It
had been a month since JADE had recorded their demo tape, and they had now
signed a contract with the Backstreet Boys’ record label and been assigned to a
manager from the firm, a man named Don Jordan.
Their
next move was to start working on an album.
Between the four girls, they had written five songs that they wanted to
go on the album. Don had told them they
needed at least ten songs on their album and hopefully more. The Boys had offered to help them write some
songs for them as well.
Don
was proud of the work that the girls had already done, and he told them that if
they continued to work hard, they could have an album in stores by
Thanksgiving. It was the middle of
August then, so they had around three months.
The girls thought that they could definitely have it done by then. After all, the hardest part was the
songwriting, and that was more than halfway done. They only needed a few more songs, and they
could start recording. They knew it
would be work, but they thought it would be a lot of fun too and were looking
forward to it.
***
Over
the next month, the girls of JADE worked on the songs they already had, as the
Backstreet Boys, as well as some other songwriters worked on writing songs for
them.
Finally,
by the beginning of October, they had a list of songs for their first
album.
1.
Why Don’t You See?
2.
To Win Your Heart
3.
Sugarbaby
4.
Emotions
5.
So Hard to Say Goodbye
6.
Eyes of Love
7.
Just to Be With You
8.
Run Away
9.
Eternal Love
10.
Through Thick and Thin
Now
it was just time for them to start recording.
They were all staying in Atlanta to record, and AJ, Howie, and Nick were
staying with Brian to help the girls, while Kevin remained in Florida with
Kristin, his wife.
Over
the months they had known each other, Ashalyn, Elyssa, Serena, and Jenna had
grown fairly close to Brian, AJ, Howie, Nick, and Kevin. There was not any love happening, for Kevin
and Brian were married, and AJ had a girlfriend, even though the other two were
single. They were just all good
friends. In fact, some of them had
formed special bonds with each other that others hadn’t. For example, Brian and Ashalyn had become
great friends with each other. When they
were not working, Ashalyn and her boyfriend, Mike, even went out with Brian and
Leighanne a few times.
Their
lives all seemed perfect, and everything seemed to be going their way right
then. But they had no way of knowing
what was in store for them.
***