Britney Spearsis reflecting on the moment she signed her first record deal.
Inan exclusive excerptfrom her long-awaited memoirThe Woman in Me, the pop superstar, 41, writes about life after theMickey Mouse Club— which she appeared on as a child star alongside the likes ofRyan Gosling,Justin Timberlake, andChristina Aguilera.
By 15, Spears was ready to record her own music, because as she writes in the book, she “missed performing.”
Britney Spears on the cover of PEOPLE.Britney Brands
Britney Brands
“My mom had been in touch with a lawyer she’d met on my audition circuit, a man named Larry Rudolph, who she would call sometimes for business advice,” Spears writes of the man who would become her one-time manager. “He suggested I record a demo. He had a song thatToni Braxtonhad recorded for her second album that had ended up on the cutting room floor. This would become the demo that I would use to get in the door at record labels.”
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
As Spears explained, Rudolph brought her around for auditions.
“Larry took me around [New York City], and I went into rooms full of executives and sang Whitney Houston’s ‘I Have Nothing,’” she writes. “Gazing out at the rooms full of men in suits looking me up and down in my small dress and high heels, I sangloud.”
Britney Spears for PEOPLE.Britney Brands
“This book has been a labor of love and all the emotions that come with it,” Spears told PEOPLE. “Reliving everything has been exciting, heart-wrenching, and emotional, to say the least. For those reasons, I will only be reading a small part of my audiobook. I am so grateful to the amazing Michelle Williams for reading the rest of it.”
The memoir will be released through Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, and will “illuminate the enduring power of music and love — and the importance of a woman telling her own story, on her own terms,” according to a release.
For more of the exclusive excerpt and interview with Britney Spears, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.
source: people.com
