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MICHAEL BEHM Michael Behm is a man with a mission. His goal is to create well-crafted, accessible, and emotionally convincing songs in a wide range of genres and for a real diversity of artists and settings. He is fulfilling this ambition in great style, drawing upon his deep reservoir of experience in just about every aspect of the music business. The B.C.-based Behm is a genuine music industry renaissance man. He has run successful live venues and nightclubs in Canada and the Caribbean, founded one of Canada’s major sound and lighting companies, Premier Productions, promoted concerts by such major acts as Nickelback and Nazareth, and hosted international recording artists in studios he has owned. He has released a series of critically-acclaimed albums under his own name, and has long been a highly prolific writer and producer of music. Of late, Behm has been channeling most of his creative energies into songwriting and production. He travels the world to co-write and produce tracks with a large stable of collaborators, most of whom are international hit-makers. His seven solo records have generated millions of internet plays around the world. Michael now prefers to let other artists bring his songs to listeners. "You can either have a storefront or you can be basically like Amway, where everybody is working for you," he explains, with customary eloquence. "I can write a great song with a 12-year-old artist from Finland, like Isaac Elliot. He is signed to Sony and they're clearly focused on him for the next 10 or 15 years. That is a huge difference from me trying to validate myself as an artist." Behm has a well-developed philosophy about the art and goal of songwriting. For him, it is all about communication, sending the singer's message to the heart and head of the listener in the clearest and most powerful fashion. "To me, a song is like a spoken dialogue that has a realness to it. Does it feel authentic? To me that is more important than being clever with big and unique words. Those songs do not last." Memorable melodies are another Behm signature. "What translates to mass media are songs that are easy to remember and that become the backdrop of people's lives. In this arena, that means the songs of artists like Adam Levine and Bruno Mars." Few songwriters pay as much attention to detail as Michael Behm. He knows the power of song lyrics, so he treats them with reverence. "Words have a powerful frequency to them," he notes. "When you speak them with emotion, and put them out into the universe you alter the physical. The more emotion you put into the words, the the more you alter the physical world. When I'm writing every word matters!" In writing and producing songs for other artists, Behm's hard-earned wisdom proves invaluable. "I work with a lot of young artists, and I've found that the big thing most of them are lacking is getting outside their own head and creating music that speaks to people broader than their personal perspective. I tell people they have to tell the story of their generation, not necessarily telling your story, unless that is the story of your generation." In these collaborations, Michael declares "there is a clear intention on my behalf to produce a great result for that person. I'm committed to the outcome. I really take the time and I care enough to get their story straight. To me, songwriting is nothing to do with the music and everything to do with the storyboard. Once you have that storyboard, you have the theme of the song. All you have to do then is find the language to put it together as a viable offering." Behm can be viewed as a stylistic chameleon, changing colours depending on the musical personality of his collaborators. He writes hits in the pop, rock, country, roots and dance music genres, while both the songs and the evocative instrumentals he writes and produces regularly attract placements in TV series, films and commercials. In his songwriting process, Michael demonstrates the power of positive thinking. "When I go into a writing session, I do so with the intention of having a great session and adding as much value as I can to this particular person. I'm often shocked, going 'ohmigod, we have done this again.' The concept is that the song already was and you're just bringing it into this time. That's a liberating thought. Based on that, potentially everything I write can be as good as a Beatles or Motown song." He is also a believer in the dictum that two heads are better than one. "The universe provides and responds to you in a unique and personal way," Behm says. "When two people get together, the potential is awesome." In 2012, Michael was nominated for SOCAN / BCCMA songwriter of the year in 2012 and 2013, and he has co-written hundreds of songs with such legendary Nashville and LA writers as Pamela Oland, (Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin), and Ralph Murphy (three Behm-Murphy co-writes have been recently recorded by rising Nashville star Nick Culton). Other collaborators have included Risto Asikaiean (they've written a song for Sony Artist Isaac Elliot) and Vancouver writers Kate Morgan and Angela Harris. He has enjoyed real success in the Canadian country music field by writing with and producing for Angela Harris, on her national hit singles "Family Matters" and "Let's Go For A Ride." A major song plugger in Nashville is now pitching a large catalogue of Michael's songs to artists there. A star British musician with whom Behm has a highly fertile creative relationship with is Simon Morris. Guitarist in The Ian Gillan Band, Morris has written extensively with former Deep Purple singer Gillan. Over the past four years, the Morris and Behm team have created over 200 + tracks for other artists and for film and television use. Another fruitful and ongoing writing partnership is with Ian Curnow, from famed UK group Talk Talk. They've come up with hits like "Stay In Bed All Day" and "Fantastic Magic," and their material is generating real interest internationally A happy hunting ground for Michael's music is Scandinavia. He has been collaborating with prolific Finnish hitmaker Risto Asikainen, and they scored a recent hit, "Pop Goes My Heart," in Finland with rising young star Isaac Eliot. The song was also featured in hit Finnish film Ella ja kaverit. Other recent cuts include songs covered by South African act Heuning, British band The Enlights, German hard rockers Velvet Steel and Fahrenheit, Czech singer Debi, Norway's Tiffany Huston, and Canadian Celeste Levis. Some of the songs Michael Behm comes up with do double duty. "All the songs start out as instrumentals, and they can get pitched separately," he explains. This versatility helps explain the great success he has enjoyed in securing TV and film placements. "I had around 500 placements last year, and 30 just last week," he says. Just a partial list of shows and channels using his songs in the past few months include America's Got Talent, Car Chasers, American Idol, Auction Kings, American Hot Rod, National Geographic, Discovery, and MTV Europe. One of his songs, an AC/DC soundalike tune, scored nine plays on CNBC in just two days. "It's a gift that keeps on giving," says Michael. "If you come up with a great piece of music, then music supervisors will use it again and again." International opportunities for Michael's work keep opening up. He has long been a regular attendee at the big MIDEM music industry conference in France, and this year's visit clinched him a major publishing deal in Brazil. Further proof that a great song or piece of music will always travel well. Michael Behm is indeed a man for all musical seasons. For more information, contact michaelbehmbehm25@hotmail.com

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