Brent Thomas Bourgeois (born June 16, 1958) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and producer. He was co-leader of the band Bourgeois Tagg with
Larry Tagg
Larry Tagg is an American rock musician, songwriter and producer; a retired high school English and drama teacher; and also an American Civil War historian. He was co-leader of the band Bourgeois Tagg in the 1980s with Brent Bourgeois and has re ...
, and has released several solo albums. His later work has been classified in the genres
pop and
contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...
.
Early life
Born in
, Bourgeois grew up in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
and
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
. He moved with Tagg to California's
Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
after high school, and in the late 1970s they played in a Sacramento band named Uncle Rainbow, which included members from Texas and other parts of the
South of the United States.
Music career
Bourgeois Tagg
In 1984, Bourgeois and Tagg moved to Sacramento and formed Bourgeois Tagg with guitarist
Lyle Workman
Lyle Dean Workman is an American guitarist, composer, session and touring musician, and music producer. His music has been widely distributed since his debut on the eponymous '' Bourgeois Tagg'' album in 1986, and is known for his work as compos ...
, drummer
Michael Urbano
Michael Urbano (born March 19, 1966 in Sacramento, California, USA) is a musician, programmer, and record producer.
Career
One of Urbano's first gigs was as a member of Bourgeois Tagg, a 1980s band that was fronted by Brent Bourgeois and Larry ...
, and keyboardist Scott Moon. Bourgeois played keyboards, Tagg played bass, and both shared lead vocal duties.
The eponymous album ''Bourgeois Tagg'' was produced by David J. Holman and spawned two singles. "Mutual Surrender (What a Wonderful World)" performed well, if briefly, at college radio and received some dance/club play, but its follow-up "The Perfect Life" didn't fare as well. Promotional videos were produced for both singles, but received limited play. "Mutual Surrender (What a Wonderful World)" peaked at No. 62 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100.
In 1987, Bourgeois Tagg recorded ''Yoyo'' with producer
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...
. It was released in autumn, and the band had what would prove to be their biggest hit with its first single "I Don't Mind at All", which peaked at No. 38 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 35 in the
UK Chart. Although the single just briefly made the Top 40 in the United States, it was a Top Five hit on the Adult Contemporary chart, and a major hit worldwide. Its success was fueled by an innovative video that received heavy airplay on
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
and other music video outlets. The follow-up single "Waiting for the Worm to Turn" (the first single with a lead vocal by Tagg) failed to chart in the U.S.
Solo career
After Bourgeois Tagg split up, Bourgeois signed a solo recording deal with
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
imprint
Charisma Records
Charisma Records (also known as The Famous Charisma Label) was a British record label founded in 1969 by former journalist Tony Stratton-Smith. He had previously acted as manager for rock bands such as The Nice, the Bonzo Dog Band and Van der ...
. His self-titled album was released in 1990. Five songs on the album were co-produced by rock veteran
Danny Kortchmar
Daniel "Danny Kootch" Kortchmar (born April 6, 1946) is an American guitarist, session musician, producer and songwriter. Kortchmar's work with singer-songwriters such as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Crosby, Carole King, David Cassidy, ...
and five co-produced by David J. Holman. ''Brent Bourgeois'' featured guest appearances by
Christine McVie
Christine Anne McVie (; née Perfect; 12 July 1943 – 30 November 2022) was an English musician and songwriter. She was best known as keyboardist and one of the vocalists of the band Fleetwood Mac.
McVie was a member of several bands, nota ...
and
Rick Vito
Richard Francis (Rick) Vito (born October 13, 1949, in Darby, Pennsylvania, United States) is an American guitarist and singer. He was part of Fleetwood Mac between 1987 and 1991. Vito took over as lead guitarist after Lindsey Buckingham left t ...
of
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...
, and
Randy Jackson
Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013.
Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing bas ...
, among others. The track "Can't Feel the Pain" was co-written with former bandmate Lyle Workman, who also plays guitar on that song. The album also featured a cover version of
the Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band formed in the early 1960s in St Albans and led by keyboardist and vocalist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group had a British and American hit in 1964 with "She's Not There". In the US, two fu ...
' "Time of the Season". The first single "Dare to Fall in Love", in spite of a video that received a moderate amount of play—especially on
VH1
VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...
—became only a minor hit, and the album did not sell well.
1992 saw the release of ''A Matter of Feel''. Virtually ignored by all radio and video outlets, the album fell on deaf ears and sold even less than its predecessor. The track "I'm Down with You" was co-written with
Robert Palmer. Bourgeois parted ways with Charisma shortly thereafter.
In 1994 he returned with another solo album, ''Come Join the Living World'' (produced by
Charlie Peacock
Charles William Ashworth (born August 10, 1956), known professionally as Charlie Peacock, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, record producer, and author. His albums include ''Love Press Ex-Curio'', ''Arc of the Circle'' and ''No Man's L ...
)
Bourgeois bio
VH1—this time on Reunion Records
Reunion Records is a contemporary Christian record label based in Brentwood, Tennessee, that operates under the Provident Label Group. The label was founded in 1982, by Dan Harrell and Mike Blanton.
History
The label was formed by Amy Grant's m ...
, a Contemporary Christian label—and a renewed, more literal focus on Christian themes, which he has maintained throughout his career ever since. The album spawned four No. 1 songs on Christian radio.
On June 2, 2014, Bourgeois released ''Don't Look Back'', his first album in twenty years, and his first pop outing since ''A Matter of Feel.'' Guest artists included Julian Lennon
Julian Charles John Lennon (born John Charles Julian Lennon; 8 April 1963) is an English musician. He is the son of Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, and he is named after his paternal grandmother, Julia Lennon. Julian in ...
, Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...
, and the album even served as an unofficial reunion for Bourgeois Tagg, who played on the song "Psycho."
Production and management
Between 1994 and 2002, Bourgeois worked in the contemporary Christian music world performing both songwriting and production work for acts such as Michael W. Smith
Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when " Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the '' ...
, Jars of Clay, 4Him
4Him was a contemporary Christian group founded in 1990 in Mobile, Alabama, US. The group has ten Dove awards, a Grammy nomination and three certified gold albums to their credit. The group was inducted into Alabama's Music Hall of Fame, follo ...
, Anointed
Anointing is the ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body.
By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, or oth ...
, Jaci Velasquez
Jacquelyn "Jaci" Davette Velasquez (Spanish ''Jaci Velásquez'', born October 15, 1979) is an American actress and contemporary Christian and Latin pop singer and songwriter, performing in both English and Spanish.
Velasquez has sold almost ...
, Michelle Tumes
Michelle Louise Tumes (born 1971) is an Australian contemporary Christian musician from Adelaide. In 1993, she moved to the United States and has released five studio albums, ''Listen'' (1998), ''Center of My Universe'' (2000), ''Dream'' (2001), ...
, and Cindy Morgan
Cindy Morgan (born Cynthia Ann Cichorski; September 29, 1954) is an American actress known for her appearances as Lora/Yori in ''Tron'' and Lacey Underall in ''Caddyshack''.
Life and career
Morgan was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Polish and ...
. He was the vice-president of A&R at Word Records
Word Records is a Christian faith-based entertainment company based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is owned by Curb Records, and is a part of Word Entertainment. It is distributed by Warner Records (the former Warner Bros. Records).
History
In 1 ...
in Nashville from 1997–2001, signing Nicole C. Mullen
Aileen Nicole Coleman-Mullen, known professionally as Nicole C. Mullen, (born January 3, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, and choreographer. She was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Music career
While studying at Christ for the ...
and Rachael Lampa
Rachael Maureen Lampa (born January 8, 1985) is an American contemporary Christian singer, songwriter and record producer. At age 15, she rose to fame and critical acclaim in 2000 with the release of her debut album, '' Live for You''.
Early ...
.
Personal life
Bourgeois is married, has four children and resides in Elk Grove, California
Elk Grove is a city in Sacramento County, California, located just south of the state capital of Sacramento. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade– Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 Census, the population o ...
.
References
External links
Brent Bourgeois interview
BlogTalkRadio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourgeois, Brent
1958 births
Living people
Record producers from Texas
American rock singers
American performers of Christian music
Skyline High School (Dallas) alumni
Musicians from Dallas
Musicians from New Orleans
People from Elk Grove, California
Singers from Louisiana
Record producers from California