James Douglas Vallance (born May 31, 1952) is a Canadian songwriter, arranger and producer. He is best known as the songwriting partner of Canadian musician Bryan Adams. Vallance began his professional career as the original drummer and main songwriter for Canadian rock band Prism under the pseudonym "Rodney Higgs." In addition to Adams, Vallance has written songs for many famous international artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Aerosmith, Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, Roger Daltrey, Tina Turner, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Europe, Kiss, Scorpions, Anne Murray, and Joe Cocker. His most recognizable songs are "What About Love" (Heart), "Spaceship Superstar" (Prism), "Run to You" (Bryan Adams), "Cuts Like a Knife" (Bryan Adams), "Heaven" (Bryan Adams), "Summer of '69" (Bryan Adams), "Now and Forever (You and Me)" (Anne Murray), and "Edge of a Dream" (Joe Cocker). He also co-wrote "Tears Are Not Enough" for Northern Lights for Africa, an ensemble of Canadian recording artists in support of the 1985 African famine relief. He has won the Canadian music industry Juno award for Composer of the Year four times (a record). Vallance is a Member of the Order of Canada.
Profile
Vallance is best known as Bryan Adams' songwriting partner from 1978 to 1989 and again from 2005 to 2019.
Vallance has also been involved with the music industry member associations. Performing Rights Organization of Canada Limited (PROCAN), Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN), FACTOR and Songwriters Association of Canada (SAC).
Biography
Early life
James Douglas Vallance was born on May 31, 1952, in Chilliwack, BC. He grew up in a series of small towns on the west coast of Canada, including Vanderhoof (1964-1967) and Terrace (1967-1970) where he collected fond memories that would later show up in lyrics to some of his songs, like 'Summer of '69'. He took piano lessons starting at age 7. He then took up guitar and drums at 13. In 1965 he formed a band with some classmates called The Tremelones which was later renamed The Fourmost. At 18, he enrolled in the music program at the University of British Columbia where he studied piano under Frances Marr Adaskin, flute with Conrad Crocker and cello with Hans Seigrist. He re-entered the UBC Music program again in 1973 but dropped out to travel Europe with fellow musicians Peter Bjerring (aka Peter Berring) and Tom Mirhady .
Prism (as Rodney Higgs) Vallance joined Vancouver jazz-blues-rock band Sunshyne as a drummer in the early 70s. There he met band member Bruce Fairbairn who would later become an influential Canadian record producer. In 1975, Fairbairn approached Vallance about recording a demo of some of the band's music in hopes of landing a recording contract. Initially, the music was not Vallance's but after several rehearsals, Fairbairn asked Vallance to contribute some of his songs. One of them, "Open Soul Surgery" caught the ear of a record company executive at GRT who offered Fairbairn's group a recording contract. Using various musicians from Sunshyne and another Vancouver band, Seeds of Time, Fairbairn recorded and produced a nine-song album, seven of which were written by Vallance. The band was renamed Prism and Vallance decided to use the pseudonym "Rodney Higgs" rather than his real name in the album credits. The debut Prism album was a success as it hit platinum status in Canada (sales in excess of 100,000.) But Vallance decided to leave the Prism lineup before the next album as he didn't enjoy the constant travel necessary for touring. What he did enjoy was songwriting and arranging and preferred to work out of his makeshift home studio. Although Vallance left the band's lineup, he did help his former bandmates by contributing one song for each of the subsequent two albums, then one more for the 2008 album Big Black Sky.