Which variety of Chinese language to begin with...?

[KosmoLeo]

I am a lifelong English speaker in America with no experience reading, writing or speaking Chinese languages. My eventual goal is to be able to fluently read, write and converse freely in the broadest and most diverse variety of Chinese languages. I have just begun to get a grasp of the differences between the concepts of traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, Pinyin, Mandarin and Cantonese. I realize at the outset this will take a lot of work and dedicated study and could even be looked on as a lifetime learning discipline, I am fine with that. My question, intended for real experienced experts in reading, writing, speaking and teaching Chinese language, is this.... Given my started goals in learning Chinese language, what would you guys recommend as the very best variety of Chinese language to begin learning to read, write and speak with here at the very outset. Any helpful advice to get me started off on the right foot would be very much appreciated, thanks.