Deserve’s Got Nothing to Do With It

Deserve’s Got Nothing To Do With It takes you on a journey from Charlie Midnight’s no-nonsense childhood in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with a mother his friends called Bella the Barracuda, through his successful music career, working with and for celebrated artists including James Brown, Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell, Joe Cocker, Cher, Billy Joel, Hilary Duff, Jamey Johnson, Idina Menzel, and Christina Aguilera. Charlie writes about being in the studio with James Brown recording the song “Living in America,” and thinking, If only the guys in the old neighborhood could see me now, I would finally be cool. He shares his wonder at how Joni Mitchell serendipitously covered his song, “How Do You Stop” (a duet with Seal), and how after an unsuccessful album on Columbia Records, his career was salvaged and kick-started by the brilliant artist and record producer, Dan Hartman. Deserve’s Got Nothing To Do With It follows Charlie’s circuitous odyssey filled with dead ends, reboots, and perseverance, and shares the Collaboration, Relationships, Ambition, Passion, and Persistence (CRAPP) that helped him survive until he found himself at the door of success.