Chapter 2

The next night was Star Search, so we wrote down all of the names that flashed at the beginning and the end of the show. We also thought we were better than any of the singers we heard on the show. It was early in the season, so we hoped that they hadn't selected everybody for the entire season yet.

Ed McMahon was a pretty good host of the show. From what Dad had told me at the time, he usually always had a drink before he went out on stage, both at The Tonight Show and Star Search.

This was the first season of Star Search and after contacting a number of people, we were told to show up at The Earl Carroll Theatre on Sunset Boulevard at 4pm, two hours before filming.

We met Al Masini, the creator of the show and Sam Riddle, who wrote, narrated and produced the show.

Backstage, with a good deal of noise going on, we were asked to sing a cappella to 'find out if we were any good, ' as Mr. Riddle had described.

Joan broke into "Always on My Mind" and I joined her, three lines in,

"Maybe I didn't treat you
quite as good as I should have"

"And maybe I didn't love you
quite as often as I could have

Little things I should have said and done
I just never took the time"

"You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind... "

Mr. Masini yelled "SHUT UP," to everybody around us and told us to sing some more. I started the second verse.

We were stopped and told to come back in one week, with two songs prepared.

"Sir, Mr. Masini—we only have music with the original singer on it, where would we find them without vocal tracks?"

"Give me a list of the songs you know and I will do whatever I can for you—I think you two could do very well on this show—you're cute and you sing well, both individually and together. Practice the best you can and we'll see you in one week. We'll be putting you against the adult singers, just so you know?"

Dad got a little upset, but I turned to him and said, "Dad—don't worry, we got this OK?"

Joan was hanging on my arm, while this was going on. We occasionally looked at each other, but everything ended up OK.

Although we showed up and sang, in the Adult Singer Category—nobody was going to beat Sam Harris. When he sang 'his' version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," both Joan and I cried - it was so beautiful.

We did get on TV and sing, which after getting home, we had some phone calls for more places to perform. We actually became the opening act for half a season with Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. She let us sing "Words Get in the Way," which was a blast.

We both made some really good money doing that, but by 1985, we were old news. Now, I was 18 and my sister was 16, both still living at home, but back in the slow lane.

We never had discussed that kiss any more because we got so busy.

We had about twenty songs we rotated through when we did have a gig of some kind and when it was a job within four to five hours of us, Mom and dad let me drive to wherever it was.

There was a wedding about three hours north we were contracted for. With the help of a contact we got from doing Star Search, we could now give him practically any music and he can remove the lead vocals. That really helped us build up a repertoire, quickly.

We ran it by the folks and after getting the usual 'Rules of Decorum' we packed up some changes of clothes, got in my VW bug and headed up north.

"Are we going to drive, perform, then come straight back Jerry?" my sister asked.

"We could, but did you have something else in mind, beautiful?" I said.

"Oh, Jerry—remember that kiss we had when we first sang "True?"

"I'll never forget that kiss, Joan—it was my first, you were my first."

"I was thinking, Jerry—Let's find out where we're performing, then find a hotel to stay at. Then after we perform, we can go back to the room and..."

"Practice kissing some more?" I asked.

"Yeaahhh!" she said, scooting all the way over and putting her head on my shoulder.

We found the place on the first try, then left and found a nice Best Western. We walked in together and a nice woman said, "It is so nice to see a young married couple in love, what can I do for you?"