Music Publishing

She was Taylor Swift’s early secret weapon, who helped write some of the star’s biggest songs. Meet Liz Rose.

Liz Rose played a formative role for the then-teenage Nashville high school student, collaborating with her on 17 songs. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Taylor Swift might not have become the most popular singer-songwriter on the planet today if it weren’t for Liz Rose. This isn’t to say that Swift wouldn’t have sold more than 200 million records, garnered untold billions of streams, had 92 million monthly listeners on…

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Can Canadian songwriters survive? As their income plummets to poverty levels, many find themselves making tough choices

Can Canadian songwriters survive? As their income plummets to poverty levels, many find themselves making tough choices By Nick Krewen Special to the Star What do the Beluga whale, the wolverine and the full-time Canadian songwriter have in common? They’re all on the endangered species list. While humans may be contributing to the extinction of the first two, it appears that for the third, digital streaming is hastening the demise…


Remembering the Toronto music exec who helped shape the careers of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen

Artists as diverse as Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy and the Marshall Tucker Band were touched by Mary Martin’s expertise. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star If the only thing Toronto’s Mary Martin had achieved during her extraordinary career was introducing Bob Dylan to the Hawks, it would have been enough to enshrine her place in music history. But Martin, who died July 4 in Nashville at the age of…


Steven Lee Olsen’s Miraculous Trek To the Grand Ole Opry

The songwriter behind Keith Urban’s hit ‘Blue Ain’t Your Color’ was working at an Audi dealership in Newmarket when he got his first big break. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star This Sunday night, Scarborough-born country singer and songwriter Steven Lee Olsen will realize another lifelong dream. Olsen, 37 — and currently on Canadian country radio airwaves with his Top 10 hit “Outta Yours,” — will be making his…


Herb Alpert brings 60 years of hit-making to Toronto’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre

 By Nick Krewen Special To The Star You may remember him for his No. 1 smashes “This Guy’s In Love With You” and “Rise” – and for his signature “happy” trumpet sound fronting The Tijuana Brass –  but Herb Alpert has worked his way into your musical DNA probably more than you realize. Yes, there were the familiar ’60s instrumental hits like “The Lonely Bull,” “A Taste of Honey,” “Spanish Flea”…