Pet Shop Boys logo, 1984
After their manager saw a piece of my art in my music publisher’s office, he flew me to London to do a portrait of Pet Shop Boys for their fan club stationary in 1984 before the release of “West End Girls” in America. PSB weren’t told I was a songwriter and it was only while posing for me that Neil Tennant realized I was the A. Willis on his Earth, Wind & Fire records. I ended up staying in England for an extra week while we wrote “What Have I Done To Deserve This”, which remained unrecorded for two years as the boys remained confused by which section of the song was actually the chorus and we tried to convince Dusty Springfield to do it as a duet. Though I had written two songs before for Dusty and we had many phone discussions discussing it, the thought of reentering the music business made her sick. “What Have I Done To Deserve This” became her second biggest hit in the United States after “Son Of A Preacher Man”.
