Alan Jarvis

Alan is Canadian but was born in London, England.  Like a million other teenagers, he started playing acoustic guitar and singing Beatles songs when he was sixteen.  He began writing songs around the same time and he has now written more than 300.  

He started performing at solo gigs with just an acoustic guitar, then for many years was a member of a folk trio called "Breakaway" tackling 3-part harmonies on songs by the Eagles, America, Poco and Simon & Garfunkel.  After taking a break to focus on his business career, and a young family, he sang and played lead guitar for seven years in a very successful rock and roll cover band called "Platinum".

For more than 30 years, Alan has written and recorded music, starting on the kitchen table with a cheap condensor microphone and a portable cassette tape player.  Over the years he has steadily upgraded his home studio equipment and he now records everything digitally on a MacPro using Logic Pro software.  He plays acoustic and electric guitars, piano and keyboards but he rarely performs anymore as he prefers to write and produce music in the studio. 

He writes in a wide variety of styles including pop, dance, country and instrumentals (both club and theme music).  Any recording artist or production company looking for original songs or themes is invited to contact Alan at alan@squishymusic.com.

May 2012

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?  I was born in London, England but my family emigrated to South Africa when I was a teenager.  I lived there for many years before emigrating with my wife and two daughters to Canada which has been our home ever since.

 WHAT MADE YOU REALIZE THAT MUSIC WAS YOUR PATH?  From about 11 years old, I was singing along with 45rpm singles on our record player.  I got an acoustic guitar when I turned 16 and, since then singing, writing and performing have been a regular part of my life.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE MUSIC THAT YOU TYPICALLY CREATE?  Easy listening pop, including ballads, rock and roll, country, dance tunes, instrumentals and theme music.  I focus a lot on melody as I believe that is the heart and soul of any song.

WHO ARE YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCES?  Dan Fogelberg, Kenny Loggins, Richard Marx, Barry Manilow, Eagles, Simon & Garfunkel, Beatles, Beth Nielsen Chapman.  They are all great songwriters and excellent musicians. 

WHAT MAKES YOUR MUSIC UNIQUE?  I try not to copy any artist or style which I hope makes my music unique.  I am sure there are influences in there somewhere but I just let it flow - with the emphasis on writing a strong melody.

HAS THERE BEEN A PARTICULAR MOMENT IN YOUR MUSICAL CAREER THAT YOU ARE MOST PROUD OF?  Releasing my 5th CD, "Forever", this year.  I am really pleased with these new songs and how they sound.

 WHAT'S NEXT FOR YOU?  I'm primarily a songwriter and, more recently, a producer.  I want to write and possibly produce songs for other performing artists, TV shows and maybe even movies.  I no longer perform as I prefer to write and produce music in my studio.