Paisley The Birth of a Star

"Read it, inside, the credits."

I opened it and scrolled to the song list. In bold letters at the bottom, it said, "All songs written by Jake Mellows."

It stunned me. "Why did you do that? You wrote them, too."

"No," she said. "Those songs would never have eventuated. It was you who unlocked them. Without you, we had nothing, they would never have been born. It's my way of saying thank you."

"Thanks, Paisley, but you didn't have to."

"I know, but I wanted to. It's not much for all the bullshit I put you and our family through. The thank you is for much more than the songs."

Nothing runs smoothly with relationships like this. Once they finished the recoding, there was the next phase: another tour, concerts, interviews. She was gone a lot, but once that surge was over, she came home and was home for most of the time. When the concerts were in New Zealand, we went as a family. We brought a small camper van and we followed along like groupies.

I never really settled my differences with the guys in the band. They were idiots, still living the stupid rock star dream. They blew all their money. They were always broke. It was never going to be sustainable, not for them.

Their desires and need for more money, always needing another show to keep the creditors at bay, was what destroyed their band.

Paisley had slain her dragon. She had a string of number one hits, so she was comfortable saying no. She didn't care; we didn't need the money, they did. It was that need that destroyed the band.

I came home from work one night to find Paisley and the girls huddled together on the sofa. She had obviously been crying. The girls looked sad and their faces were also tear stained.

"Sheesh, what the hell happened?" I said, falling into Paisley's open arms.

"The band, we broke up."

"Why?"

"Lots of reasons, mostly they wanted to go back to Australia to tour. I said no."

I hugged her tight. "I'm sorry."

She sniggered, a slightly derisive tone creeping in. "Are you? I figured you'd be happy."

"No, I know how much the band meant to you. You know I didn't like the guys, but I know how important it was to you. I am truly sorry."

"Thank you." She whimpered through the sniffles.

It changed things a little. She still received requests to perform, though now, it was as a soloist, or she would need to find another band.

Daisy and I had moved along, also. We still did our little sets around town, but that grew, and now we were receiving requests from far and wide. We evolved, and that grew from the jam and rehearsal sessions in my music room.

Paisley loved to come and join in when we rehearsed, so it sort of morphed, Paisley's involvement also encouraged Sabrina to join in. Turned out she could sing.

It was Daisy who made the suggestion one night as we were getting ready for a Sunday session. "Paisley, why don't you perform with us? You know all the songs. You add something special. Please, come and join us."

Paisley turned to look at me. "Would that be okay?"

"Of course, but if we are growing, then Sabrina, I think you should also join the band."

Sabrina looked shocked. "Really?"

Paisley hugged her. "Absolutely."

So now we had a little band. Paisley, who had been learning the Cello, brought that element, Sabrina, who had always had a love of drums and percussion, brought a small drum kit: just a kick drum, snare, and a few cymbals. It all added another dimension to our performances.

Of course, having a famous singer as part of the band really helped. Paisley, being the person she was, it was obvious she wanted more, and it didn't take long before she was really the frontline and the rest of us became the support.

Our sets grew in popularity; we regularly packed out the garden bar and other venues cued up to book us. That allowed us to push up the price.

I dreaded the day Daisy finished her course at Polytech. We had talked often about how she was looking forward to going back to Gisborne. The day finally arrived. I was nervous, but excited for her. The little band had grown to become such a huge part of our life that it was going to be sad to see it all come to an end.

Paisley organised a huge party to celebrate Daisy's graduation. We had lots of friends and kids. It was a barbecue and lots of drinks. It was a great afternoon. It was later in the night, most of the crowd gone. There was just Sabrina, Daisy, Paisley and me left.

"So when are you heading home?" I asked.

Daisy gave me a little shrug. "I'm not sure I am. Sabrina's got a cool job at Te Papa, we've got the flat and, well, we have the band. I mean, if you don't want to continue, that's cool, but Sab's and me love it."

"You are not going anywhere," Paisley snapped curtly. "Damn it, I love the band. This is the most fun I have ever had."

They all looked at me. "Hey, I didn't want you to go. I was hoping you'd stay. I love the band, too."

The birth of our third child was totally unplanned, but thankfully a boy. I was sick of getting out-voted by females. That arrival changed everything again. Paisley had to wind back the travelling. No more big concerts for a while, but it gave us time together as a family.