Kent Hartman is a

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

-based author. His book '' The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret'' won the

Frances Fuller Victor Frances Auretta Fuller (Barritt) Victor ( pen names: Florence Fane, Dorothy D.) (May 23, 1826 – November 14, 1902) was an American historian and historical novelist. She has been described as "the first Oregon historian to gain regional and nat ...

Oregon Book Award The Oregon Book Awards are presented annually by Literary Arts to honor the "state’s finest accomplishments by Oregon writers who work in genres of poetry, fiction, graphic literature, drama, literary nonfiction, and literature for young readers ...

in 2013 and was a ''

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'' bestseller. Hartman spent decades in

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, and worked with a variety of famous recording artists. He produced a nationally syndicated radio program, ''The Classic Comedy Break''. As of 2012 he teaches marketing at

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decad ...

. ''The Wrecking Crew'' book was inspired by a conversation between the author and

Larry Knechtel Lawrence William Knechtel (August 4, 1940 – August 20, 2009) was an American keyboard player and bassist who was a member of the Wrecking Crew, a collection of Los Angeles-based session musicians who worked with such renowned artists as Simon & ...

, a member of the band Bread, and previously a member of the Wrecking Crew, an informal group of studio musicians who played anonymously on many 1960s and 1970s music hits.

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