GARY ALLAN
"I was introduced to Gary Allan on August 28, 1993 by a mutual friend, singer/songwriter, and talent-scout Jim Seal at a bar called the Lion D'or in Downey, CA. Jim Seal and I had planned to showcase at the Lion D'or an unsigned act that we were developing for another label. I had arranged to bring the head of A&R out to the show to see this other act perform. Gary Allan was performing there regularly as the "house band" and had kindly let us use his stage for the event, giving our act the opening performance slot that night. I promised Gary that I would make sure we all remained there to see his portion of the show. I was knocked out with Gary, and very impressed with his voice and stage presence. From that point on I began sending him songs. Without any serious funding at the time, Jim Seal and I arranged for Gary to go into Jim's small studio in California to try his vocals on some of my existing demo tracks. Meanwhile, I became head of A&R at BNA Entertainment on October 29th of that same year. During my A&R stint at BNA, I wanted to sign Gary and we kicked around the possibility of a development deal, but unfortunately the roster conditions that I had inherited and other circumstances connected with the planned restructuring of RCA/BNA Nashville stood in the way. Gary and I continued to stay in touch and a year or so later I left BNA along with all the others who were affected by the restructuring of the label by the end of 1994. Gary meanwhile had found independent funding for a four-song demo. I signed Gary to an independent production agreement and we went into Javelina Studios for a couple of days starting on September 11, 1995 to cut four songs. I immediately started showing Gary and the product. We had responses from various labels including serious interest from Mercury, RCA, and Decca. A planning meeting was held between me, Gary, and Don "Hoppy" Jeffrey of KFRG Radio, during which we aligned our efforts. Don organized the showcases for us in Los Angeles which put Gary on stage at two of his station's KFRG nights at a local club, and I arranged for staffers at Decca to attend the first showcase which was held on November 1, 1995. Decca immediately wanted to sign Gary, and knowing that I was lining up other labels to see him, Decca asked me to cancel the second showcase. RCA was already booked to see the second show the following week, but the "bird-in-hand" deal offer was too tempting for both me and Gary, so we committed to the Decca offer. I gave up half of my production deal to get Gary signed to Decca, which I felt was a small price to pay for getting Gary's career launched, and I was assured that I would co-produce Gary for the entire deal. I went on to co-produce Gary's first three albums for Decca....."Used Heart For Sale" and "It Would Be You", both of which yielded top 5 singles, and "Smoke Rings In The Dark". It was during the recording of the first album which began on March 11, 1996 that we also recorded "It Must Have Been Ol' Santa Claus", as an added track to be packaged on various MCA Christmas compilations. The song was written by Harry Connick. I was thrilled to get a personal call from Harry thanking me for the recording, adding a few of his New Orleans Jazz style "very cool man!" compliments. The Christmas recording has been since released on at least four, maybe five Christmas compilations. The merger of Polygram, Decca, and MCA Records marked the closing of Decca and Gary was moved to MCA Records. I remained onboard as associate producer of Gary's third album "Smoke Rings In The Dark". Gary has an identifiable voice. No one sounds like him. I don't think I have ever worked with a voice that is so forgiving of pitch and control. Gary's texture and tone make every note sound good." -BH