasn’t going to get a free coffee. As batty as she was, she was a smart cookie who knew how to get what she wanted. However, today I was in no frame of mind to deal with it. I waited until she took a breath and then interrupted her. “Well, I must be going. Nice speaking with you. Have a great day,” I said before pursing my lips together to hold back the words I really wanted to say. R ita’s Cottages were about ten minutes outside of the main town, which by all accounts was quite far being as the town was made up of very little. If you blinked, you would have passed through it. I liked to think it amounted to no more than a collection of stores where a four-way stop separated the town. Besides that it contained very little: two gas stations, a grocery store, a hardware store, three public schools, a library, satellite police station and now two cafés. We were not a tourist town, hell, you would have to be out of your mind to vacation here. Sure, we had a river that ran into a beautiful lake that offered locals ice skating in the winter and water sports in the summer, that was if you were one of the lucky few to have cash to spend on toys. But beyond that, it was like no man’s land. The sort of town you ended up in if you had taken a wrong road. I would often joke with lost travelers seeking directions that the movie Deliverance was based on our town, swallowed in forest that spread for miles. You could see the color drain out of their skin. The moment Spike let out an oink sound, they were out the door faster than a chicken on a June bug, but not before I had sold them several bottles of water and a full stock of food and coffee. I told them they wouldn’t want to be getting stranded without ample supplies. Oh, good times. Yeah, in many ways Lakeside was cottage country. Most town folk either held down farms, or traveled to the closest town forty minutes away for work. The winding roads leading up to Rita’s place were shrouded in tall green pines and oaks. Eventually the oaks would turn deep shades of red and yellow, causing the whole town to look like a quilted blanket. Steep banks on either side of the road led down into darkness even on the sunniest days. When I arrived, everything looked the same as it did each day. I pulled up my truck in front of cottage seventeen. There were twenty-one in various places along Highway 2. Each one offered more than enough privacy to anyone looking for a short getaway. They weren’t lavish by any means, but she had each lot backing onto Coopers Lake and had stocked them with kayaks and the latest in home comforts. Word had it, that Rita had earned her wealth in the Florida real estate market, before cashing out, buying these and retiring to Martha’s Vineyard. Now all the upkeep and maintenance of her little cash funnels had gone to local handyman Tom Warren. He was a large grizzly fellow that blended in with the forest. I don’t think I had ever seen him outside of his military camo gear. After two weeks of delivering the same order to cottage number seventeen, and never seeing the guest, curiosity got the better of me. Tom became all-tight lipped when I inquired. He simply replied that he wasn’t at liberty to discuss it, and he preferred not to get into it any further. Walking up the same five wooden steps to the wraparound porch, I was surprised this time to find the door slightly ajar. Usually the curtains were closed and the door was firmly locked. Today however I could hear music coming from inside. As usual I decided I would just leave the breakfast order, and take the money. I gazed down. However, this time the money wasn’t there. I gave myself a mental check, I was pretty sure they had placed a daily order for one month. Three weeks had passed, that I was certain, because I remembered a wedding I had attended the day before the order. Standing there slightly baffled, I gave a short rap on the door. Being as it was already ajar it opened slightly. Inside, I could see male clothes perfectly laid out on the bed, as if someone was arranging what they were going to wear for the day. But there was no sign of anyone. “Um, I have your breakfast. Hello?” I didn’t feel comfortable stepping inside. Not that I gave a rat’s ass what Tom thought, or Rita for that matter. But it had been a nice steady stream of income over the past few weeks and I didn’t like the idea of it all vanishing. Regardless, I peeked my head inside and gave one more, louder knock on the door with the back of my hand, before stepping inside and placing the tray down. It was a simple cabin. A leather couch, a love seat and breakfast bar. The floors were made of oak. The entire place smelled like lemon, as if someone had used an excessive amount of polish. In the corner was a Taylor acoustic guitar, a pad of paper and pen. As I moved in further I noticed the bedroom door was open. A king-size four-poster bed that looked as if it had been carved in one piece took up the entire room. The kitchen was immaculate. For someone who had been there for two weeks, they sure knew how to keep a place clean. I knew it wasn’t Tom doing the cleaning. Most days that guy looked as if he had crawled out of an industrial garbage can. I hadn’t been inside more than a few seconds or so, when I saw him. Or, I should say it. Holy smoke, the guy was stark naked. I swear it was like witnessing a car crash. You desperately want to look away but you can’t help but stare. I do believe my jaw dropped and I may have stared for what may have been an uncomfortable amount of time, before averting my gaze. All that ripped muscle, bronzed skin and water dripping off him was a sight I wouldn’t be able to shift from my mind for quite some time. Not that I would want to forget it even if I could. As he entered through the sliding door, he noticed me and just stood there. He didn’t even attempt to cover up. What the hell did he think this place was? A nudist retreat? “Sorry,” I said, stumbling over the corner of the bed as I backed up, trying not to snag a second glance at his body. “No, it’s OK really.” “Oh… it’s more than OK, believe me,” I replied. What the hell was I saying? “I see you brought breakfast.” “Yes. It’s…” words spilled out as I tried to shield my eyes from his manhood. “Do you mind putting something on?” With my eyes closed I heard him shuffle into the bathroom, then come out again. The music turned down before he spoke. “OK, we’re all good.” “Positive. I have a towel on.” I wasn’t sure how that was any better, but nevertheless, I returned my gaze back to him. Though this time I found myself looking at his rock-hard chest and arms. “What were you doing?” He thumbed over his shoulder. “I couldn’t resist it. I thought I would take a dip in the lake.” “How was it?” I asked, trying to make small talk. Could have had me fooled , I thought. The size of his manhood flashed before my eyes. There was no shrinkage going on there. “You do know they have showers here.” He smirked, and I felt my body twinge inside. Leaning against the door, he only added to the heat that I was feeling in my cheeks. I wasn’t sure if he was expecting something or amused by the predicament I had found myself in. Sophie said most guys thought if they showed their tackle, women would immediately gobble it up. If he had that in mind, he would be sorely mistaken. Not this girl. Well, at least for now. After another awkward pause he spoke again. “By the way, those are outstanding.” I thought he was pointing to my tits, but then I realized he was gesturing towards the breakfast. 'Almost Famous' to 'Rock of Love': Groupies Then and Now. From "Almost Famous" to "Rock of Love," women still want to be with the band. Aug. 14, 2009— -- The 1960s were a time of cultural revolution, with music leading the way. From the clubs of Los Angeles to the fields of Woodstock, fans were up in the front row, but it was the groupies who had the backstage pass. The term "groupie" came to define the young women who followed bands across the country and sometimes around the world. "A fan is very content to stay home and listen to the music, but the groupie wants to meet them," said Pamela Des Barres, the ultimate groupie who partied with everyone from the Doors to the Who to the Rolling Stones, and whose 1987 autobiography is called "I'm With the Band." The Cameron Crowe film "Almost Famous" looked at the secret life of rock stars on the road, and in the movie the term "groupie" was practically an insult. "We are not groupies," said the character Penny Lane, played by Kate Hudson. "Groupies sleep with rock stars because they want to be near someone famous," she continued. "We're here because of the music. We inspire the music. We are Band-Aides." Des Barres, who made following bands her entire life, said gaining entree into the backstage world of rock bands was simple. "When I was 16, 17 years old, a blond flower-child on the Sunset Strip, it was very easy," she said. "All I did was knock on the backstage doors." Artist Cynthia Plaster Caster became a fixture in Los Angeles clubs, following Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin … to name a few. "We would usually go to the hotel and hang out in the lobby," she said. "If we could get into the hotel, past the security. If not, we would wait outside, then they would kind of wave us in the hotel. " Born Cynthia Albritton, she began going by Plaster Caster while pursuing an idea she got in art school: to immortalize the male anatomies of famous rock stars in plaster cast. Hendrix was her first and most famous subject. The life was fast and full of sex, drugs and rock and roll. The groupies were in the center of it all, up close and often very personal with their favorite stars. Bebe Buell's list of ex's include Todd Rundgren, Mick Jagger and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, who is the father of her daughter, actress Liv Tyler. "Steven gave me a beautiful daughter," Buell said. "Todd introduced me to the world I always dreamed of being a part of. Mick introduced me to culture. Rod Stewart helped me to realize what I didn't want in a boyfriend." 'Real Groupies Love the Music' Groupies, and girlfriends, often inspired the artists they were with. Pattie Boyd was a groupie when she met George Harrison, married him and was the inspiration for the song, "Something." Boyd, who met Harrison while filming the movie "A Hard Day's Night," was the muse behind three of the most famous songs of the era. While she and Harrison were breaking up, she was being wooed by her husband's good friend Eric Clapton, who declared his love with his own song, "Layla." "He said, 'I've got something for you to hear,'" she recalled. "And he put it the cassette machine and played it and I'm just [thinking], Oh gosh, this is unbelievable. And he was just looking at me and he's saying, 'This is for you. I've written this for you.'" Boyd was the inspiration for Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight," also the title of her memoir. "I was onstage with the Who, I was on stage with the Stones," said Des Barres. "It felt like being in the band!" But the life was not without heartbreak. "Just because someone's famous doesn't mean they can be trusted to be nice," said Cynthia Plaster Caster. "We were very trusting of these people because they were world famous." Nowadays, there's a different kind of groupie, like on the reality show "Rock of Love," where women compete for the heart of Poison lead singer, Bret Michaels. Women like Des Barres, who devoted their lives to the bands they loved, say that today's groupies are more concerned with fame than with music. "I think the women on 'Rock of Love' are mostly in it to be in TV," Des Barres said. "Real groupies are people who love the music, want to be with people who make it, and that's it." Cynthia Plaster Caster says she still has the heart of a groupie, but no longer the life of one. Most of her dancing these days is done in the comfort of her own home. And while she loves thinking about that time, she would never go back. "It was mainly a learning experience," she said. "I had some great times, I had some not so great times, but there was never a dull moment." Song, comedy and drag: More Cape Cod summer theaters are back, indoors and out. The state’s lifting of most COVID-19 restrictions as of this weekend has been a game-changer for a lot of arts groups, particularly theaters. Schedules continue to be announced for in-person shows, and the effects of the changes range from upping the audience count at College Light Opera Company in Falmouth to bringing back community theater in Orleans to Broadway stars being able to return to Provincetown. Multiple other theaters are sticking with precautions, with audiences outside under the stars. Here’s a look at some of the latest revealed plans: College Light Opera Company in Falmouth. After a big joint clean-out and spruce-up of Highfield Theatre during the pandemic, Falmouth Theatre Guild and College Light Opera Company will partner for an open house Saturday to show off how it all looks. The public is invited to stop in from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday — with masks and social distancing — at the 58 Highfield Drive theater. There will be guided tours throughout the building, including backstage areas patrons rarely get to see. The open house is to celebrate the return to live, in-person theater, which begins next month for CLOC. The company’s latest information says shows will now go on to full audience size, with subscribers able to go back to their usual seats. There will still be a live-streamed performance of each of nine musicals as previously planned, though, for those not comfortable with returning, according to general manager Joan McDonald. Fully vaccinated patrons won’t be required to wear a mask, but, McDonald said in an email blast, “we still encourage the use of masks and fully support those who choose to do so. We require all unvaccinated patrons including youth under 12 years of age to wear masks” inside the theater. Performers (who live together on a West Falmouth campus) will now not wear masks; they will be fully vaccinated and there will be random COVID-19 testing required during the season. The box office will open, with single-ticket sales, on June 14. First show “The Pirates of Penzance” opens June 22. (http://www.collegelightoperacompany.com). Academy Playhouse in Orleans. Officials at Academy Playhouse in Orleans are hoping “the third time’s the charm” with trying to open the theater back up to in-person theater. Back July 1-3 and 9-11 for another try after being previously foiled by COVID changes is “The Seussification of Romeo & Juliet,” described as a “whimsical reinvention of Shakespeare’s tragic love story, complete with rhymed couplets, creative wordplay and fantastical machines."\ Up next on weekends Aug. 6-22 will be “Charlotte’s Web,” about a special pig and his friends; then the musical “Nunsense,” Sept. 2-5 and 10- 12. Tickets and information: https://www.academyplayhouse.org/shows. Cape Playhouse in Dennis. After some single-night presentations last year, Cape Playhouse is producing short runs of two plays this summer on its outdoor stage. “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” about singer Billie Holiday, will be presented July 14-24. “Songs for a New World,” a revue of music by Jason Robert Brown, will follow Aug. 4-14. All performances will begin at 8 p.m. on the lawn, with limited seating. There will be no matinees and all tickets (available Tuesday to the general public) will be sold online: www.capeplayhouse.org. Art House, Town Hall in Provincetown. With indoor capacity no longer limited, Mark Cortale is reopening the Art House (214 Commercial St., Provincetown) in late June to bring back top Broadway stars. Plus there will be what he calls a “tsunami” of comedy and cabaret acts for the “official” 10th season he’s been producing artistic director there — after 2020 kept the venue shuttered. Some of the bigger names on his July-September roster will perform at benefits on stage at the larger Provincetown Town Hall, 260 Commercial St. Sirius XM radio host Seth Rudetsky will be host and music director for many of the stars at both venues, offering his trademark concert and conversation format. Tickets and information for all shows: www.ptownarthouse.com or 800-838-3006. The town hall shows: July 11, drag “phenom” Alaska Thunder****, winner of the second season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars”; Aug. 8, Kristin Chenoweth’s (“Wicked,” “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”) “For the Girls” show: Aug. 15, Kelli O’Hara (“The King and I” and “Kiss Me, Kate”); Aug. 22, Stephanie J. Block, (“The Cher Show,” “Falsettos”); and Sept. 5, Beth Leavel (“The Drowsy Chaperone,” “The Prom”). The Broadway @ The Art House series begins July 2-3 with Sierra Boggess (“The Little Mermaid,” “Phantom of the Opera”); July 23-24, Jenn Colella (“Come From Away,” “If/Then”); July 31-Aug. 1, Rachel Bay Jones (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “Pippin”); Aug. 13-14, Liz Callaway (“Baby,” “Cats”); Aug. 21, Susie Mosher (“Hairspray,” “The Lineup” at Birdland); Aug. 27-28, Lillias White (“The Life,” “Carrie”); and Aug. 30, Beth Malone (“Fun Home,” “Angels in America”). Grammy Award nominee and cabaret legend Marilyn Maye will perform with Billy Stritch Aug. 31-Sept. 11. Sirius XM host Christine Pedi (Broadway’s “Chicago,” “Talk Radio”) will perform Sept. 11 with accompanist Matthew Ward. Comedian Judy Gold will perform at The Art House for the season, June 25-Sept. 1. Other shows there: July 9-10, Tori Scott; July 15-17, Steven Brinberg’s “Simply Barbra”; July 22, indie rock star Melissa Ferrick; Aug. 4-Sept. 11, “RuPaul's Drag Race” star Ginger Minj; Aug. 6-7, “comedy chanteuse” Deven Green with Handsome Ned in the comedy show “Watch Thin People Eat”; Aug. 10, comedy trio Unitard; Aug. 23, Ben Rimalower of “Patti Issues” will perform a live podcast show “Broken Records — The Albums You Wouldn't Shut Up About”; Aug. 24, Sirius XM star John Hill with comedy and stories in “Dead On Arrival”; and Aug. 26, Nicolas King, performing a mix of pop, jazz and Broadway. The 20 Best Rock Duets Of All Time. We all remember the great duets. Save Your Love by Renee and Renato, Welcome Home by Peters and Lee, Orville’s Song by Keith Harris & Orville The Duck. But the art of the duet also has its place in rock’n’roll. From power ballads to balls-out OTT anthems, and from mega-hits to cult classics, the rock duet comes in all shapes and sizes. Here we present the very best of them. Ducks not included. Ozzy Osbourne & Lita Ford – Close My Eyes Forever (1988) In the late 80s, so powerful was the allure of the power ballad duet that even the coke-snorting, bat-munching Prince Of Darkness succumbed to it. In time-honoured tradition, Sharon was blame. At that time, Mrs. O was managing former Runaways star Lita Ford as well as the old man. Putting the two together was a no-brainer. What they delivered with Close My Eyes Forever was something truly unique – a love song utterly devoid of romance. Lita sounds agitated. Ozzy, inevitably, sounds pissed. But the song was a hit – top ten in America. And it’s better, at least, than the duets the Double-O went on to make, with daughter Kelly and, of course, Miss Piggy. David Bowie & Mick Jagger - Dancing In The Street (1985) Two legendary rock singers, and a classic old Motown song. What could go wrong? As it turned out, pretty much everything, as Bowie and Jagger hammed it up and made a dog’s dinner of Dancing In The Street . But at least they did it to raise money for Live Aid. And the high-camp video spawned a brilliant spoof – so we recommend you watch this instead. Sebastian Bach & Axl Rose – Love is A Bitchslap (2007) Former Skid Row singer Bach has been tight with Axl since the early 90s, when the Skids had opened for Guns N’ Roses on the Use Your Illusion tour. This provocatively titled duet is the best of three tracks from Bach’s album Angel Down to feature Axl. A throwback to the good old bad old days of the 80s, it’s a full-tilt rock’n’roll blaster. From these two badasses, you’d expect nothing less. Sammy Hagar & Kid Rock – Knockdown Dragout (2013) The Red Rocker’s 2013 album Sammy Hagar & Friends was exactly as billed – a bunch of songs recorded with famous buddies, including former bandmates from Van Halen, Chickenfoot and Montrose and H.S.A.S. And on an album notable for its complete lack of anything approaching subtlety, the standout was this raucous duet with white trash superstar Kid Rock. Best enjoyed with a shot of Sammy’s own-brand tequila. Def Leppard & Tim McGraw – Nine Lives (2008) Taylor Swift loves Def Leppard, but it was another famous fan that ended up cutting a song with the band. Country singer Tim McGraw wears a big hat and has had plenty of big hits in the US – 10 number one country albums, 25 number one country singles. And his duet with Joe Elliott on Nine Lives worked brilliantly, his Southern twang adding a little extra spice to a hard rock anthem in the classic Leppard tradition. INXS & Jimmy Barnes – Good Times (1987) It was a marriage made in Aussie rock heaven. In 1987, INXS had become the biggest thing from Down Under since AC/DC. Jimmy Barnes, as former frontman of Cold Chisel and solo star, was Australian rock’n’roll royalty. And the song they recorded together was an Aussie classic – a hit for 60s stars The Easybeats, written by the group’s founding members Harry Vanda and George Young, the latter the older brother of Malcolm and Angus. The version that INXS and Barnes cut for the soundtrack to cult horror comedy movie The Lost Boys was as rowdy as an Aussie boozer at closing time, with Barnes and Michael Hutchence really belting it out. It’s no wonder so many people were pulling for Barnes to replace Brian Johnson in AC/DC. He’s an absolute powerhouse of a singer. Almost Paradise – Mike Reno & Ann Wilson (1984) If you missed the 1980s – whether born too late, or perhaps whacked out on coke for the duration – this is what it was like. Power ballads ruled. And if said power ballad happened to be the love theme to a Hollywood blockbuster, performed as a duet by a pair of big-haired rock stars – one a dude, the other a chick – the cash just rolled in. So it was with Almost Paradise , written by soft rock master Eric Carmen, sung by Loverboy’s Mike Reno and Heart’s Ann Wilson, and featured in Footloose , a movie so quintessentially 80s it had Kevin Bacon top billing. To hear it again now is to be transported back in time to a golden age… Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Please Read The Letter (2007) In the year that Led Zeppelin reunited for that one-off performance at London’s O2, and the world waited for the mother of all comeback tours, Plant had already moved on. For the singer, one gig with the old band was enough. He had other areas of music to explore, and he did so, brilliantly, with Raising Sand, an album of duets with bluegrass singer Krauss. The old songs they recorded ranged from country to blues and rockabilly. But the best track on the album was one that Plant had written with Jimmy Page – the tender ballad Please Read The Letter . The irony was not lost on Page. Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash – Girl From The North Country (1969) The song that Dylan first recorded in 1963 for his second album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan was remade six years later as a duet with Cash. Most extraordinary of all, in this meeting of two major figures in American music, is the complete lack of ego in the performance. It is a simple song, beautifully sung: the two voices, Dylan’s reedy, Cash’s deep, in perfect balance. Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush – Don’t Give Up (1986) It was the dream art rock pairing that almost didn’t happen. As astonishing as it now seems, Gabriel had wanted to record Don’t Give Up with Dolly Parton, believing that his lyrics for the song, inspired by photographs of The Great Depression in 1930s America, would have a deeper resonance if sung in part by an American voice. Instead, after Dolly turned him down, Gabriel found the perfect partner in Kate Bush. The emotion created in their duet – enhanced by Godley & Creme’s video – made Don’t Give Up a classic, defining song in Gabriel’s career. Gary Moore & Phil Lynott – Out In The Fields (1985) Moore and Lynott made some great music together in an on-off working relationship spread over many years. In 1979 there was Thin Lizzy’s classic Black Rose , the only album that Moore made with the band, and also Moore’s solo hit Parisienne Walkways , a duet with Lynott. They repeated the trick in 1985 with Out In The Fields , an electrifying anti-war protest song. Sadly, it turned out to be Lynott’s last hit before his death the following January. Temple Of The Dog – Hunger Strike (1991) Led by Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, Temple Of The Dog was a Seattle rock supergroup that made one album as a tribute to Cornell’s friend Andrew Wood, the singer of Mother Love Bone, who died from a heroin overdose in 1990. Alongside Cornell were Soundgarden’s drummer Matt Cameron, two former members of Mother Love Bone – guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament – plus guitarist Mike McCready and singer Eddie Vedder from the new band formed by Gossard and Ament, Pearl Jam. What they created in Wood’s memory was one of the great albums of the grunge era, featuring in Hunger Strike a beautiful, melancholy song in which Cornell and Vedder shared lead vocals, both digging deep. Alice Cooper & Donovan – Billion Dollar Babies (1973) The title track from the Coop’s masterpiece was one of the most bizarre love songs ever written, its subject a sex doll, which he serenaded thus: ‘ Rubber little monster/Baby I adore you/Man or woman living couldn’t love me like you do. ’ An additional frisson of twisted romantic delusion was supplied in interludes sung by folk rock kook Donovan in a weird faux-Cockney voice: ‘ If I’m too rough, tell me/I’m so scared your little head will come off in my hands.’ As duets go, it’s a long way from Kenny and Dolly trilling Islands In The Stream . Meat Loaf & Cher – Dead Ringer For Love (1981) As one critic noted, Cher could sing any old piece of tat like her next meal depended on it. And if anyone could empathise with that, it’s Meat Loaf. The two old troupers teamed up for this hit single from Dead Ringer , Meat’s follow-up to Bat Out Of Hell . A frenzied rock’n’roll anthem that hits fever pitch and stays there for the duration, Dead Ringer is surely the most OTT duet of them all. Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (1981) She was one of the biggest stars in rock’n’roll, singer and songwriter for Fleetwood Mac, but when Stevie Nicks first met Tom Petty in 1978, she was, in Petty’s words, “this absolutely stoned-gone, huge fan.” Nicks loved Petty’s songs so much that she wanted one to sing. “It was her mission in life,” he said, “that I should write her a song.” Only it didn’t turn out quite like that. When Petty wrote Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around – this cool, slinky rock’n’roll tune – it sounded so good he wanted to keep it for himself. But in the end, Stevie got her way – and her duet with her favourite singer became the big hit from her debut solo album Bella Donna . Rush & Max Webster – Battle Scar (1980) It was not so much a conventional duet as two bands facing off and rocking out. The guys in Max Webster – a band, not a person – were old friends of Rush. And for the album Universal Juveniles , Max Webster’s last, the two bands set up in the same room to record Battle Scar live off the floor. The song is a real shit-kicker, with a slow, grinding tension. And the combination of two unique voices – Kim Mitchell’s groan, Geddy Lee’s yelp – adds to the spaced-out vibe. It’s the ultimate Maple Leaf Mayhem jam. Led Zeppelin – The Battle Of Evermore (1971) On Zeppelin’s iconic and definitive fourth album was the only song the band recorded with a guest singer. Folk music had been a key influence in Zeppelin’s music from the outset. On their debut album there was Black Mountain Side , based on a traditional Irish song. On Led Zeppelin III there was a number of folk-influenced acoustic tracks. And when Jimmy Page wrote The Battle Of Evermore – playing a mandolin for the first time, borrowed from bassist John Paul Jones – it sounded, he said, “like an old English instrumental.” It was Robert Plant who suggested that the song required another voice to compliment his own, and it came from Sandy Denny, formerly of British folk group Fairport Convention. The result was magical, a Led Zeppelin song unlike any other. Queen & David Bowie – Under Pressure (1981) What started out as a bit of fun, an off-the-cuff collaboration between two giants of rock, turned into what Brian May later called “a fierce battle”. And it was a battle that Bowie won, his ego bigger even than Freddie Mercury’s. As May said of the making of Under Pressure : “It was hard, because you had four very precocious boys and David, who was precocious enough for all of us. David took over the song lyrically.” For all that, May described Under Pressure as “a great song”. With that killer funky bass line from John Deacon, and stellar performances from the two alpha male vocalists, it was a UK number one and a smash hit all over the world. Motörhead & Girlschool – Please Don’t Touch (1981) “We are Motörhead,” Lemmy used to say. “And we play rock’n’roll.” For him, it really was that simple. The band he led was, in his mind, plugged straight into the original rock’n’roll of the 50s. Except that Motörhead played it louder, faster, and filthier. In tribute to Lemmy’s heroes was the song that Motörhead recorded with all-female NWOBHM stars Girlschool – under the inspired portmanteau of Headgirl. Please Don’t Touch was a minor hit in 1959 for Brit rock’n’rollers Johnny Kidd & The Pirates. Headgirl played it straight, no messing, retaining the spirit of the original. And the way Lemmy sang it with the beautiful Kelly Johnson just oozed rock’n’roll cool. Bryan Adams & Tina Turner – It’s Only Love (1985) The greatest duet of all time wasn’t actually written with two voices in mind, but when Bryan Adams decided on cutting this song with a female singer, he knew immediately who he wanted: soul legend Tina Turner. There was no ballsier singer in the world, and in the mid-80s Turner was in the process of making a comeback. When the duo recorded the track, her performance was so powerful that Adams was blown away. As he told Classic Rock : “It was like a tornado had just ripped through.” First and foremost, It’s Only Love was a great song. What made it so brilliant as a duet was the two gritty voices were so perfectly matched. Such was the heat generated between them in this song that it was widely rumoured that their relationship was more than professional – a story Adams has always denied. But he got a great hit song out of it. That was more than enough. The rock icon tells AQ that she “dug down deep” for her 18th studio release. Nearly 50 years after her self-titled debut album, Suzi Quatro’s latest release, The Devil in Me , proves that at 70 years old, she is as vibrant and creative as ever. A trailblazer for women in music, she was the first female rock star to front her own band, singing and playing bass as well as writing her own material. Quatro has proven she has both talent and determination, which both came into play when writing and recording The Devil in Me despite these challenging COVID times. “I’m a working artist – I’m usually on the road,” Quatro says, calling from her home in England, “but once I knew that this [pandemic] was happening… I’m a ‘glass half full’ person and I said, ‘Let’s just do the album. We couldn’t have done it before; we can do it now.’ I just found it to be extremely creative. It’s wonderful. I’m discovering stuff in myself. I’m discovering stuff in other people. I’m working out priorities…. So I actually love it. It’s a very creative time. [Y]ou can turn a negative into a positive.” Quatro collaborated on creating The Devil in Me with her son, Richard Tuckey, with whom she also worked on her last album, 2019’s No Control . Quatro says it’s what makes the music so unique. “There’s no fillers on here,” she says. “I’ve dug down deep. My son has dug down deep. He’s brought his thirty-six-year-old energy to the table with his generation of music – and as long as he’s had a memory, he’s watched me onstage be Suzi Quatro. And I’ve brought my 57 years in the business and my life experience. It’s worked because I gave birth to Richard, and he has given rebirth to me… and that’s amazing, isn’t it?” When writing songs, Quatro says “I try not to give myself any rules, any particular areas that I can’t go or any areas that I should go. I leave everything wide open and I let the song come to me. That’s how I’ve always worked. I trust my creative instincts and my own way of getting there as being okay.” At just fourteen years old, Quatro formed a band with her sisters called The Pleasure Seekers. They released a handful of singles starting in 1968, which were well-received, and led to tours around the country. By the early ‘70s, though, Quatro realized that she and her sisters had different musical visions, so she struck out on her own, moving to England in 1971 and forming her own band. “I was always a square peg in a round hole,” Quatro says. “Never fit anywhere. Which is why I had to find my own niche. Nobody told me to act a certain way, play a certain way, sing a certain way. Because I didn’t fit anywhere, I found my own place to fit. You create your own thing and nobody can take it away from you. I found my own voice and I kept it.” Quatro’s unique sound and attitude quickly brought her success overseas. She released her self-titled debut album in 1973, then soon began hitting the charts in Europe and Australia with edgy rock singles such as “Can the Can,” “48 Crash,” and “Devil Gate Drive.” Even now, she remains a high-profile star outside of the United States. She routinely packs arenas with fans eager to hear the hits, songs that Quatro says she never gets tired of playing. “Let’s say I start one of my big hits and the audience erupts – how can you ever possibly get tired of that? To me, it’s exciting. That’s something I created, and look at the reaction. I love it. I believe in giving everything I’ve got to every single audience, and never taking it for granted. That’s my work ethic. That’s what I was taught and that’s what I do. And I never get tired of it.” Quatro has lived in Europe for 50 years now, dividing her time between England and Germany. Still, her Detroit roots are evident in her music and attitude. “You cannot take Detroit out of you. It’s in there for good,” she says. “There’s an edge in Detroit. There’s an electric current that you can feel. I think every artist that has come out of Detroit has that electricity.” On The Devil in Me , Quatro pays homage to her hometown on the track “Motor City Riders.” Another track on The Devil in Me , “Isolation Blues,” is exactly as its title suggests: a lament about the restrictions the pandemic has placed on us all. But that will change for Quatro, as an extensive European tour will see her back on stages through the end of 2021. “I’ll be glad when the gigs start because I miss that,” she says. “My bags are packed, my bass is in tune, and I’m ready!” It’s hard to imagine Suzi Quatro ever not being ready to bring her devil inside back out on the road.