Jennifer Trynin was an aspiring rock singer in the mid-'90s, hyped and then forgotten. I heard she'd quit the music industry to go to grad school. Actually, it was writing school, and Harcourt is publishing her memoir, Everything I'm Cracked Up to Be, in February. I've read Machers and Rockers and Hit Men, but this book really sums up the highs and lows of the music industry. When she first tried to get signed [as a singer], she was stereotyped as a Boston folkie and ignored. So she started her own label, her album clicked with college radio stations, and she became the hottest thing, with just about every record company in America begging her for a deal. The enthusiasm borders on farce, but it's all true. After she picks a major label, it's downhill fast. It's like A Star Is Born: up, down, and maybe, with this memoir, the comeback.
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