On Oct. 22, 2005, the Recorder’s Life & Times section featured a full-page article by Karen P. Chynoweth, with a color photo of an 18-year-old woman and the headline “Nearly famous.” The piece told the story of Shelburne Falls native Kate Corriero, who sought to make a name for herself interviewing rock ‘n’ roll stars.

Fast-forward 19 years and that ambitious aspiring journalist goes by K.L. Doty and has added a best-selling book to her résumé. Released in July, “The True Tale of Mista Bone: A Rock + Roll Narrative” is a deeply personal account of Jack Russell, the original frontman of the band Great White.

“I’m extremely proud of myself,” Doty said in a recent interview. “I don’t think it’s set in yet. I don’t know if it ever will. But I did it and nobody can take it away from me, and that’s an amazing feeling.”

Russell died three weeks after the book was released. “Mista Bone” is the title of a Great White song.

Doty started working her way backstage to legendary musical artists when she was 16 and dropped out of Mohawk Trail Regional School as a senior due to bullying and struggles passing math.

“I said, ‘I’m out,’ and that’s when I dived into the world of rock ‘n’ roll and started touring with bands full-time,” she said, adding that she often hid the truth about her age to get backstage. “I was skipping school to tour with rock bands — probably why I couldn’t pass math.”

Over the years she has toured with and interviewed legendary musical artists like Marilyn Manson and Bob Dylan. She had previously been approached about writing this book but turned down the offer, feeling it was too big an undertaking. She changed her mind “literally in the middle of the night” and accepted the job. That was in 2020, and she spent the next four years getting to know Russell, who she was with eight to 10 hours a day, two or three days a week, all while working on the manuscript seven days a week.

“It’s a very natural thing, to get close to someone whose life you are entrusted with chronicling. I had to hear everything and he had to trust me, you know? You’ve got to build a relationship to build that trust,” Doty said. “It was really a process of becoming friends. Writing his story seemed to be what came second. We learned we had so many things in common. So when he didn’t have the words, I did.”

She said the book details all of Russell’s life, including his childhood and musical beginnings.

Avenues to find the book for purchase are available through www.jackrussellbook.com. It is published by Gatekeeper Press. The foreword was written by musician Lita Ford. Doty said Classic Rock magazine rated the book nine out of 10 stars.

“Although Jack Russell’s passing deeply saddens us, we take comfort in knowing that his loved ones and fans can continue to appreciate his music and legacy through the pages of the book we  helped bring to life,” Gatekeeper Press said in a state ment. “The book’s success is a testament to K.L. Doty’s remarkable talent and unwavering passion for her craft. We are truly privileged to have been chosen to be a part of their publishing journey.”

Any book about Russell must include a portion dedicated to addressing the proverbial elephant in the room. Great White’s name is forever linked to a fire that killed 100 people, including guitarist Ty Longley, and injured at least 200 at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island, on Feb. 20, 2003. An indoor pyrotechnic display ignited acoustic foam that lined the walls and ceiling, causing the building to become engulfed in flames within six minutes. The club’s owners, brothers Jeff and Michael Derderian, along with Daniel Biechele, the musicians’ tour manager, were each charged with 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter nine months later. They all later accepted plea deals. Biechele pleaded guilty to 100 counts of misdemeanor manslaughter, and Michael and Jeff Derderian pleaded no contest. Biechele and Michael Derderian went to prison.

Jeff Derderian also was a local news reporter. At the time of the fire, he had just started a job at the local CBS station in Providence. In an ironic turn of events, he had allowed a cameraman to shoot footage inside the club for an upcoming story about public venue safety.

Doty, 37, said her book consists of four parts, with a chapter about the fire found in the third.

“He was very specific about his desire for this book to be about more than that,” she recalled. “He wanted to tell people, ‘I’m more than just the fire.’”

Doty also mentioned that while it is often reported that Great White performed that fateful night, it was actually Jack Russell’s Great White, a side project of his.

Humble origins

While Doty might seem like she always wanted to live like a roadie, she explains her introduction to the world of rock ‘n’ roll at age 10 initially had little to do with music.

“Believe it or not, it was the fashion of these rock-’n’-rollers — they looked so good I wanted to hear what they sounded like, and they did not disappoint,” she said. “Rock ‘n’ roll became my favorite thing.”

Doty eventually studied at the New York Institute of Art and Design to be a wardrobe stylist.

Determined to get close to some of her idols, she often lied about her age and who she was. Her plan worked and she got to interview acts like Ashlee Simpson, Josh Ritter, Ziggy Marley, and the band Alice In Chains.

“Times were different then. Security wasn’t what it is now,” Doty recalled. “If I said I was looking to interview a musician for a particular publication, they never asked anything else.”

Now that the book has been published, she is home from Chicago for the entirety of November and hopes to reacquaint herself with Franklin County and move back full-time in the near future.

“I really grew up to be who I said I would be,” she said.

Married to Chip Z’Nuff of the band Enuff Z’Nuff, Doty is about to release a new album, under the name Swan Maiden, featuring guest artists including Joel Hoekstra (of Whitesnake, Night Ranger, Trans-Siberian Orchestra) and Derek Sherinian (who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper and Billy Idol).

More information about Doty is available at: www.kldoty.com.