Stephen Adrian Lawrance

A jack of all trades might be the best description of Stephen Adrian Lawrance who got his start in music as a bassist for a punk/new wave band in the early 80's by showing up at the audition in a suit jacket which (his playing not withthstanding) got him the job! That band was a little outfit called "Private Union" and it was the beginning of a musical education for the 17 year old who went from attending high school in the day and playing Toronto and southern Ontario clubs at night opening for legendary TO groups like Blue Peter, L'etranger, Teenage Head, Trixie goes to hollywood and many others. A spin off of Private Union called The Electric Fire Brothers gave him insight into songwriting for the first time and experience with a band manager (none other than Mary Margaret O'Hara) and pushed him to start his own groups doing entirely original material. This was the era of Six Minutes Left, Craft and Two Thirds Water. In his 30's Lawrance tired of the late nights and went in a different direction getting married, having a family and a day job. Music was not done with him yet however as in 2005 Lawrance befriended a then 19 year old Steven Lee Olsen who worked as a car jockey at a car dealership north of Toronto where Lawrance was a salesman. Olsen wanted to be a country artist and helped Lawrance reaccquaint himself with the music that was a part of his upbringing during summers spent in small town Trenton Ontario. They began writing together and Lawrance decided to manage the young singer. 2006 saw things take off as a song they co wrote got honourable mention from the Nashville songwriters association as top Canadian entry and Olsen was selected by the Canadian Country Music Association to perform a new artist showcase at the 2006 CCMA's in Saint John NB. After being contacted by Ole publishing's Nashville arm Roots Three Music, Lawrance helped Olsen with negotiating a contract that saw the young rising star relocate to Nashville and having to part company with Lawrance who stayed in Toronto. Olsen has gone on to having had cuts with Craig Morgan, The Judds, and mega european boy band Westlife as well as having several top hits on Canadian country radio. Having had a taste of what kind of possibilities country music had to offer, Lawrance founded Lawrance Artist Management and immediately began working with Olsen's sister Misty Lee, with whom he wrote several songs including "Let's get it started" that landed her a publishing contract in Nashville, a CCMA showcase and record deal in Canada the very next year. "Let's get it started" was also included on the 2007 official CCMA new artist showcase CD. He was also instrumental in landing a movie sync deal for Olsen with the Hallmark channel. As well he produced and distributed the Lawrance Artist Management CCMA compilation CD in 2007 and 2008 that was distributed by the CCMA to every industry delegate that attended the events that showcased up and coming Canadian country talent that Lawrance felt was being overlooked by the industry. Not surprisingly almost every song chosen by Lawrance on the 2008 CD later wound up being successful singles on Canadian country radio featuring artists like Sarah Beth Keely, Kal Hourd, Shane Chisholm, Tonya Kennedy and Kirsten Jones. After parting ways over "differences in opinion" regarding how best to steer Olsen's career, Lawrance moved to Ottawa where he wrote freelance articles on the music business for Ottawa Life magazine and spent time working on his own songs. He then teamed up with Alberta's Craig Moritz in 2009 with the two making many trips to Nashville in the following year that saw Moritz get a management deal with millionaire Oklahoma oil man Randy Matthews who owns the Nashville Music guide, a tour bus company along with several nightclubs and restaurants in Oklahoma and Tennessee. Lawrance was finally able to garner his first Nashville publishing deal for himself with Mitzi Matlock publishing for a tune called "Coffee and cruise control" produced by Eddie Gore of music legend Steve Cropper's Insomnia studio that he and his fellow Canadians Dale Russell and Dave Maclean wrote in the spring of 2010. Mitzi Matlock introduced Lawrance to various top songwriters including Bernie Nelson who had a number one hit with "Daddy wasn't the Cadillac kind" with whom Lawrance and Moritz later co wrote a tune called "The sound of lonely". Lawrance then introduced producer Eddie Gore to Craig Moritz with Moritz selecting Gore to produce his new album due in 2011. Lastly to finish off a great year, Lawrance was honoured to accept when approached by the CCMA to act as an awards juror for the 2010 CCMA's in Edmonton Alberta and was grateful for the opportunity to contribute. Since his first of many subsequent trips to Nashville, Lawrance was able to meet other successful artists, writers, publishers and music people of all types in Music city who he keeps in contact with today and who provide a direct conduit for up and coming n