Hitmaker by Tommy Mottola

Author:Tommy Mottola [MOTTOLA, TOMMY/FUSSMAN, CAL]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Biography & Autobiography / Rich & Famous, Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Art
ISBN: 9781455505432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2013-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

Walter no longer had to answer to Larry Tisch or William Paley. He’d gotten a $20 million signing bonus and a new contract from Sony, and Tokyo was far, far away. He began to act as if he had absolute power.

One night, Walter and I were eating dinner at Café Central when Bruce Springsteen came in. Bruce was with his wife-to-be, Patti Scialfa, along with Sting and his soon-to-be wife, Trudie Styler. They sat at a table in the middle of the restaurant.

Bruce was trying to avoid Walter. But it was a social setting, and I was sure that at some point Bruce was going to get up and come over to say hello. He didn’t. Instead, Walter got up, walked over to Bruce’s table, and hit Bruce in the back of the head. It wasn’t a vicious smack. It was the kind of smack that said: What, you don’t come over to say hello to me?

Ohhhhhh, shit, I thought. I was ready to crawl under the table. First off, you don’t hit a man in the back of the head with his fiancée sitting right next to him. That’s crazy to begin with. But to do that to somebody who’d never caused you problems? Who’d brought you success after success over the years? And who’d long been one of your cornerstone artists?

Sure, the artists realize the guy in charge is writing the checks, and there must be respect that comes along with that. But like in any business dealing, it’s the good spirit coming from both sides that makes the relationship work. And here was Walter slapping the Boss in front of an entire restaurant!

From across the room I carefully watched Bruce’s face turn red. At first, he was obviously stunned. But he didn’t react even though he was smoldering inside. Bruce knew better than to get into a fight with Walter. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but my guess was it wasn’t going to be good. So I started walking toward the table to try to defuse the situation. Before I got there, Bruce looked Walter straight in the eye and said, “Don’t you ever do anything like that again. I’m not that little kid anymore that you used to push around. Do you understand?”

Now Walter was stunned. In his mind, he was the Boss, not Bruce, and he couldn’t fathom Bruce’s reaction. It was a defining moment and a permanent breakdown in their relationship. I’d been around Walter so long that I’d gotten used to this sort of behavior. But that slap was an unmistakable omen. I had the feeling that Walter Yetnikoff might soon go overboard. And I began to wonder if he was going to take me down with him.

I was in an incredibly difficult situation. It was impossible for me to distance myself from Walter. Not only had he given me my big break, but we were on the verge of pulling off a deal even more audacious than the one that maneuvered the sale of CBS Records to Sony.

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