"This will either destroy your career, or be the highlight of it."
Malcolm Coates finished sipping his coffee in Roy Falcon's living room and stood up to look at the beautiful Miami skyline. He couldn't believe what he had gotten himself into.
"I know it's a risk, but let's go for it--that's what I say!"
Roy jumped up from his sofa and ran over to his piano. He was a 39-year-old ball of energy with the smoothest chocolate skin, closely cropped black hair, a firm mustache and a muscular build. He smiled as he played notes on the piano.
"I trust you, man--I think this is gonna rock the world!"
Roy hired Malcolm after seeing his commercial for Ashleigh Lillian Kirby's Artists United for Climate Awareness campaign and his video for Golightlee's "Heroine Addiction" single. Roy liked the way Malcolm shot women; the director seemed to truly appreciate the female form, a quality Roy needed for his latest video concept.
Roy was soon to release a new single, "Heartbreak Kid," from his latest album "Love Moves." Roy wanted the video to be an homage to Robert Palmer's famous "Addicted to Love" video, featuring the late English singer surrounded by an all-female band of models pretending to play instruments. "I still remember those girls, man," Roy told Malcolm enthusiastically. "I was six years old when I saw that video, and those were the first girls I ever had a crush on."
The models in the "Addicted to Love" video were styled in a fashion made famous by the late artist Patrick Nagel: very pale skin, striking red lipstick and bright eyes. Roy didn't want the video for "The Heartbreak Kid" to be an exact copy, however.
"I want you to go out and find real musicians--I want them to really play in the video!" exclaimed Ray. "I want you to shoot it in one take, like people are watching it live!"
"You can't be serious," Malcolm responded.
"Hell yeah, I am!"
After an international search that took several weeks, Roy and Malcolm managed to find five women who met both the physical and musical requirements for the video. The first woman hired was Elsa Nielsen, a piano and keyboard player from Copenhagen, Denmark with shoulder-length dark blonde hair and bright, seductive blue eyes. She was joined by Rose Sheehan, a bass player from Cork, Ireland with jet-black hair, deep brown eyes, a regal, upturned nose and very lovely freckles; Leslie Galloway, a red-haired, green-eyed guitarist from Inverness, Scotland; backup guitarist Kara Andersson, a hazel-eyed honey blonde from Stockholm, Sweden; and drummer Clarissa Delaney, a blue-eyed brunette from Hobart, Australia.
Malcolm and Roy spent three weeks with Elsa, Rose, Leslie, Kara and Clarissa in pre-production on the video; by the end of those twenty-one days, the musicians knew both the song and their movements in the video by heart. Speaking of heart, Roy was aroused every day of rehearsal and struggled desperately to hide his erotic excitement from his co-stars. The combination of Danish, Irish, Scottish, Swedish and Australian accents would have been enough to send Roy into a sexual wonderland even if the musicians were average-looking; the fact that these five women were some of the most beautiful on the planet almost made him dizzy during rehearsals.
On the morning of the video shoot in Los Angeles, Roy asked to meet with Elsa, Rose, Leslie, Kara and Clarissa prior to filming. It was 10:00am by the time the hair and makeup team had finished working on all five musicians, and when Roy entered their dressing room, the beauty of his co-stars hit him so hard that he immediately took off his suit jacket to obscure his erection as he sat down.
"Look," Roy began, "I just wanted to say before we get started that I have so enjoyed working with you these past few weeks...I mean, we may never get a chance to meet each other again, so I just wanted to thank you. I know this video will be a hit, and I won't hesitate to give you ladies all the credit."
"Thank you," Clarissa replied. "We enjoyed working with you too."
"And if there's anything I can help you ladies with...contracts, anything, just let me know. Then again, all of y'all are so talented you don't need my help!"
