Sheryl Crow has had an utterly amazing career. At 63, per her web site, she has nine Grammys on her shelf, five multi-platinum albums to her credit, and is enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as of 2023. So what's the dark cloud in her professional background? Well, something happened years ago that was a snag in all of Crow's wonderful early success. This is what went down back then.
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Sheryl Crow Released A Song That Had An Issue Over Its Title
Her freshman album was Tuesday Night Music Club, which dropped in 1993. One of the tracks on it was Leaving Las Vegas. There was also a book with that exact title by a writer named John O'Brien. (It was made into a film staring Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue.) Per Rocks Back Pages, Crow shared that "When I went in to make this record I was extremely raw, and I had a very strange thing happen."
David Baerwald, who participated in making Crow's album, reportedly authored a letter to a Los Angeles publication claiming that he knew O'Brien. Crow, Baerwald said, was aware of his book with the same title and had agreed to give O'Brien credit because of the title similarity. What makes the situation complicated and tragic is that O'Brien took his own life.
Per the outlet, Crow said, "Maybe David just felt terrible that the guy killed himself. But when I was working with David he didn't know John. He said to me when the record was finished that there is this book Leaving Las Vegas. I said, 'You're kidding me.' He said, 'Don't worry, titles of books aren't copyrighted.'"
She Said She Was Not Aware Of The Book With That Title
Crow vigorously defended herself to the outlet. "I didn't know about it, Bill [Bottrell, producer] didn't know about it. I feel terrible when I sing 'Leaving Las Vegas', but he [O'Brien] didn't kill himself because of the song I sang on David Letterman. He killed himself because he was troubled and he didn't want to live any longer." She added, "Not ever do I want to play 'Leaving Las Vegas' again."
David Baerwald Gave His Take On The Incident
Baerwald contended that he knew O'Brien for many years. He said, "John [O'Brien} didn't want songwriting credit on the song. He just wanted a thank you. Sheryl knew that, I knew it, Bill knew it, and David Anderle [the album's A&R man] knew it. A&M sent out 500 copies of the book as a pre-release promotion. I choose to believe that it was a simple oversight that his name wasn't included in the thank yous."
He continued, "The publisher of Leaving Las Vegas had gone bankrupt. The movie seemed way off in the future. John felt invisible."
Intriguingly, the 1996 interview with Sheryl Crow ends with this startling note. "Oh, and the night of the interview Sheryl goes onstage and plays a blinder. Third number in? 'Leaving Las Vegas.'"
