Who is the unknown composer behind the big hits of Kiss, Bon Jovi and Ricky Martin

Without repeating and without googling: what unites hard rock heavyweights like Kiss, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Steve Vai, Joan Jett and Bon Jovi with unbeatable pop stars like Cher, Robbie Williams, Ricky Martin, La Ley, Katy Perry and Mika, beyond their common profession of successful musicians around the world?

What unites them is that the artists of these ensembles have as a meeting point a man who at some point in their career composed or produced an unbeatable success: Desmond Child.

And who the hell is Desmond Child? Born 68 years ago as John Charles Barrett in the US state of Florida, he is the one who has written transversal pages within the pop and rock of the last four decades in the shadows. As an example, just mention I was born to love you for kiss, Give love a bad name by Bon Jovi, e Live the crazy life by Ricky Martin

But there is more, for example We all sleep alone by Cher, I hate myself for loving you by Joan Jett The boy looks like a girl) by Aerosmith, e Old before he died by Robbie Williams.

These are just some of the hits composed by his pen. Themes that led him to join the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an institution that pursues the goal of establishing its headquarters in the immortal Brill Building in New York: the place where the popular hits that have shaped the American Songbook that still today he is saved from these days by the likes of Rod Stewart.

Kiss’s plan to get to disco music

Desmond’s career begins in the late 70s, when he leads his group Rouge and plays in the New York underground with moderate success, as well as having been part of the soundtrack of the cult film The warriors. One of his fans was Paul Stanley, and gradually they both became friends. From there to think of something together for Kiss there was only one step.

The plan, given the rise of disco music, was simple: to combine the universe of bowling with hard rock and glamorous guitars that were, along with makeup, the secret of Kiss’ success. And the result was nothing more and nothing less than I was born to love you: a theme that, beyond the negative comments that Gene Simmons himself has dedicated over time, has opened up new markets for Kiss, and has served as a kickoff for a series of collaborations between the group and Child, on albums such as Animalize, Asylum Y crazy nights.

A success for Bon Jovi

Sometime later, in the 1980s, the group that was opening for Kiss on an American tour at the time contacted Child to collaborate with them. Natives of New Jersey, they came from having a hit with their song run away, but they wanted to transcend and reach the top. This is how Child showed the group leader a line to start working together on a song: “You give love to a bad reputation.”

The combination of that expression and another that the singer brought (“Shoot to the heart, and you are to blame”), led to the first number one that Bon Jovi had in the standings on Billboard in the United States.

That was the moment when Child became a kind of King Midas of rock and pop: melodies like The boy looks like a girl) Y Crazy by aerosmith, I hate myself for loving you by Joan Jett, the whole album Garbage by Alice Cooper e Old before he died by Robbie Williams, among others, had his name in the credits.

a low profile

Its public profile contrasts with those songs that have been sung from north to south and east to west around the world since its inception. It is a man married to another man (Curtis Shaw), with surrogate twin children, who resides, how could it be otherwise, in Nashville, the self-styled City of Music in the United States. A couple who portrayed their struggle to be parents in the documentary The story of Roman & Nyro without falling into the low blows.

Successes for Ricky Martin

Another detail to highlight in Child’s life is that he is the grandson of the great Olga Guillotthe Cuban bolero that was able to shine on the island before the Revolution commanded by Fidel Castro.

For this reason, his connection with Ricky Martin shouldn’t come as a surprise. The artistic relationship between the two (plus Robi Draco Rosa) began with The chalice of life, the official song of the 1998 World Cup, which took place in France. And, a year later, the mega explosion: Live the crazy life Y she fucks, one attached to the other.

“I produced 27 songs for Ricky Martin, but Live the crazy life forever changed the course of Latin popular music. It was the fire that started the explosion of Latin music, ”Child told Los 40 Principales.

The 15 million copies sold by Ricky Martin’s CD confirm these claims.

Unstoppable

Katy Perry, The Rasmus, Selena Gomez, Weezer … The names of those who have requested their services add up and apply not only to the older generation, but to the contrary.

Meanwhile, in 2013, Desmond Child founded the Latin Songwriters Hall of Fame, in 2020 he published his autobiography, and more …

Paraphrasing Litto Nebbia, the producer does not stop. Or, to quote a song of him with Jon Bon Jovi, I’ll sleep when I’m dead (“I’ll sleep when I die”). Hopefully it will be in a long time. Musicians and hit lovers will thank you.

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