Early life James Douglas Vallance was born on May 31, 1952, in
Chilliwack,
British Columbia. He grew up in a series of small towns on the west coast of Canada, including Vanderhoof (1964–1967) and Terrace (1967–1970) where he collected fond memories that would later show up in lyrics to some of his songs, like "
Summer of '69". He took piano lessons starting at age 7. He then took up guitar and drums at 13. In 1965 he formed a band with some classmates called The Tremelones which was later renamed The Fourmost. At 18, he enrolled in the music program at the
University of British Columbia where he studied
piano under
Frances Marr Adaskin, Vallance and Adams had known about each other through the Vancouver music scene, although they had never been introduced. At the meeting, both admitted they liked the idea of a songwriting partnership and agreed to forge one. The arrangement was twofold. In the long term, the songs would be primarily used as the material for Adams' solo career while, in the short term, they would serve as a source of income by licensing songs to other artists. The early going was quite difficult. Adams' solo demo recordings were rejected by numerous record companies. Persistence paid off as Adams-Vallance was signed as a songwriting team by A&M late in 1978. The songwriting tandem was unknown, so most artists were not interested in considering their songs. Vallance then landed a contract to write and arrange BTO's next album ''
Rock n' Roll Nights'' through his association with talent manager
Bruce Allen. The role of producer was added midway through recordings when the band fired the first producer. In all, five songs were contributed: Vallance wrote two, "Jamaica" and "Rock 'n Roll Hell", co-wrote two other songs with BTO members, while Adams contributed "Wastin' Time". In 1979, Prism was back in the studio to record their third album,
Armageddon and needed help with songwriting. Since the departure of Vallance (Rodney Higgs), the current lineup was unable to fill the songwriting void adequately. Vallance brought his new protege, Adams, along to help. Adams wrote or co-wrote three songs for the album and played guitar on one track. "Take It Or Leave It" was credited as "B. Adams/R. Higgs" since Vallance wanted to identify with his Prism fans by using his pseudonym. Vallance then produced Franco-Ontarian band CANO's
Rendezvous that summer. Vallance then landed another contract through Bruce Fairbairn to write songs for Ian Lloyd in 1980 and again in 1982. In total, six Adams-Vallance compositions were used by Lloyd and another four were collaborations between Vallance and Lloyd's band. In between, Vallance worked as a session and club musician, and took a job as the drummer for Tom Jones' TV show produced out of Vancouver. Also, in 1981, Vallance co-produced (along with the band) the second album by Vancouver's
Doug and the Slugs,
Wrap It!. Vallance also continued to work as an arranger and co-songwriter for other acts, working with
Toronto on an unreleased track called "
What About Love" in 1982, which would eventually become a huge hit for the band
Heart. In 1982, Vallance and Adams received a call from producer Michael James Jackson inquiring about contributing songs for the next Kiss album. Although Vallance and Adams were not heavy metal fans, it was a golden opportunity for exposure for their songs by a world-class rock act. With outside collaboration from Gene Simmons, "War Machine" and a re-written "Rock 'n Roll Hell" were recorded for Kiss'
Creatures of the Night release that year. Later,
Bonnie Raitt who heard a demo of their song "No Way To Treat A Lady" decided to record it. Between 1980 and 1982, Adams recorded and released his first two solo albums, self-titled
Bryan Adams and
You Want It You Got It. Vallance doubled as co-producer on the first. Although neither album was a big success, Adams' extensive touring helped him garner a lot of recognition as an artist. The Adams-Vallance songwriting team was starting to gain momentum.
Cuts Like a Knife Cuts Like a Knife was Adams' breakthrough album. Released in 1983, it established him as a legitimate North American music star (the album did not chart in Europe.) It also established the Adams-Vallance songwriting team in the music industry as other artists started to consider their songs seriously. The album spun 3 singles: "
Straight from the Heart", "
Cuts Like a Knife" and "
This Time". "I'm Ready", "The Only One" and "Take Me Back" also received airplay. Ironically, "Straight from the Heart" was the highest charting of the three and is not a Vallance composition. It was written by Vancouver singer/songwriter Eric Kagna, with Adams adding the instrumental bridge, and credited as Adams-Kagna. The others were Adams-Vallance compositions. The album
Cuts Like a Knife was certified three times platinum in Canada and certified one time platinum in the US. At the Canadian Juno music awards, "Cuts Like a Knife" and "Straight from the Heart" were nominated for a Single of the Year award, while "Cuts Like a Knife" won the Composer of the Year award for Adams-Vallance.
Reckless Reckless made Adams an international superstar. By the end of 1985,
Reckless had spun off six singles and sold millions of copies worldwide. Adams-Vallance was now considered one of the top songwriting acts in the music industry. No longer did they have to forward demos to artists hoping they would consider them as now their agents were contacting Adams-Vallance requesting their services. The Adams-Vallance team wrote songs for artists such as
Paul Dean,
Kiss, and
Bonnie Raitt. After sharing Juno Awards as a composer of the year with Adams in 1984 and 1985, Vallance won two awards alone in 1986 and 1987.
Breakup and reconciliation During 1989, the Adams-Vallance songwriting partnership became strained to the point that it was dissolved. The team was under intense pressure from the record company to follow up
Reckless. Instead they delivered
Into the Fire, which was poorly received by critics, and although it sold several million copies, coming off the success of
Reckless, it was a commercial disappointment. Meanwhile, Vallance had just become a father and his lifestyle had changed considerably. Also, Adams complained that Vallance was coming back to the partnership burnt out from writing and producing songs with other artists and insisted that if they were to continue at the level they had been at, Vallance should put other projects on hold until they had another album. Vallance complied with Adams' request but after several failed attempts to write and record what Adams felt was suitable material, Vallance informed Adams that he no longer wanted to work with him and the Adams-Vallance partnership went into hiatus. Adams and Vallance were essentially estranged for some time, with only sporadic contact. In 2003, Adams approached Vallance inquiring if he would like to co-write a few songs for his next album. Vallance agreed and three songs on Adams' album
11 are credited with Vallance as co-writer. Adams then approached him to write the Olympic song with him and another Olympic song for ARD TV in Germany.
Glass Tiger Following the release of
Reckless, Vallance worked with a new Canadian band
Glass Tiger. Initially hired to help with arrangements, the band eventually asked Vallance to produce their
debut album. Vallance co-wrote such hits as "
Someday" and "
Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)", which won the Canadian music industry Juno award for 1986 Single of the Year. Following Glass Tiger's
second album, Vallance declined offers to produce future albums. He cited the long hours and tedious work as reasons. He had more enjoyment in just the songwriting and arranging.
Aerosmith In 1986, Aerosmith was a band in turmoil. Their previous album
Done with Mirrors went below the radar in sales and airplay. To make matters worse, band members' alcohol and drug habits were causing problems. Geffen Records would only fund their next recording provided all the bandmembers complete drug and alcohol rehab which they did. After listening to the demos, the record company did not believe there was any material that would get them airplay. A second condition was then placed on them and that was to have outside songwriters to work with the band members. Initially, band members were not warm to the idea. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Vallance helped to write several songs with the band, including some of the hit singles "
Rag Doll" (1987), "
Hangman Jury" (1987), "
The Other Side" (1989), "
Eat the Rich" (1993), and "
Deuces are Wild" (1994), in addition to several other Aerosmith songs. He also co-wrote the single "
Legendary Child", which was initially written in 1991, and then later re-worked and released in 2012 as the lead single on
Music from Another Dimension!. == Awards ==