Desmond Child on the 100th Episode of Rock & Roll High School
For its 100th episode, we’re joined by legendary Hall of Fame songwriter Desmond Child.
For nearly 50 years, Desmond has written or co-written some of the most iconic songs of the last half-century: “Livin’ On A Prayer,” “You Give Love A Bad Name,” “I Was Made For Lovin’ You,” “Dude (Looks Like A Lady),” “I Hate Myself For Lovin’ You,” “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” and many, many more.
In this interview, Desmond shares the story of his upbringing in Florida, living with a larger-than-life Cuban mother and a father who, despite Desmond not learning the truth until he was 18 years old, was not his biological dad. Two of his aunts in Cuba were mistresses to men who led opposite sides of the Cuban Revolution: Batista AND Castro. And the stories just get more remarkable from there.
After moving to New York City and forming his own band, Desmond Child & Rouge, Desmond began a songwriting apprenticeship with legendary songwriter Bob Crewe (The Four Seasons, “Lady Marmalade”), through which he learned the secrets of writing songs that truly connect with an audience — lessons he would soon put to use writing some of the biggest hits in the history of popular music.
The list of artists who have recorded Desmond’s songs is a who’s who of music history: Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Barbra Streisand, Bon Jovi, Cher, Joan Jett, KISS, Ricky Martin and many more.
Desmond’s 2023 memoir, Livin’ On A Prayer: Big Songs Big Life, written with David Ritz, tells these stories and many more in even greater detail.
His latest album, Desmond Child Rocks The Parthenon — The Live Concert Album, is out now.
On Paul Stanley of KISS coming to see Desmond Child & Rouge:
A few minutes from the start of the show, this guy pulls the curtain open, he says ‘hey by the way I’m Paul Stanley of KISS.’ We just looked at him because we had never seen what his real face looked like.. And he said ‘I just want to let you guys know that George Harrison is sitting at the front table…we just jumped out there, we killed it. Then Paul came back after and said ‘hey we should write songs together.’
On writing with KISS:
He (Paul) was like “You don’t know Gene Simmons. That would be like an impossibility” I went to S.I.R Studios and KISS was rehearsing there…There was a piano with a canvas cover and (Paul) helped me open the piano and he sat next to me and we wrote “I Was Made For Loving You.” Gene always hated the song.
On working with Bon Jovi on “You Give Love A Bad Name:”
That was the first song we wrote and it was magical… we really in a way changed the course of pop music…I then started getting songs with Aerosmith and I don’t think either band was happy that I was two timing, going back and forth, since they shared the same producer, but I think that also kept me in the circle.”
On writing “Living On A Prayer” with Bon Jovi:
I borrowed an apartment that had a big old upright grand piano, it looked like it was from the 1930’s, all out of tune, a lot of keys sticking. I remember Richie sat behind me and Jon had a chair but he spent most of the time pacing and kinda going over lyrics and all that. It was one of those magical things again. The chemistry between the three of us was incredible.
On meeting Aerosmith for the first time:
I walked in, not even a hello and Steven called me over to this corner where Joe is recording this backwards guitar that had a boogie woogie, then Steven started singing ‘cruisin’ for the ladies.’.. They stopped and said ‘what do you think of that?’ I said, “That’s really bad. I don’t think Van Halen would put that on the bside of their worst record.”