The Fever
A Novel
Chapter One: Maggie Was Plush
Back in April 1990 I was working in New York City for Plush Management, a company that, as the name suggests, worked with upscale pop acts whose music was not too gritty, not too nasty, and not at all urban. But in light of the megastardom of Prince, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, etc., plus the growing popularity of rap, Plush realized they needed to get into the black music game, so they sought me out. I'd agreed to hook up with Plush because my recent divorce (and subsequent outsize alimony settlement) required a regular cash flow to keep me solvent. I was thirty-two years old and, at that point, had been in the business about fifteen busy years. I'd made money, had several jobs in corporate musical chairs, and been bounced around enough that I was no longer bright-eyed a ... read full excerpt from The Fever: A Novel ebook
