Joanna “JoJo” Levesque didn’t hold back in her new memoir, Over the Influence , candidly chronicling her life, career and relationships. JoJo landed her record deal at just 12 years old. Early in the book, it’s revealed that she almost got into the music business even earlier — with Britney Spears .
After appearing on Kids Say the Darndest Things , a then-eight-year-old JoJo met Spears backstage and sang Aretha Franklin ’s “Respect.” “‘Oh my Godddd,’ she drawled in that Louisiana twag I had heard so much of on MTV,” JoJo wrote. “Britney said out loud to the room that she was about to start a production company of her own and maybe we could do something together someday.
” Months later, JoJo and her mom received a contract from Spears’ attorney, detailing a deal that would make her first signing. “I was eager to get going, but Mom took time to process it and think about what it would really mean to let her child — who hadn’t even hit double digits yet — start making an album,” JoJo wrote. “She respectfully declined, and I was convinced that she was actively ruining my life.
” Despite the roadblock, a determined JoJo got a record deal with Blackground in 2003 and recorded her first album that year. While balancing her skyrocketing career, JoJo also navigated her tumultuous personal life while leaning on sex and alcohol. Over the Influence is out now.
Scroll down for the biggest takeaways: JoJo’s parents met in AA, and their relationsh.