The Producers (band)
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The Producers were a new wave and power pop band from Atlanta, Georgia in the 1980s. Original members included Van Temple on guitar and vocals, former Whiteface member Kyle Henderson on bass and vocals, former Billy Joe Royal sideman Wayne Famous on keyboards, and Brian Holmes on Drums. Originally formed as a Beatles cover band named Cartoon, they changed musical directions and began performing their own material in nightclubs around the Atlanta area. The response to their music was so good that they were quickly signed to CBS subsidiary Portrait Records by Cheap Trick, REO Speedwagon and Mother's Finest producer Tom Werman. They released two albums for the Portrait label, The Producers (1981) and You Make the Heat (1982). The Producers quickly became a regional favorite in the southeastern United States, propelling "What She Does to Me" onto the national Billboard Magazine singles charts. They toured extensively opening for Cheap Trick, and The Motels. "She Sheila" from their second album was a popular MTV video. They headlined MTV's New Year's Rockin Eve in 1982.
Despite this success, Portrait Records dropped the band after only two albums. Kyle Henderson became a born-again Christian and left the band shortly after they were dropped to record a solo album for Kerry Livgren's Christian rock label, Kerygma Records and was replaced by future Jellyfish and Umajets bassist Tim Smith. The next Producers album, Run For Your Life, was released in 1985 on a small Atlanta-based independent label. That album featured a collaboration between The Producers and Kansas, "Can't Cry Anymore," a song which appeared on both Run For Your Life and the 1986 Kansas album Power. The Producers regained a major label contract in the late 1980s with MCA Records and recorded what was to be their fourth album, Coelacanth, but the band was one of several dropped in a 1989 label purge at MCA before the album could be released. Coelacanth was finally released in 2001. The band "retired" as a going concern in 1989 but still plays reunion shows around the Atlanta area from time to time.
[edit] External links
- Official Website for The Producers
- Fan Site
- http://www.michaelmastro.com/photo_producers.html The Producers first promotional photo.
