SPIRIT MUSIC SIGNS MULTI-YEAR PUBLISHING AND CREATIVE SERVICES DEAL WITH BOZ SCAGGS
[ Sep 20, 2010 ]
Spirit Music Group today announced the signing of a multi-year, North American publishing agreement with Boz Scaggs, one of the most influential songwriter/artists of the ‘70s and ‘80s, responsible for a series of defining albums which fused roots rock, the blues and Southern soul.
Through the deal Spirit will provide a wide range of creative services and brand marketing in addition to copyright administration for Scaggs’ new works and entire back catalog, which includes such hits as Lowdown, Lido Shuffle, Breakdown Dead Ahead, JoJo, Dinah Flo and Heart Of Mine, as well as We’re All Alone, a Top 10 Pop hit for Rita Coolidge in 1977, and Look What You’ve Done To Me, a Scaggs contribution to the famed Urban Cowboy film soundtrack.
In making the announcement, Mark Fried, President of Spirit Music Group, said: “Boz Scaggs’ work as a songwriter and artist has resonated strongly with fans and fellow musicians for more than three decades.” He continued, “We’re excited to be launching an extensive marketing plan to promote his influential legacy of songs through strategic film, television and advertising licenses, placement of his music in a wide range of new media and targeted brand marketing with non-traditional music retailers and consumer product companies.”
Scaggs said, “I’m really happy to be on board with Mark and the team at Spirit and look forward to a successful creative partnership as well as a good and meaningful friendship.”
Scaggs got his professional start as a member of the Steve Miller Band in the mid-1960s and launched a solo career in 1968 with the soulful self-titled debut on Atlantic Records. Critical and commercial acclaim grew through active touring and the completion of several more albums including the 1971 release of the grittier album Moments (Columbia), his 1972 release My Time (which included “Dinah Flo”, and Slow Dancer, released in 1974. His commercial breakthrough came in 1977 with the release of Silk Degrees, a 4 million-selling album that spawned three hit singles, topped worldwide album charts, and earned him the Best R&B Song Grammy for “Lowdown.” The follow-up albums, Down Two Then Left (featuring the singles “Hard Times” and “Hollywood”) and 1980s Middle Man, including the hits “JoJo” and “Breakdown Dead Ahead,” both went platinum. After taking a hiatus from touring and recording through much of the ‘80s, Scaggs returned with a vengeance in the ‘90s, releasing a series of albums of original material featuring both elegant pop and gritty southern soul as well as a set of jazz standards, and joining Donald Fagen’s ‘Rock And Soul Revue,’ a year-long jaunt that featured a mix of hits and classic cover songs. Scaggs and Fagen reunited for the current ‘Dukes of September Tour’ which also features Michael MacDonald.
Scaggs is writing actively for an album project scheduled for release in 2012, for which Spirit staff will introduce collaborators and help co-author the marketing plan.
