MICHAEL BEHM
Michael Behm is a man with a mission!
His goal is to create well-crafted, accessible, and emotionally convincing songs in a wide range of genres for a diversity of artists, listeners and audiences. Fulfilling this ambition in great style, he draws upon his deep reservoir of experience in just about every aspect of the music business.
The B.C.-based Behm is a genuine music industry renaissance man. He has released a series of critically acclaimed albums as a solo artist under his own name, and has long been a highly prolific writer and producer of music for other artists. As well as hosting international recording artists in his ‘state of the art’ home studio on Vancouver Island, he has also owned successful live venues and nightclubs in Canada and the Caribbean, founded one of Canada’s major sound and lighting companies, Premier Productions and promoted concerts for major acts that include Nickelback and Nazareth.
Behm has a well-developed philosophy about the art and goal of songwriting. For him, it is all about communication and sending the singer's message to the heart and head of the listener in the clearest and most powerful fashion. "To me, a song is like a spoken dialogue that has a realness to it. Does it feel authentic? To me that is more important than being clever with big and unique words. Those songs do not last."
Memorable melodies are another Behm signature. "What translates to mass media are songs that are easy to remember and that become the backdrop of people's lives.
Few songwriters pay as much attention to detail as Michael Behm. He knows the power of song lyrics, and so treats them with reverence. "Words have a powerful frequency to them," he notes. " So when I'm writing every word matters!"
In his songwriting process, Michael demonstrates the power of positive thinking. "When going into a writing session, I do so with only the intention of having a great session and adding as much value as I can to this particular person I am working with. I'm often very happily shocked with the end result. My philosophy is that the song already was, and you're just bringing it into this time. That's a very liberating thought and based on that, potentially everything we write can be as good as a Beatles or Motown song."
In all his collaborations, Michael’s clear intention is always to produce a great result for the other person. “I'm completely committed to the outcome!” he states. To me, songwriting is nothing to do with the music and everything to do with the storyboard. Once you have that storyboard, you have the theme of the song and all you have to do then is find the language to put it together as a viable offering."
Behm is viewed as a stylistic chameleon, changing colors depending on the musical personality of his collaborators. He writes hits in pop, rock, country, roots and dance music genres, and both the songs as well as the evocative instrumentals he writes and produces regularly attract placements in TV series, films and commercials.
In 2012, Michael was nominated for SOCAN / BCCMA songwriter of the year in 2012 and 2013. He has co-written hundreds of songs with legendary writers that include LA’s Pamela Oland, (Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin), Nashville’s Ralph Murphy (three Behm-Murphy co-writes have been recently recorded by rising Nashville star Nick Culton), Helsinki writer Risto Asikaiean (they've written a song for Sony Artist Isaac Elliot) as well as Vancouver writers Kate Morgan and Angela Harris.
One musician with whom Behm has a highly fertile creative relationship with is British star Steve Morris, guitarist in The Ian Gillan Band. Another fruitful and ongoing writing partnership is with Ian Curnow, from famed UK group Talk Talk. Coming up with hits like "Stay In Bed All Day" and "Fantastic Magic," their material has generated real interest internationally!
In 2017 Behm’s collaboration with Russian producer Dmitre on his most recent and immensely popular single "Brighter Blue" in Moscow was followed up with a stop in Helsinki to write his soon to be released "Let It Take You There" with Risto and Darude.
These days, Behm is channeling his creative energies into live performance, along with his songwriting and producing. He continues to travel the world to co-write and produce tracks with a large stable of collaborators, most of whom are international hit-makers. His seven solo records and extensive music catalog generate millions of Internet plays around the world.
