BookWire - Meet The Author - J. Randy Taraborrelli

"To get somebody to sit down and read a book these days is a challenge, I think -- especially if it's a book about somebody else's life." - J. Randy Taraborrelli

Neela Sakaria: Thanks for joining us Mr. Taraborrelli. I enjoyed reading your book. Could you tell us a little bit about your background as a journalist and your work for SOUL magazine?

J. Randy Taraborrelli: Thanks. Well, SOUL magazine was a black entertainment publication in Los Angeles. I used to read it as a kid, and when I got to Los Angeles I began working as an editor there and then eventually as the publisher. This was during the 1980s. It gave me a great opportunity to interview a wide range of celebrities, many of whom I had admired as a kid. It really was a launching pad for my career as an author because my first book from Doubleday, which was published around 1985, was a direct result of Doubleday contacting me to do a biography of Diana Ross based on interviews I had conducted with her for SOUL magazine. So, the magazine is really responsible in a sense for my career as an author.

Neela: Was writing books something that you always intended to do, or was it just something that came up as a result of your work as a journalist?

JRT: I actually turned Doubleday down and then the magazine went out of business...and I needed to do something so I decided to do it. The reason I turned them down was because I didn't think that it was possible for a person whose career was based on writing magazine articles to expand that vision to the ability to write books. It seemed like such a daunting task - when you are used to turning in articles that are 1,000 words to then signing a contract that will compell you to eventually turn something in that is 200,000 words. I didn't think such a thing was possible and I didn't want to take a chance. But then I realized that the mere notion of being a writer is taking a chance. So I decided to give it a shot. And then that was the book that was called DIANA that was published by Doubleday in 1985.

NS: How would you compare the process of writing this book with your other biographies on Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, etc. ?

JRT: Well, you know, this is my ninth book - and I have a system that doesn't vary at all. It's really mundane, it's not very fascinating. It has to do with locating sources, using researchers to find people who have not talked before, drawing from my past experiences with people such as Madonna and people in her life that I may have interviewed over the years -- combining all of that with public record and with my own point of view about the subject matter, and then sort of throwing it in some kind of a mental mixer and then words just come out. The process - it's not a real exciting process. I mean, somebody once said they wanted to have a TV crew come film me as I'm working on a book and I said, 'What you're going to see is me sitting behind a desk alone in a room, with a bunch of telephones ringing and a bunch of transcripts and files around me.' That's basically it. It's not really glamorous at all.

NS: You mentioned that you incorporate your own point of view. In writing about such famous people, do you find it difficult to keep your own biases under control? How do you decide when it is appropriate to include your own opinions?

JRT: I completely embrace all of my biases. I bring my biases to my work by design. I mean, these books are my points of view about the subjects and the information that I've learned. I would never and I have never written about somebody that I didn't like and have a great passion for - unlike a lot of reporters, many of whom I respect. But who purposely go into a project perhaps not really being overwhelmed by their subject, hoping to be won over but if they're not then that's reflected in the book - I'm not like that at all. I put aside the MADONNA book that I started in 1990 twice over the last ten years because both times I just wasn't real happy with her. I finally became happy with her when I decided to write the book.

Life is too short, I think, to spend your time writing about something that you don't have passion for. And I've been accused at times for not being as critical of my subjects as some of my critics thought might be necessary. But I think my books are plenty critical. I mean, I'm sure that if you asked Diana Ross, she's not my biggest fan. And I think that I make plenty of enemies along the way just by virtue of trying to be honest about my own feelings about what's going on in that person's life - let alone having an axe to grind at the same time. I just don't think it's necessary.

JRT: No. That wasn't true then because at that point I really needed to cover the contemporary entertainment scene as a journalist and a critic. I couldn't pick and choose who I wanted to write about, I had to just write about everybody. But it was always true that I always had a strong opinion about what I was doing. I try to be a positive person and I cringe when I read some of the things that reviewers say about artists and their work, because I've played both sides of the fence. On one side I am a critic. One could argue that I do have critical leanings just by virtue of my work as a writer. But on the other hand, I am also an artist who creates a product that then goes out to other writers to be criticized. I think that it's the only profession where you are actually criticized by your peers.

Imagine what it would be like if Jennifer Lopez was sent out to review Madonna's concert - imagine the review she'd get. Imagine what it would be like if a movie director was sent out to review another director's movie. But this is the business where you are actually reviewed by people who are writers, who are often not very happy. I just try to be fair and positive and I just hope that whatever I put out there comes back in the same fair and positive way.

NS: Can you talk a little bit about the organization of the book? Why did you choose to open it with the anecdote of Madonna visiting President Menem of Argentina?

JRT: Well, I thought that incident really characterized who she is as a person - the kind of woman who takes charge of her life, who doesn't have to send handlers out to do her dirty work. Who is not afraid of a challenge. This is a woman who actually took a private helicopter to the home of the president of the country, to convince him to do something her way, as opposed to sending her manager to do the job. And I thought that was a real important milestone in her life. Certainly Evita, the result of that conversation with the president of the country, was very important in shaping who she is as an entertainer and as a woman. So that's why I picked that scene.

And the way the book is laid out is the way my Jackie, Ethel, Joan book is laid out. And it's kind of my imprint - not real popular with publishers and editors but real popular with my readers. And that is that I like short vignette chapters. The reason I lay these books out like that with like 80 chapters, much to the horror of my publisher in England, is because these days I believe that people need to be coaxed along to read a book. Everybody seems to be so preoccupied with everything else that's going on, that nobody wants to read anymore. You've got the internet, you've got DVDs, concerts, television, and a thousand cable stations. To get somebody to sit down and read a book these days is a challenge, I think - especially if it's a book about somebody else's life. And the one thing that I think has worked for me is breaking the book down in a way so that it doesn't feel like a daunting task to read it. I think that I kind of trick my readers along into finishing the book before they even realize it because they feel like they only have a little bit more to go and then they continue and next thing they know, they are done.

NS: I'll admit, as part of this whole internet generation, I did appreciate the short chapters.

JRT: Yeah, and I really had to fight for them because this book has been a bestseller in England now for almost four months. And the original edition of this book is exactly like this, but my publisher there, a British publisher, was against it. Because they said, 'we need to consolidate these. You need to take these 80 chapters and turn them into 15.' And they said, 'all you have to do is just take out these chapter headings and consolidate the text.' I was against it and I'm really glad I fought for it. It seems like it has worked well.

NS: What were some of the biggest challenges in writing about Madonna - and how did you overcome them?

JRT: Well the biggest challenge I guess, is getting past the concept that everything there is to say about her has already been said - by her. Unlike my other subjects, she actually has been extremely public and controversial in a provocative way that is ten times more than anything I could ever come up with. So the real challenge for me in this book was to take everything she has said and put it into perspective in terms of why she may have said it, whether or not it's true, and what it all means. She has said a lot of things that weren't exactly true just for the sake of public relations. So that was a twist for me because usually I'm the one accused of that - writing things that aren't true even though that is never the case. I'm often accused of it, and this time around I had to take a look at what she has said and set her record straight. So, I think that was the biggest challenge.

JRT: Well, as I said it's been a bestseller over there (U.K.) for almost four months and that's her home country, for the most part these days - so she's definitely been exposed to it. She's had no reaction to it, which in a sense isn't a great surprise because she usually only responds to writings about her that are just completely inaccurate or mean-minded. And the whole point of this book is to inform the public about her - and many people who have read it have actually felt more sympathetic towards her after reading it. I think that she doesn't have much of a reason to sway people from it and hopefully maybe she's even recommending it - I don't know.

NS: At one point you write that "if Madonna had debuted in the twenty-first century, she'd most likely be considered a hip-hop act - too spunky and independent minded to be the next Britney Spears and too cutting edge to be the next Jessica Simpson or even the next Mariah Carey." In what other ways do you think that Madonna is truly different from these "pop stars" of today?

JRT: Well the biggest difference is that Madonna's vision has always been her own. I fear that Britney Spears' vision is somebody else's. And that she is, I don't want to say a puppet because that is so pejorative, but she's basically fulfilling someone else's vision of what she should do. She doesn't necessarilly write or produce her songs and Madonna always has, from the very beginning. And it doesn't seem like she exactly knows who she is, and Madonna always has known who she is. I think the closest you are going find to someone you might be able to compare to Madonna is probably Beyonce Knowles from Destiny's Child. Because at least this is a woman who actually writes her own lyrics and who seems to be pretty ambitious just based on the melodrama that constantly surrounds that group - and she's beautiful. But don't forget, Madonna was about 24 years old when she became a star. And when she was 19 she didn't have that much direction either. I mean these girls, Beyonce and Britney, they are 19 years old.

The interesting thing is that earlier in Madonna's career she did have, as you read in my book, people who were trying to shape her into the image that they wanted her to be - like Camille Barbonne - a woman who was one of her first managers, who had a vision of Madonna as sort of a Pat Benatar type of rock and roll singer. And Madonna ended up leaving her for that reason because she wanted to be a dance artist. I think that it's not really fair to compare, perhaps, Britney. Maybe a better comparision would be somebody like Mariah Carey who was older and at the age that Madonna was when Madonna was making waves. Maybe that's not even fair. I just don't think that there's anybody like Madonna. I think there hasn't been anyone like her and there may not be another one like her. It's like trying to say, 'Who's the next Jackie Kennedy or the new Marilyn Monroe - where's the next Elvis Presley?' You know, these icons become icons because they are so unique. And maybe that's just the answer to the question right there.

NS: You touched on this a little bit before, but can you tell us more explicitly - in what ways do you feel that this biography is different from previous works on Madonna?

JRT: Well people who have read it have told me that as a whole it felt new. And I think the real reason for that is because previous books about her have been nothing more than just time-lines of events in her life. Whereas in my book, I wanted to have the 'why' questions answered once and for all. That was what I set out to do. This is more than just a recitation of sensational Madonna moments. Hopefully when you read this book you have at least some understanding of why she made the choices she made and what it is that she has had in mind every step of the way. We all know she's irrepressible, hard-working and she's controversial. But as a biographer I wanted to know why she was these things. Hopefully that's the difference.

JRT: Well I become so immersed in the subject when I'm writing a biography that I really feel that for at least a brief shining moment, that I understand that person. And these are fascinating people to throw yourself into their life. I've done so many icons along the way. I've really enjoyed the work. As a writer, as I said before, if you really enjoy it then it's worthwhile. I'm never wedded to the results of anything I do. I don't care if the book sells one copy or a million. I've learned that the publishing industry is so fickle and out of the author's control. You can't control any of it and once you get that publishing deal it's all downhill from there. It really is - your book dies a slow death the day it's signed. You can't get them to place ads, you can't get them to put a lot of books in the stores. Publishers won't do anything they don't want to do. You basically just have to write the best book you can write and sit back one day and read it and say 'job well done,' and hope that it becomes a bestseller - but if it doesn't, then just move onto the next one. That's what I've learned.

NS: Was there ever a point during any of your projects, when you were in doubt that you were going to complete the book? If so, how did deal with that?

JRT: This was one here, the Madonna book, I really did doubt when I first started it in 1990 that I would ever finish it. I put it aside much to my publisher's dismay, which was Putnam at the time, and then picked it up again in '94 and put it aside. There was just a sense for me that she was self involved and difficult and a bitch goddess and it just didn't seem like it was going to serve any purpose other than illuminate those facts about her. I think she illuminated all of that quite well with her own Truth or Dare and with the Sex book. I didn't want to have to do it again. So I think this was really the book that could have gone undone. Except for the fact that she lived her life and turned it into something that interested me - not that that was her goal. She'd probably think that was completely arrogant of me to say. But that's the way it is. I needed to have a positive feeling about her before I could finish the book. And when I finally did, that's when I finished it.

JRT: I do have a contract with Time Warner to do one more book, which would be my tenth. I can't tell you what it's about but I'm sure it's going to be great. It's a great subject anyway. I don't know if it it will be a great book, but it's certainly a great subject - it deserves a great book. Then I'm really hoping I can just retire and kinda disappear for a while and have people who watch Entertainment Tonight think 'What ever happened to that guy?' I'd like to take some time after my tenth book and just live my own life. Not be constantly under a deadline and just the stress of trying to adhere to these contracts.

I had a mini series in March with Jackie, Ethel, Joan and I had a bestseller last year in the paperback edition of Jackie, Ethel, Joan, a bestseller in the hardcover edition. And for each of these things, you have to do a promotional tour. I'm going to England at the end of this month to tout Madonna over there even though it's already been a bestseller. So there are a lot of demands to this work that don't have to do with the actual joy of writing. They have to do with the other stuff that for me is not that joyful...So, my plan is to finish this next book which is due in October of next year and then maybe take a little bit of time off.

NS: Finally, why are you drawn to subjects such as Madonna? Is it an interest in music or simply the excitement of writing, or both?

JRT: Well, I've done things that haven't been music related. Like the Jackie, Ethel, Joan book and I've done Carol Burnett. My great lift is to write about powerful and empowering people. That's what I really love to do. I love to write about people who are inspiring and have made a difference in whatever field it is that they are working in. It feels like I'm making a difference by explaining their stories to my readers, who really hold me up to some high standards. I know exactly what my readers want. I hear from them and I hear them. They write me letters and I read those comments on the internet and I just cringe.

But I definitely pay attention because you know, for me it's really about the readers. It's about communication and I often say those kind of writers who just write to satisfy themselves - that's just a hobby. If you're a professional writer, who really writes for a job, it's about communicating with your readers - a communication effort. So I really try to communicate with them. So I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get across whatever the message is about the subject - whether it's a musical artist or a political figure. My next subject is interesting because she - it's a woman - she is a political figure who was also an entertainer. So it kind of crosses both areas and it's the first time I've done that. It would be like having Jackie Kennedy burst into song in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Neela: Well thanks very much. I really enjoyed speaking with you and I'm sure our readers will enjoy it as well.

JRT: Thank you. You know what? So did I. This was cool - you really have the greatest questions.