Tropical Dancer

"So good to see you again, darling!"

Meghan Rooney embraced Lester Bridge as she walked into the control room of Moondance Studios in New York City. Lester loved the way her pink dress hugged her curves; she seemed even more beautiful today than she was nearly three decades ago, when she was one of his backup singers.

"Have you met Norman before?" Lester asked, pointing to Norman Browne, the cocky young producer in a black leather jacket, black T-shirt and black jeans sitting at the console.

"No, but it's an honor to have a chance to work with you," Meghan replied, shaking Norman's hand. "I love those earrings, by the way."

"Thanks," said Norman, smiling at the compliment about the diamond studs in his earlobes.

"Too bad it's just for a cash grab," Lester remarked.

"Oh, stop being so negative!" Meghan gently chided. "He's always been Mr. Sarcasm."

"I've found out," said Norman.

Indeed, Lester had mixed feelings about "Crossing the Bridge: The Duets," the album he was working on with Norman. It had been a number of years since he had released any material, and Helena Records insisted that he owed them one more album on his contract. He decided to rework his old hits from the 1980s and 1990s with today's hottest female singers; Meghan, who had become an international superstar in the years since she toured with Lester, was a natural choice to join him on a new version of his 1988 hit "Tropical Dancer."

"Hey, before we start, can I take a photo?"

"OK, Ms. Instagram," Lester smiled.

Meghan gave Norman her gold iPhone and asked him take a photo of her giving Lester a hug. The photo was perfect: Meghan with her lovely smile, glowing pale skin, long honey-brown hair and blue-green eyes, Lester with his smooth chocolate skin, deep brown eyes, closely-cropped black hair with hints of grey, and gorgeous smile above his sharp white shirt, blue tie and dark blue suit.

"Thank you," she whispered to Norman.

"No problem," the producer replied.

Over the next three hours, they recorded several takes of "Tropical Dancer." Norman was stunned by the quality of their voices; Lester and Meghan's vocals were so pristine and so crisp, in take after take, that he found himself wishing he could have seen them on tour back in 1988, just two years before he was born.

Norman had heard "Tropical Dancer" on the radio several times growing up, but the lyrics seemed to have a new power in this recording session:

"Tropical dancer

Fresh from the island

Smile so lovely

Your heart free of care

Tropical dancer

You're so divine and

Your body's so sweet

From your toes to your hair

The things you do

Just make me fall in love

You fill me with wonder

Like a gift from above...

Tropical dancer

Love how your body moves

Like ocean air

You have such a sweet scent

Tropical dancer

Lovely feet inside your shoes

You soothe my soul

With your island accent

The things you do

Just make me fall in love

You fill me with wonder

Like a gift from above...

Through the pain of New York

And the strain of Soweto

I know there is love

I can find in your meadow

Tropical dancer

Fresh from the island

Smile so lovely

Your heart free of care

Tropical dancer

Fresh from the island

Smile so lovely

Your heart free of care..."

After the last take, Meghan kissed Lester again on the cheek. "You sound great as always, darling."

"So did you," Lester replied.

"So sorry I have to go-you know how it is!"

"I know. Tell Hugh I said hi, OK?"

"Oh, I will, darling."

Meghan left the live room, took out her iPhone to take a photo of Norman at the console, gave him a hug and left Moondance. A few moments later, Lester also left the live room and sat down next to Norman.

"That was some great shit, man," Norman smiled.

"Thanks."

"I love that song."

"It is special."

"Hey," Norman paused. "I always wanted to ask you..."

"Sure. Anything."

"Did you ever hook up with that girl from the video?" Norman was referring to Patricia Patterson, the Jamaican model and actress who portrayed the "tropical dancer" in the 1988 promotional clip for the song.

"No, no, she was just an actress. She was fine, but we never hooked up."

"Really? That was the rumor-that she was the real tropical dancer, that you did the song about her."

Lester shook his head.

"It seemed like you were thinking of her when you recorded the song just now."

"Well..."

Norman was surprised.

"Look...she wasn't the dancer. There was no dancer."

"Really? You didn't write that about anybody?"

"Well..."

"It had to be about somebody, right?"

Lester looked down.

"Look, you can't tell anybody about this, all right? It's a secret."

"Sure. I'll keep my lips shut."

"It was about Meghan."

"What?"

"Look..." Lester sighed. "I wrote it after I met her. She had come to audition for me in '86-I had to do an European tour before recording the 'Heart Dance' album."

"Mmm-hmmm."

"She was this cute, tiny little Aussie chick-her skin was so pale...as white as she is, she was even whiter back then, if you can believe it. Strong accent-the band used to call her 'Kangarooney' because her accent was so strong. But she had a sister's voice...oh my God! It was-it is-so powerful."

"So how did she become a tropical dancer?"

"Well, I wrote it as 'Australian Singer'-I wanted to do it both because I wanted her to know how I felt about her, and because I figured I could tap into the big Aussie craze around here back then. It originally went something like:

'Australian singer

Fresh from the island...'

"The island, obviously being Australia-I know it's a continent, but..."

"I get it, I get it."

"So it went:

'Australian singer

Fresh from the island

Smile so lovely

Your heart free of care

Australian singer

You're so divine and

Your body's so sweet

And your skin is so fair.

The things you do

Just make me fall in love

This girl from Down Under

Is a gift from above...

Australian singer

Love how your body moves

Like ocean air

You have such a sweet scent

Australian singer

You free me from my blues

You soothe my soul

With your sexy accent

The things you do

Just make me fall in love

This girl from Down Under

Is a gift from above..."

"Wow, man, that sounds great."

"And so the next line was:

'Through the pain of New York

And the strain of Soweto

I know there is love

I can find in your meadow...'

"So, I was obviously talking about the shit going down back then-you know, you read about all of the racial shit going on here, and what was going on in South Africa with apartheid. And I was trying to say that love can overcome hate, that despite all of what's going on, someone who happens to be black and someone who happens to be white can fall in love with each other, and..."

"Like-what was that old Stevie Wonder-Paul McCartney song?"

"Right! 'Ebony and Ivory,' that's what I was going for. And the reason I talked about 'finding love in your meadow' is because she was from this town called Fairy Meadow in Australia."

"Fairy Meadow?"

"I know, right? They told her not to mention her hometown in interviews because people would just make, you know, the homophobic jokes and everything, so she always said she was from Sydney."

"I see. So why did you change it?"

"I didn't want to change it. The record company told me to."

"Damn."

"They said, we are not going to put on the radio a song about a black man who wants to fuck a pale-skinned white girl. 'Black people will not buy that record. White people will not buy that record.' That was their exact words. I told them that 'Ebony and Ivory' was a #1 record, but they said that was different, because Stevie Wonder wasn't singing about wanting to fuck Paul McCartney."

"Wow."

"They told me to change it. They said I could do the song about a black girl, and at least black people will buy the record, so I changed it to a West Indian girl."

"I see."

Lester sighed.

"She knows, right?"

"Yeah," Lester replied. "She knows the story."

"So, can I ask...?"

"Sure. I told you-you can ask anything."

"Did you ever..."

Lester smiled. "Look, you have to keep this a secret too, OK?"

"Sure."

Lester took a deep breath before speaking. "It was January 26, 1989. It was Australia Day-that's their Fourth of July. It was the last date of the Australian leg of the tour. We played the Sydney Entertainment Centre-full house, crowd was rockin'. We had been flirting all throughout the tour-the band knew it, everyone knew it. We get back to the hotel and have dinner and a few drinks, and like they say, one thing led to another, and..."

"Damn, man!"

"She had me going all night. I swear to God, man, the more I fucked her, the hornier I got. First white girl I ever had, too-that made it extra hot. I'm sure I was the first brother she had ever been with. We damn near broke up the bed-and we did it in the shower, too. She had so much energy-it was like I had to do a second concert!"

Norman laughed.

"It was a special night. I'll never forget it. But the thing was, that was right around the time the paparazzi was getting really skilled, and it didn't matter which country you were in. One of the other backup singers found out and told the record company, and they told me that if we ever got caught, it would kill my career dead."

"Wow."

"So, that's why she left after that tour. Just too much risk. Plus, I'm not sure how her folks would have dealt with it if I got her pregnant-remember, that was only about fifteen years after Australia got rid of their Jim Crow."

"Yeah."

Lester sighed again. "It was something, man, I tell you."

"So you jealous of Hugh?" Norman asked, referring to Hugh Durrack, the Oscar-winning Australian actor Meghan had married five years before.

"No, not really," Lester replied. "I mean, sometimes I do wonder if things had worked out differently, but...I do love his movies!"

The two men laughed.

"Look, I just hope he treats her right. She deserves to be treated like a princess."

Norman nodded. Suddenly, Lester's phone buzzed. It was a text from Meghan; she had updated her Instagram page with the photo Norman took of the two singers.

Lester clicked on the link and showed it to Norman. Meghan had captioned the photo with the following message:

"My dear Lester...back in the fall of 1986, you gave a tiny, pale, nervous 21-year-old girl from a tiny town in Australia with a passion for Motown and Michael an opportunity of a lifetime. I will forever be grateful. I'm honored to be on your new album. I know that tropical dancer still has your heart-I don't think she'll ever let it go! ;) xoxox"

"That's a nice message," Norman said.

"Yeah," replied Lester. As he placed his phone on the console, it buzzed again: it was Meghan telling him that she would post the photo she took of Norman on her Instagram page shortly.

Suddenly, Lester started to cry. Norman was stunned; he had never seen Lester so sad. Sarcastic, yes. Happy, yes. But never like this.

"You all right, man?"

"I miss her," Norman said, wiping away tears. "I miss her...I just hope he's treating her right...I just hope he appreciates her."

He paused.

"She is so special...so special...like an angel. I'll always love her, man. I always will."