No Brown M&Ms: Stars' Backstage Demands
July 4 -- Singing for thousands of cheering fans, earning up to $1 million for a night's work — you'd think it would be enough to keep today's music stars happy.
But musicians routinely demand more, often attaching detailed lists to their performance contracts for extras like a full-time masseuse, $200 bottles of champagne and tofu hot dogs.
Mariah Carey likes to have a tea service for eight people available in her dressing room — and insists that only Poland Springs water be used for the tea. But for drinking water, she likes another brand: "Please note that 16-oz. plastic bottles of Evian are the only acceptable bottles of water for the dressing rooms," reads the backstage rider to one of her tour contracts.
Oher requests range from the bizarre — Barry Manilow's contract stipulates that members of his fan club will show up at 11 a.m. to decorate his dressing room — to concerns about space. Whitney Houston's contract warns, "This show carries a large entourage. ... We will need all available rooms in the building."
The band ZZ Top, whose members are known for their abundant facial hair, cuts straight to the chase by making it clear the group expects to be treated as a "worldwide superstar artist."
The Smoking Gun, a Web site that posts original documents on the Internet, has obtained backstage riders for more than 100 musical acts, from tours over the last decade, and put them on the Web for all to see.
"Everything in the entertainment industry is controlled to the nth degree. ... I think people like to take a peek behind the manufactured façade," says Andrew Goldberg, one of the reporters who digs up the documents for the site.
Soy Milk and Flintstones Vitamins
The riders are often highly specific about the type of refreshments that should be served backstage. For her 2000 tour, Christina Aguilera's contract required organic milk, Flintstones vitamins and malt-flavored Carnation Instant Breakfast. The singer also asked that no Styrofoam be used, "due to the state of our environment."
