Some albums give us great music. Others become part of our lives. For me, Foreigner’s *4* was both. Released in 1981, its ten unforgettable songs became intertwined with some of my most defining memories—from losing my brother and navigating the awkwardness of growing up to discovering first crushes, finding courage, and learning to use my voice as a singer. What began with one incredible song and a trip to the neighborhood record store became a musical journey that followed me for more than four decades. This is the story of an extraordinary rock album, the memories it carries, and why I’m still singing along today.

Today, musical collaborations are everywhere, with artists crossing genres, audiences, and generations. But growing up Gen X, I discovered another kind of musical partnership: the supergroup. My introduction came through Asia's extraordinary 1982 debut album, a record I loved so much I had to buy it three times. I didn't know the musicians were already rock royalty. I just knew their music transported me somewhere wonderful. What followed was a journey through worn-out vinyl, vocal lessons, a generous guy at Tower Records, and a free cassette that introduced me to Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Sometimes discovering one band opens the door to an entire musical universe.

Some bands are made for those moments when nobody has anywhere important to be. Friends sitting around, a few beers, a card game, somebody telling stories, and great music playing in the background. For me, 38 Special has always been one of those bands. Their combination of Southern rock, blues, memorable guitar riffs, and voices that seem to settle right into your soul made them a favorite. But their music also takes me back to my early days as a singer, a wonderful vocal coach named Susan Steele, and a garage band that helped me discover what it meant to truly own my voice.

Every October, the monsters come out to play, and nobody knows how to welcome us into a nightmare quite like Alice Cooper. For more than five decades, he's been rock's favorite theatrical troublemaker, frightening parents, thrilling audiences, and reinventing his sound without surrendering his identity. But my Alice Cooper story didn't begin with snakes, guillotines, or horror. It began with a borrowed 45, a science-fiction-loving little girl, and a song about clones who just wanted to be themselves. This Halloween, we're going behind the makeup to celebrate the music, the man, and the extraordinary freedom of being different.

Sometimes music sends me searching. I hear a guitar player, a voice, a strange arrangement, and suddenly I'm off trying to figure out who made that sound and where they came from. Rick Springfield was different. I didn't have to search for him. In the early '80s, he was simply there: on the radio, on General Hospital, on my bedroom wall and eventually on a concert stage in front of me. Then, more than forty years later, four words sung during a completely unrelated meeting brought all of it rushing back. Funny how music does that. And even funnier what happens when the woman you are today starts listening to the songs the girl you were once loved.

Some bands give you songs. Some bands teach you how to hear music differently. Blood, Sweat & Tears came into my childhood through my brother David, but somewhere between those glorious horn arrangements and David Clayton-Thomas’s powerful, wonderfully textured voice, Little Angel was getting a singing lesson without knowing it. Years later, when my own band rearranged “God Bless the Child” around my voice, I finally understood what I had learned: a great cover isn’t about reproducing someone else’s recording. It’s about discovering what a song sounds like when it becomes yours. This is the story of the band that taught me about voice, interpretation, arrangement, and one of the greatest freedoms a singer can discover.

Two brothers. Two Flying Vs. Two very different roads to Guitar God. I first heard Michael Schenker’s music before I even knew his name, while Rudolf Schenker entered my life through Scorpions and eventually became someone I had the privilege of meeting. From UFO and MSG to the riffs and relentless drive of Scorpions, the Schenker brothers show us two very different ways a guitarist can leave a mark on rock ’n’ roll. Decades later, the brothers who took separate journeys are still wielding their axes, influencing musicians, and proving one wonderful thing: Guitar Gods don’t have an expiration date.

I thought I discovered the J. Geils Band when “Centerfold” exploded across MTV. Instead, I had walked into the middle of a story that had been unfolding for years. Digging backward through Love Stinks, older songs, live albums, radio, and finally seeing them onstage taught me just how deep this band went. But Freeze-Frame also raises a bittersweet question: What happens when the breakthrough you've spent years chasing changes what everyone expects you to be? This is about a band that survived the climb, reached the summit, and discovered that success could be its own kind of struggle.

My brother Ric once looked at Little Angel, put a Cheap Trick record on the turntable, and said, “You need to hear this.” I responded by running up the stairs while he chased me playing air guitar. Years later, after Ric was gone, his monster stereo and record collection came home, and Dream Police was waiting for me. This time, I didn’t run. I listened. What began as a favorite memory of my big brother became a journey into Cheap Trick, “Surrender,” and one of my earliest realizations that a band could have something all its own: a sound.

Chicago was already a rock ’n’ roll giant when a hauntingly beautiful voice began pulling the band somewhere unexpected. I first heard that voice as a little girl with a 45 of “If You Leave Me Now,” a song I loved enough to take to school...and got teased for loving. Years later, the sound that had been called “wussy” would help power one of the most remarkable reinventions in rock history. This is about the Chicago that came before, the Peter Cetera who had been there all along, and what it felt like for Gen X to hear the room change while we were standing in it.