Tim Feehan

Born in Edmonton in 1957, Tim Feehan was studying sociology at the U of A, where a scholarship for the Law Department is named after his father Ned, when he joined his first group on a serious level. He spent much of his spare time writing songs and his college band became so popular on the local night club scene they began touring the rest of Alberta.

A ‘get up n dance’ type of band, they were aptly called Footloose – and the live energy they generated helped land a recording contract with Mustard Records in 1979, releasing their self-titled debut the following spring. The lead-off track would be their first single, “Leaving For Maui”, which peaked at number 10 on the Canadian charts, staying there for six weeks. It was followed by “Time Is Right” and then “Jamie”. By the time of their fourth single “Who’s Loving Her Now?” in early ’81 Feehan had completed his Degree, and was already leaning towards a solo career, leaving Footloose that summer.

Still personally under contract with Mustard, he released his first solo album that fall. SNEAK PREVIEW loosely followed the path he was paving with Footloose, but with more direction and an enhanced sophistication, featuring guest appearances by Doug Jenson of Jenson Interceptor and Vicki Moss. Though still charged with the energy evident in the first single “Backseat – Backbeat”, it also contained two other singles “Go Ahead & Break My Heart” and “Try Harder”, as well as the title-track and the moody “Night Spin”.

He followed it up in the spring of ’83 with the critically acclaimed CARMALITA. Again Vicki Moss made an appearance, and their duet on “Never Say Die” got the attention of adult contemporary radio, eventually topping the charts. Also featured were the lead-off track “January”, “Alone” and “Sadie J”, the story of a love gone bad. That same year saw Feehan win the prestigious Alberta Recording Association for Songwriting competition. This marked a turning point in his career, as the Grand Prize was a recording session with famed producer David Foster. This would mark one of Canada’s most prominent and longest-lasting musical collaberations.

Feehan reocrded the base of his next album at Damon Sound Studios in Edmonton, then took the raw product to Los Angeles. With Foster overseeing the production, he talked Toto’s Steve Lukather and The Tubes’ Fee Waybill into participating on the single “Read Between The Lines”, with the end result landing Feehan a US deal with Scotti Brothers Records. The 1987 self-titled venture also contained cameos by Ron Vaugeois of One Horse Blue and would become his most successful. The lead single “Where’s The Fire” was featured in the Grade B pseudo-horror film “The Wraith”, about a possessed Trans Am later that year. He was also taken on the road that year with Foster who used him as a lead vocalist for his world tour when Peter Cetera of Chicago was unable to commit. Following the time on the road with Foster, Feehan basically went from one tour bus to another, opening up for Gowan on his X-Canada tour and was the headliner in Vancouver at a benefit show for cancer-victim Rick Hanson.

Feehan again made his way into movie soundtracks in ’89 when his growing name as a producer landed him a job working on the score to the James Bond movie “License To Kill”, as well as writing and recording “Dirty Love”. He returned home to Edmonton that fall for the unveiling of the bronze statue outside Northlands Coliseum (then Skyreach Centre – now Rexall Place) commemorating Wayne Gretzky helping make it the City Of Champions, penning the tune “Memories Will Last Forever” for the occasion. Now spending most of his time in LA, he released his fourth solo album the next year, entitled FULL CONTACT. Co-produced by David Cole and Brian MacLeod of Chilliwack & Headpins fame, it’s considered by many to be among Feehan’s most under-rated work. Cameos by MacLeod, Richard Marx, Timothy B Schmidt of Eagles fame and a returnby Lukather helped such tracks as “Heart In Pieces”, “Something To Hide”, “Feel It Believe It” and “Just Like You and Me” make it one of the year’s biggest sleeper hits.

Again Feehan was recruited for movie work, when in ’92 he worked with Foster behind the scenes for the soundtrack to “Stealing Home”. He kept busy the next few years working on various production projects until the release of PRAY FOR RAIN, his fifth and most recent solo project. Again relying on cameos from other performers, Chrissy Steele did guest vocals on “Mother Superior”. Other noteable cuts included the lead-off single “Worth The Fight”, “Lessons Of Love”, “When You Think Of Me” in memory of the now deceased Brian MacLeod and the title-track. That same year saw Feehan take a career change of course while working on the kids’ album FOR OUR CHILDREN TOO.

He stayed busy in the late 90’s continuing production work for other artists and entered the new millenium with more of the same. 2000 saw him co-write and produce the majority of Tiffany’s album that year COLOUR OF SILENCE, as well as Kina’s self titled debut later that year. In 2001 he took his diversity almost to the max, producing rap/hip hop group Krayzie Bone’s debut THUG ON DA LINE.

In 2003 Feehan released a collection of unreleased numbers, the aptly entitled TRACKS I FORGOT ABOUT, which featured cameos by Loverboy‘s Mike Reno and the late Brian MacLeod and typical Feehan-styled slick production in numbers like the lead-off “Love Junkie,” “Caught In The Middle,” “You Gotta Love That,” and “Frustrated.”