Record Man

Phil Gernhard was not only the most successful record producer to come out of Florida, he introduced many of the state's homegrown artists to the world stage - including Jim Stafford ("Spiders & Snakes"), Lobo ("Me and You and a Dog Named Boo") the Bellamy Brothers ("Let Your Love Flow") and the Royal Guardsmen ("Snoopy vs. the Red Baron," which he also co-authored). Gernhard started young. He was just 19 when he produced "Stay," a worldwide No. 1 by South Carolina's doo-wop group Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs. After a decade of making hits back in Florida - including Dion's original version of "Abraham, Martin and John," one of the most-recorded songs in history - he worked his magic first in Los Angeles and then in Nashville, where as head of Artists & Repertoire for Curb Records, he engineered the careers of Tim McGraw, Rodney Atkins and others. Yet for all his success, Gernhard was a deeply troubled man whose personal life was ravaged by alcoholism and drug abuse, four failed marriages and a simmering hatred towards his abusive father. Told with comments from his family, friends, business associates and nearly every singer and songwriter he produced, Record Man is the story of a man for whom music was a life raft. Enigma, wunderkind, control freak, visionary, raconteur, artist advocate, shameless hustler and, in the end, kind heart, Gernhard spent four-and-a-half decades chasing recording art and blatant novelty with the same dogged determination. Success and failure being the hallmarks of the go-for-broke A&R man, Gernhard's achievements in the music business rival those of Rick Hall, Mike Curb, Phil Walden and perhaps even Sam Phillips.Rodney Crowell, Singer/songwriter DeYoung hooks Phil Gernhard's genius, discipline and love of music -- right up to the side of his self-indulgent, carny, smarmy business practices. I had no idea what a huge swath of great work he'd cut, starting right in his own back yard. Much like every music executive, just when you start to love Phil, you want to beat him with a rake.Stan Lynch, Founding member of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers