StargateGirl
04-29-04, 07:15 PM
Someone on the 98MB found this article on Jeff. I figured I would post it.
21.NOV.03
http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/default.asp...d=&rebath=&sal= (http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=110&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=746&wpage=1&skeyword=jeff$$timmons&sidate=&ccat=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&sal=)
Today’s recording industry has been diagnosed as ailing and in desperate need of rehab. The five major labels are considering mergers, consolidating to reduce their losses.
And to boot, a number of pesky artists are making the wrong, troublesome kind of noise.
Recording stars such as the Dixie Chicks (clucking again, charging Sony with “systematic thieveryâ€Â), Tom Waits, Don Henley and many more have formed an artists’ coalition. Long-time music writer Dave Marsh describes the recording industry as “an entrenched system whose prowess and cunning make Enron look like amateur hour.â€Â
Increasingly, musicians are striking out on their own, distancing themselves from the cartel-like music industry.
For example: Singer Jeff Timmons. A clean-cut, plainspoken midwesterner from Ohio, Timmons is an unfailingly polite, 30-year old who looks like a former high school jock (he was). His conversation is peppered with references to his family, his parents, and his professional mentors, including Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder - and composer/pianist Jim Brickman, with whom he will perform Nov. 20 at B[arse] Performance Hall.
Since 1997, Timmons has been instrumental in selling over 10 million albums, as founding member and second tenor of the pop group 98 Degrees. It’s entirely possible that unless your household includes a teen-age girl, you may be unfamiliar with 98 Degrees’ oeuvre. They, along with ‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys, constituted the three top groups of the squeal-inducing “boy-bands†of the late 1990s. 98 Degrees, the first all-white group to be signed by Motown Records, sold millions of records, toured extensively, and became MTV stars, besieged by (mostly young, mostly female) fans. The group rode the wave relentlessly while it lasted, but are now officially “on a break.â€Â
“It was a wild ride - and a great way to learn the music business,†Timmons says. “A major label can put heavy resources behind promoting and presenting their products. But, after a while, you become aware that you really are a product, and this huge corporation controls you completely. They can’t be true stewards of your work; their stakes are too high. So you want to take on that responsibility yourself - but you don’t have the freedom.â€Â
Once 98 Degrees declared a hiatus, Timmons entertained several offers from “the majors,†but ultimately decided it was time to control his professional destiny. He has formed a production company, New Majestic Entertainment, Inc., based in Corona, Calif., a healthy distance from Los Angeles.
He is on the road again, but this time it’s different. For one thing, he is taking a gr[arse]roots approach to promoting his new CD, titled Whisper That Way, written, performed and produced by Timmons. Included along with the requisite yearning ballads, there are at least two highly personal songs. “Thinking of You†was written while on a long tour with the group as he found himself actively missing his young daughter, Alyssa. Another, “Baby J,†recounts how he learned of his son’s birth - via a long distance phone call while alone in a hotel room.
This time out, he’s touring as a solo performer, featured in Jim Brickman’s “Holiday Concert,†without a lengthy commitment of time away from his family and his burgeoning business. Under the banner of New Majestic Entertainment, he hopes to branch out into producing records for other artists, as well as generating original scores for films and television. If his future holds fewer screaming fans and huge arenas, there should be ample compensations, including making his kind of music and spending more time with family and friends. Plus: He can finally throw away those baggy jeans and turn his baseball cap to face front. Maturity often comes in small steps.
Jim Brickman & Friends:
The Holiday Concert with Jeff Timmons
Nov. 20, 8 p.m.
Tickets at www.b[arse]hall.com or (817) 212-4280
- Special to The Business Press
21.NOV.03
http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/default.asp...d=&rebath=&sal= (http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=110&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=746&wpage=1&skeyword=jeff$$timmons&sidate=&ccat=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&sal=)
Today’s recording industry has been diagnosed as ailing and in desperate need of rehab. The five major labels are considering mergers, consolidating to reduce their losses.
And to boot, a number of pesky artists are making the wrong, troublesome kind of noise.
Recording stars such as the Dixie Chicks (clucking again, charging Sony with “systematic thieveryâ€Â), Tom Waits, Don Henley and many more have formed an artists’ coalition. Long-time music writer Dave Marsh describes the recording industry as “an entrenched system whose prowess and cunning make Enron look like amateur hour.â€Â
Increasingly, musicians are striking out on their own, distancing themselves from the cartel-like music industry.
For example: Singer Jeff Timmons. A clean-cut, plainspoken midwesterner from Ohio, Timmons is an unfailingly polite, 30-year old who looks like a former high school jock (he was). His conversation is peppered with references to his family, his parents, and his professional mentors, including Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder - and composer/pianist Jim Brickman, with whom he will perform Nov. 20 at B[arse] Performance Hall.
Since 1997, Timmons has been instrumental in selling over 10 million albums, as founding member and second tenor of the pop group 98 Degrees. It’s entirely possible that unless your household includes a teen-age girl, you may be unfamiliar with 98 Degrees’ oeuvre. They, along with ‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys, constituted the three top groups of the squeal-inducing “boy-bands†of the late 1990s. 98 Degrees, the first all-white group to be signed by Motown Records, sold millions of records, toured extensively, and became MTV stars, besieged by (mostly young, mostly female) fans. The group rode the wave relentlessly while it lasted, but are now officially “on a break.â€Â
“It was a wild ride - and a great way to learn the music business,†Timmons says. “A major label can put heavy resources behind promoting and presenting their products. But, after a while, you become aware that you really are a product, and this huge corporation controls you completely. They can’t be true stewards of your work; their stakes are too high. So you want to take on that responsibility yourself - but you don’t have the freedom.â€Â
Once 98 Degrees declared a hiatus, Timmons entertained several offers from “the majors,†but ultimately decided it was time to control his professional destiny. He has formed a production company, New Majestic Entertainment, Inc., based in Corona, Calif., a healthy distance from Los Angeles.
He is on the road again, but this time it’s different. For one thing, he is taking a gr[arse]roots approach to promoting his new CD, titled Whisper That Way, written, performed and produced by Timmons. Included along with the requisite yearning ballads, there are at least two highly personal songs. “Thinking of You†was written while on a long tour with the group as he found himself actively missing his young daughter, Alyssa. Another, “Baby J,†recounts how he learned of his son’s birth - via a long distance phone call while alone in a hotel room.
This time out, he’s touring as a solo performer, featured in Jim Brickman’s “Holiday Concert,†without a lengthy commitment of time away from his family and his burgeoning business. Under the banner of New Majestic Entertainment, he hopes to branch out into producing records for other artists, as well as generating original scores for films and television. If his future holds fewer screaming fans and huge arenas, there should be ample compensations, including making his kind of music and spending more time with family and friends. Plus: He can finally throw away those baggy jeans and turn his baseball cap to face front. Maturity often comes in small steps.
Jim Brickman & Friends:
The Holiday Concert with Jeff Timmons
Nov. 20, 8 p.m.
Tickets at www.b[arse]hall.com or (817) 212-4280
- Special to The Business Press