Bruce Allen is a Canadian music band manager who represents a number of popular Canadian musicians including Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Bryan Adams and Michael Bublé. In 1985, Allen spear-headed the charity supergroup Northern Lights, who recorded the song "Tears Are Not Enough" in support of Ethiopian famine relief.[1]
For more than thirty years, Bruce Allen has been a cornerstone in the Canadian entertainment industry, guiding the careers of musicians, producers, and sports figures. Due to Bruce’s shrewd judgment of talent, Bruce Allen Talent has become one of the most powerful management agencies in Canada.
A native of Vancouver’s Dunbar neighbourhood, Allen attended the University of British Columbia, where he studied labour relations and considered a career as a union organizer. His love of music however, took precedent, and in 1966 he formed a booking agency and proceeded to build a company that controlled most of the live music in clubs, high schools and universities by the early 1970s. The company was the forerunner of Sam Feldman and Associates, the partner Bruce brought into the company when his focus turned to management.
In 1973 at the request of Randy Bachman, he took an interest in the fledgling band Brave Belt, which morphed into Bachman-Turner Overdrive, beginning his notable career in artist management. With Allen at the helm, BTO became one of the most successful bands of the 1970s topping the charts in the US and the UK, and setting attendance records in Canada, the US and Japan.
Allen repeated this feat in the 1980s with the pop-rock band Loverboy, who sold ten million records and earned eight Juno awards under his tutelage. At the same time, he brought the talented and energetic Bryan Adams into his fold. Following the simple formula of hard work and endless touring, Allen continues to guide Bryan through an enormously successful career that includes more than a dozen chart-topping singles, with total sales exceeding 100 million worldwide. Adams’ single Everything I Do (I Do It For You) still holds the record for the longest streak atop the UK charts at 16 weeks.
As country music skyrocketed in popularity in the 1990s, Allen turned his sights toward Nashville taking on a youngKansas native named Martina McBride. With Allen on her team, McBride would become a major country artist, scoring six #1 singles and winning the Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year award a record four times.
In 1996 Allen took over management of Canadian legend Anne Murray, breathing new life into her career and returning her to the US and Canadian charts.
In 2003 he added Michael Bublé, a Burnaby native, to his roster. A mere one year later, Bublé won a Juno for Best New Artist and saw his self-titled debut album nominated for Album of the Year. In the seven years since, Bublé has won two Grammy Awards, 10 Juno Awards and sold more than 25 million albums worldwide. His 2010 release Crazy Love, charted in the top five in over a dozen countries.
In 2008 Allen added award-winning songstress Jann Arden to his management roster. In her 17-year career to date, Arden has had 17 top ten singles, recorded 8 albums and received 8 Juno Awards.
Allen also guides the career of renowned record producer Bob Rock (Metallica, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams, Michael Bublé, Motley Crue, 311, The Tragically Hip).
For 13 years Allen was a member of the CMA (Country Music Association) Board and in 2008 he was named to the CARAS (Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences) Board of Directors. The latter is a role he continues in to this day.
His enthusiasm for sports has also brought about relationships with Canadian Olympic boxing medalist Dale Walters; NASCAR Rookie of the Year driver Chad Little and the 2004 Olympic Bronze Medalists for women’s curling, Team Law. In 2006, Bruce served as a board member for the World Junior Hockey Championships sat on the creative team for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games to be held in Vancouver. In April 2010, Allen became a member of the Grey Cup committee that will bring the famed football championship to Vancouver in 2011.
Allen’s success in the entertainment industry however, is only part of the story. Well-known in his home city of Vancouver for his civic engagement, Allen has raised money for a variety of causes. Allen’s entry for Vancouver’s “Orcas in the City” project – “Orca Presley” – helped raise over $400,000 for the BC Lions Society for Children with Disabilities and the Canucks for Kids Fund. In 1998, he took part in a climb of the 5,895-metre Mount Kilimanjaro, in a fundraising effort for the Alzheimer Society of BC. His efforts paid off by bringing in more than two thirds of the $80,000 raised by the charity climb.
Although his heart belongs in Vancouver, Allen has contributed his time and talents to international causes as well. In 1985, he spearheaded Canada’s response to the Ethiopian famine crisis, bringing 52 famous Canadians together for Northern Lights for Africa, a recording project that raised millions with the song “Tears Are Not Enough.” His charity efforts earned him praise from the artistic and civic communities.
In 1985, he was named Manager of the Year by two top music industry publications The Record and Billboard. In 1986, Vancouver’s Brotherhood Inter-Faith Society named Allen “Man of the Year,” and Mayor Mike Harcourt proclaimed February 4, 1986 “Bruce Allen Day.” In 2008, he was only the second Canadian manager to be awarded the prestigious Honour Roll for Canadian Managers.
Allen is also well known in Vancouver through an established radio presence. For 16 years he was the host of “Sound Off with Bruce Allen” on CFOX Radio, and he currently hosts the weekly “Bruce Break” on JACK-FM along with his popular and controversial daily “Reality Check” commentary on CKNW.
Now in his mid-sixties, Allen is the father of two children, Claire and Quinn, and continues his music management and radio programs in Vancouver.