I've always looked at "Signs of Life" as being a pivotal record in my career, though for reasons you might not expect. Going into the project, things couldn't have been better. I'd just come off a great success with the "Emotions..." LP and tour. I'd bought my first home in the city where I'd struggled to make ends meet for over ten years while pursuing my dream of a career in music...the only dream that ever really mattered. I had back-to-back smash records and was on top of the world (or close to it). But things aren't always as they seem.
I'd signed up Robert John "Mutt" Lange to produce SOL. Mutt was really coming into his own, having produced major records for AC/DC, Foreigner, and Def Leppard, and the idea of working together really excited both of us. Several years earlier, before meeting Mutt, I'd had a brief tryst with his wife, whom I met at Tramp's, the famous London night club owned by Johnny Gold. This sort of dalliance was fairly common practice in those days, and I never gave it much thought. As we readied ourselves to go into the studio, Mutt fell behind schedule with The Cars "Heartbeat City" record, so I took the band into rehearsals to start fleshing out the new material I'd written. One day, we were interrupted by a long-distance phone call from Mutt: "Billy, I know all about you and Olga - I'm not doing the record." Just like that, our spectacular collaboration was in ruins. I was stunned. I soon learned that the two of them were breaking up and surmised she must have said something catty, to the effect of, "Have fun with Billy, I did." Mutt is a very decisive and strong-willed person, and when he makes his mind up, that's that. He would not allow us to have a conversation about what had transpired...he just shut the door and walked away.
