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rowing up, Mike Cortese was your average kid, hanging around
with friends at the local guitar store, Guitar Bazaar along West
Liberty Avenue, and venturing out to get pizza at Varatti’s or
Mineo’s at the end of the block.
But there was something he loved about music that not
only led to him hanging out in a guitar store, but to taking up the
instrument himself.
One day, the store got in a used 7-string Ibanez Universe, a black
solid body guitar with neon green pickups and a low B string that would
resonate with thunderous bass. The guitar was developed by guitar
legend Steve Vai, and Cortese said, it was a very intimidating instrument
to approach.
Years later and hundreds of miles away, Cortese now has the privilege
of saying that he not only got to meet Vai, a hero of his since his youth,
but he actually got to work for him.
“I ended up in Nashville by pure luck,” Cortese said. “I knew I wanted
to break into the entertainment industry so I knew a move was in my
future but I didn’t know when that was going to take place.”
Cortese discovered Nashville while dating a Belmont University
student. He did some research and decided that Nashville would be the
perfect fit for his aspirations.
“I figured [in Nashville] that I could get a degree in music business
and intern with some of the brightest minds in the entertainment
industry,” he said.
If landing in Nashville was pure luck, that wouldn’t be the end
of Cortese’s streak. He attributes his being able to break into artist
management to luck as well.
“I was temping at Warner Bros. Records in Nashville during my
senior year of college and I received the job posting from my boss at
Warner Brothers and two other contacts,” he said. “At that point I didn’t
care if I had to get coffee or wash cars, I just wanted to get into the
industry.”
He was able to interview with the team, and Cortese knew within
minutes that this would be a perfect fit for him. Fortunately, the
employers agreed, and Cortese spent the next eight years working next
to some of the heroes who made the music he loved.
“To this day my experience with that team is the single greatest
learning experience I’ve ever had,” he said.
G
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Vai
The firm specialized in
clients who had a strong
niche audience, including
the man whose guitar awed
and inspired him – Steve
Vai. He also was able to work
alongside Desmond Child,
the songwriting wunderkind
responsible for hits such
as Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a
Prayer” and “You Give Love
a Bad Name,” Aerosmith’s
“Dude Looks Like a Lady,”
“Angel” and “Crazy,” Ricky
Martin’s entire first album, and Katy Perry’s “Wakin’ Up in Vegas.”
After eight years of managing artists, Cortese came to the realization
that he needed to manage himself. He assessed his strengths and
weaknesses and every round of assessment came to the same
conclusion: acting.
“I had learned so much, but deep down I knew that I had to start
creating myself,” he said. “I had no experience but I did have some
training in improvisational comedy. I also knew if I didn’t do it I would
regret it for the rest of my life. So I made the jump. I went out, got an
agent and just worked my tail off trying to learn as much as I could
about the craft. It was really hard and it still is. Sometimes you fall into
a character very easily and sometimes you leave the audition room
embarrassed you even showed up.”
Sometimes, things just fall into place, and Cortese’s agent told him
about an audition for a Carrie Underwood video.
“The next week, I randomly met her marketing rep from Sony, and
that same week I met the screenwriter who wrote her part in the film
‘Soul Surfer,’” he said. “I didn’t say it out loud at the time because I
didn’t want to jinx it, but after all those occurrences, deep down I knew
it was meant to happen.”
The video turned out to be for Underwood’s “Two Black Cadillacs,”
a song about a cheating boyfriend murdered for his transgressions. The
video is a dark, soulful homage to Stephen King’s “Christine,” as the
Cadillac appears to be the murdering star of the show.