Bret Michaels - Human Zoo

In August 1995 former "Poison" lead-singer Bret Michaels spent a productive week at my studio in Vancouver. I helped him complete three songs, one of them titled "Human Zoo".

A bona fide rock star, Bret knows everyone in Hollywood. Plus, he's a great story-teller (imagine "Kid Rock meets David Lee Roth"). It made for an entertaining week, to say the least.

Unfortunately nothing immediately happened with the three songs we wrote, and I completely forgot about them for nearly ten years.

Then, in June 2004 I heard about a film called "A Letter From Death Row" -- written, directed and starring Bret Michaels. Glancing at the credits, I noticed the soundtrack included a song titled "Human Zoo". Hmmm. I wondered if it might be the same "Human Zoo" I'd written with Bret back in '95?

A bit more research proved that the two songs were, in fact, one and the same (see the audio samples above). There was just one problem: Bret had neglected to credit me as a co-writer!

My publisher contacted Bret's publisher and tried to have the error corrected, but Bret vehemently denied that I'd had even any involvement in the song!

I considered pursuing the matter further, but then I heard that the "Death Row Soundtrack" CD only sold 2,000 copies. In other words, my share of the royalties (if I could get Bret to pay up) wouldn't buy a tank of gas for my car.

I put it behind me, but a year later I got an email from a fellow who'd read this story on my website. He asked if was aware that my name appears in the credits, at the end of the "Death Row" film. This was news to me. In other words, during post-production for the film, Bret submitted my name to the graphics designers. He must have forgotten about this little piece of "evidence" before deciding to deny I'd had any involvement in the song.

My publisher contacted Bret's publisher one more time, and apparently my co-writing credit has now been reinstated.