Free Tragedy's Gift: Surviving Cancer by Kevin Sharp, Jeanne Gere Page B

taken a music business course in junior college, so I thought I would be fairly prepared for what was going on.
     
    I soon learned that the music industry is not something that is learned from a book or from a teacher that never had a record deal.
     
    All of a sudden I was getting advice from people who never had time for me before. New “friends” were coming out of the woodwork and everyone had great ideas for my career. It was all very overwhelming, but on the other hand it was also very exciting to share my good news with the family and friends who were always there believing in me.
     
    When it came time to get down to real business, the record label gave me a thirty- thousand-dollar advance to keep me afloat while I recorded and got ready for touring. I thought that it was very generous of them; my lawyer assured me that it was a standard procedure. I knew I could finally relax and just make a great album.
     
    My attorney had a reputation for being very good, and when I got the bill, I realized that “good” meant expensive. My bill was for $15,000! I could not believe it! I had to pay half of my advance to a lawyer that had spent less than fifteen hours on my “standard” contract.
     
    I immediately started to research other firms to see if I was getting ripped off (which I believed I was) and much to my disappointment, I learned that I was, in fact, paying the going rate for good attorneys representing new artists. That fact didn’t make it right, but at least I knew I wasn’t alone.
     
    All the artists were making financial sacrifices in one way or another. It was the price for being a part of “the biz.” I don’t think being “one of the many” having to pay the price made me feel any better, but for the sake of my music, future fans and my family, I went ahead and paid the bill.
     
    I figured it was the record label’s money anyway, so why should I be so upset? What I didn’t know at the time was that the show biz synonym for “advance” was “loan.’ I had to pay back the thirty thousand as well as all other expenses incurred on my behalf for recording, promotion, photos, touring and everything else, before I ever received another dime.
     
    The stakes were so high I knew I had no choice but to succeed. I couldn’t afford to be a flop. In some ways I think that experience was a great lesson for the rest of my life. It pushed me to work harder and to go for the gusto. Whatever was going to happen from that point on gave me the opportunity to be one of the very few that would live out this amazing dream.
     
    My experience was the course they should have taught at Junior College. Welcome to Showbiz!
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Tattoo
     
    I believe that laughter is truly a healing gift from God. If we can learn to laugh at our own shortcomings, we would be much healthier in mind, body and especially spirit. I usually find several reasons every day to laugh at myself. Mostly because I continually need to be reminded that I really have little to no control over the things that happen in life.
     
    This truth is revealed to me everyday when I take off my shirt and see my reflection in the mirror.
     
    It was a very exciting time when Asylum Records was going to release my first single, "Nobody Knows" to the radio and to the world. I was experiencing days filled with photo shoots, interviews, recording sessions and meetings. My schedule was enough to make my head spin, but I was thrilled by it all. It was during one of those whirlwind days that I came up with the idea that if my song hit #1 on the charts, that I and a few of my label friends should all get tattoos. Thinking that my chances of going to #1 were about the same as getting struck by lightening, we went ahead and actually signed a contract agreeing that we would each get a tattoo of our choice if the song hit #1 on the Billboard Country Chart. One member of our "scheme team" didn't want a