Curtain Up !

I am starting this blog in the spirit of giving back. The music business has been very good to me. I have made and spent fortunes. I started at the bottom, rose to the top and stopped at most of the intermediate points along the way. I started as a singer at six years old, sixty-four years ago. I segued into the business end the day my first son was born. I was twenty-four. The day after his birth I took a desk in my agent's office, Wilson-Garden Agency in Montreal, and made ten dollars in commissions my first week. Good thing I kept my night job. Since that fateful day I have worn many hats: agent, concert promoter, personal manager, record producer, songwriter, record label owner, music publisher, television producer, and so on. My only ambition was to never have a day job, to never be anything but my own boss. Fortunately I succeeded because in looking back I was probably not employable. (insert laugh track). I am often asked how I got into the business, usually by someone with music business ambitions. So I am here now to share, to answer all the questions I can, to help new talent get started, all in the spirit of giving back. In future blogs I will share anecdotes from my career, answer questions and sometimes offer unsolicited advice. I hope you follow and enjoy the trip. I will do my best to make it interesting.