Keith Follesé (born 1951) is an American

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

and co-founder of Midas Records Nashville.

Biography

Early in his career, Follesé recorded with his wife, Adrienne, on

A&M Records A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...

. They never released an album, and moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. There, Follesé tried to form a band while raising his family, but later moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

after being persuaded by a friend. Songs that Follesé co-wrote include " Before You Kill Us All" by

Randy Travis Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country and gospel music singer and songwriter, as well as a film and television actor. Active since 1979, he has recorded over 20 studio albums and ...

, " Life Goes On" by

Little Texas Little Texas is an American country music band started in Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Porter Howell (lead guitar, vocals), Del Gray (drums), Dwayne O'Brien (rhythm guitar, vocals), and Duane Propes (bass guitar, vocals). They, alo ...

and four songs that went to number one between 1999 and 2000: "

Something Like That "Something Like That" is a song written by Rick Ferrell and Keith Follesé and recorded by American country music artist Tim McGraw. It was released in June 1999 as the second single from McGraw's album '' A Place in the Sun''. The song reached ...

" by

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 17 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, five for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albums have reached number one on ...

, " I Love You" by

Martina McBride Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material. McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and relocated to Nashville, T ...

, "

Smile A smile is a facial expression formed primarily by flexing the muscles at the sides of the mouth. Some smiles include a contraction of the muscles at the corner of the eyes, an action known as a Duchenne smile. Among humans, a smile expresses d ...

" by

Lonestar Lonestar (formerly known as Texassee) is an American country music band from Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Drew Womack (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar), Michael Britt (lead guitar, background vocals), Dean Sams (key ...

, and " The Way You Love Me" by

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American Country music, country singer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold almost 50 million albums worldwide ...

. In November 2001, Follesé was named Songwriter of the Year by the

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...

(ASCAP). Follesé founded the Midas Records Nashville label in 2005 with Brad Allen. Follesé's sons, Ryan and Jamie, are members of the

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

band

Hot Chelle Rae Hot Chelle Rae ( ) (formerly known as Miracle Drug) is an American pop rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee in 2005. Their debut album, '' Lovesick Electric'', was released on October 27, 2009. They gained widespread attention for their 201 ...

. In addition to Hot Chelle Rae his son Ryan Follessé is a country solo artist, as well as one half of the country duo Ryan and Rory.

References

American country songwriters American male songwriters Living people Musicians from Minneapolis 1951 births Songwriters from Minnesota {{US-songwriter-stub