Desmond Child, the songwriter and producer behind dozens of Billboard hits including Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer", Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself For Loving You", Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like A Lady", and Alice Cooper's "Poison", released his first memoir, Livin’ On a Prayer: Big Songs Big Life, today (September 19) via Radius Book Group. The memoir includes a foreword by KISS singer/guitarist, Paul Stanley.

In a new interview with People, Child discusses working with Aerosmith on the 1987 hit “Dude (Looks Like A Lady)” and how he pushed the band to not change the song title.

“It's funny, Steven Tyler played down my contribution to the song in his memoir and said, ‘Well, we already had the song written, and Desmond just added a few words here and there.’ Joe Perry said the opposite. He said in his autobiography that I had come up with the title ‘Dude (Looks Like A Lady),’ and that wasn't true either,” recounts Child.

“I wouldn't take credit for that. It was Steven's title. I just had to drag him towards the title because they were starting to go with ‘Cruising For The Ladies’ instead of ‘Dude (Looks Like A Lady).’ I think I told them, ‘I don't think Van Halen would put that on the B-side of their worst record,’ hoping they would laugh and they didn't laugh, but I managed to get them to go with the storyline, which was so far ahead of its time. The second verse says, ‘Never judge a book by its cover or who you're going to love by your lover,’ and I think that's a beautiful thought. They used that verse in Mrs. Doubtfire when Mrs. Doubtfire did the broom dance imitating Tom Cruise.

“Later, Steven came to my studio and sang a song called ‘Red, White & You.’ That was written by one of my writers, and he got in there and sang it for his solo album. I told him the true story of ‘Dude (Looks Like a Lady),’ and he stood there looking at me, and then he said, 'I like your story better than mine.'"

Description:  Desmond Child is the ultimate hitmaker, contributing to some of the biggest smash global hits that helped ignite the success of music icons KISS, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Ricky Martin, Katy Perry, and countless others. In Livin’ On A Prayer, he reveals how he climbed his way to the top and beyond amid extraordinary circumstances and shares his very personal and unbelievable journey that shaped him into an artist of international renown.

For over half a century, Desmond Child has collaborated with the world’s most celebrated artists creating timeless hits, such as Bon Jovi’s “Livin' On A Prayer” and “You Give Love A Bad Name” as well as Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and “The Cup Of Life” amongst his vast catalog. But in Livin’ On A Prayer, Desmond himself takes center stage to share his transformational story from misfit outsider to cultural pacesetter.

In collaboration with legendary music biographer David Ritz, Child recounts his unconventional upbringing as his colorful family fled Cuba in the 1960s and fell into poverty. He details his shocking discovery at age 18 that the man he called “dad” was not his biological father after all, and he courageously bares his soul about navigating the trials of being a Latino gay man in the macho world of rock and roll. His is a story of willing himself to succeed and overcome impossible odds to establish himself as one of the most influential composers and lyricists of all time.

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