Scottish-born singer/songwriter Greg Holden has had a fair share of success as a composer of hits for artists like American Idol winner Phillip Phillips and having his song “The Lost Boy” featured on the TV series Sons of Anarchy. But, while he was increasingly becoming recognized for his songwriting skills, status as a performing artist seemed to elude him.
Relocating to New York City a few years earlier, Holden had released his independent debut, A Word in Edgeways, in 2009. The following year found him returning with a sophomore release. Although artistically sound, both made nary a ripple with the general public. Simultaneously, he was playing live shows in Europe but barely breaking even at the end of a tour. “I was really starting to lose myself as an artist. How could I afford to keep doing this? I couldn’t have been more lost,” says Holden.
“I made this new album and paid for it myself knowing that I wanted to license it to a label.”
In 2013 a much needed vacation to Nepal and India gave Holden the life and career perspective he desperately sought. After seven weeks he returned refreshed and revitalized as he dove into what would become his major label debut. “I made this new album and paid for it myself knowing that I wanted to license it to a label,” says Holden. “But I was always independent by choice. I never wanted to work with a label, because I never found one I thought believed in me for the right reasons.”
That viewpoint, however, changed when his producer, Greg Wells, suggested new Warner Bros. label head Dan McCarroll give it a listen. “I had a long conversation with Dan and told him I wanted to have a career well beyond 2015,” explains the passionate songsmith. “They seemed to be more interested in the meaning behind the songs and the album as a whole, which was very inspiring to me.”
Greg Holden’s Warner Bros. debut, Chase the Sun, drops globally in April 2015.
– Eric A. Harabadian
