Songwriter

Harris, Stewart

Stewart Harris, composer, songwriter, producer and publisher is the President of Edisto Sound. Born in Birmingham, Alabama he grew up in South Carolina and began his career in 1971 as a performer of folk and pop music on America's east coast. Based in New York City, he performed in clubs and festivals until 1973. He then moved to Washington D.C. where he continued as an artist and began to compose songs.

In 1974, he met Harry Warner (current Assistant Vice-President, BMI-Nashville). Harry was then Vice-President of Jerry Reed Enterprises/Vector Music. He brought Harris to Nashville in 1976 as a staff writer. It was not long thereafter when Harris began to work on his first recording project on Mercury Records. The album "Sing Me A Rainbow", was released in early 1978. Touring with Jerry Reed, he developed a reputation as a writer/artist and began writing for Reed and other artists.

In 1979, Harris wrote "A Player, A Pawn, A Hero, A King" for the Burt Reynolds movie "Hooper". This led to other movies such as Loni Anderson's "Country Gold" and "Killing At Hell's Gate" starring Robert Urich. He has also had songs in the television series "Flamingo Road". He is the co-writer of the theme for ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos", currently shown nationally and in over 23 foreign countries.

Still residing in Nashville, Harris is writing and producing in both the country and pop fields. He has written songs for numerous artists such as: Waylon Jennings, Randy Travis (title cut for his Christmas Album), Amy Keys (R&B artist), Andy Williams, Michael Johnson, Mickey Gilley, Anne Murray, Lacy J. Dalton, Levon Helm, Tammy Wynette, Reba McEntire, Eddie Raven, Leon Everett, Cynthia Clawson, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty, Travis Tritt, and many others. "Hurricane", "Lonely Nights", and "Rose In Paradise" were Harris' first to top the charts at number one.

Chart Songs as a Songwriter

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Song Title	Recording Artist	Chart*	Year
Can I Trust You With My Heart	Travis Tritt	1	1993
Lonely Nights	Mickey Gilley	1	1982
No One Else On Earth	Wynonna Judd	1	1992
Rose In Paradise	Waylon Jennings	1	1987
I'm Gonna Be Somebody	Travis Tritt	2	1990
Standing On The Edge Of Goodbye	John Berry	2	1995
Drift Off To Dream	Travis Tritt	3	1991
Hurricane	Leon Everette	4	1981
You And Forever And Me	Little Texas	5	1992
See If I Care	Shenandoah	6	1990
Bridges And Wall	Oak Ridge Boys	10	1989
Could It Be Love	Jennifer Warnes	13	1981
Southern Grace	Little Texas	28	1995
If I Lost You	Travis Tritt	30	1998
Here Comes That Feeling Again	Don King	32	1980
Lonely Hotel	Don King	40	1980
Running On Love	Don King	40	1982

*Chart position is based on Billboard Magazine Pop, Country, R&B, & A/C Charts. Other music industry charts may have shown higher chart positions.
Source: Alabama Music Hall of Fame

Stewart Harris had an epiphany one day in his sociology class at the University of South Carolina. “There was a substitute teacher but it was like I couldn’t hear him. I was just jotting down song titles – about 25 titles during the 50-minute class. I shut my book and told one of my fraternity brothers I was leaving school that day!” Born in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in South Carolina, Harris was deeply influenced by Elvis Presley, R&B music, folk music, and his own mother, a classically trained cellist. After leaving the university, Harris spent time performing his own folk-rock music around the country, stopping in New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., as well as several Canadian resorts. In 1973, Harris met Harry Warner, Jerry Reed’s then-Manager and they began a long-distance working relationship with Stewart sending Warner his song demos. “I came to Nashville to record the song demos. That’s when I discovered I loved working with Nashville musicians!” Shortly thereafter, Harris moved to Tennessee, signed as an artist to Mercury Records and became a staff writer at Reed’s publishing company. The writer/artist experience has given Harris a tangible understanding and easy communication with current artists as evidenced by his 1hits written with Travis Tritt (Can I Trust You With My Heart, I’m Gonna Be Somebody, Drift off to Dream), John Berry (Standing on the Edge of Goodbye) and Little Texas (You And Forever And Me). Harris’ chart-toppers also include Mickey Gilley’s Lonely Nights, Waylon Jennings’ Rose In Paradise, Leon Everette’s Hurricane, and Wynonna’s now-signature song, No One Else On Earth. As Stewart so enjoys, he is writing with several new artists for their upcoming projects, including Warner Bros.’ Jamie Lee Thurston, Sony Records’ Colt Prather and recording artist Tammy Cochran, who co-penned, along with Harris and Jim McBride, Angels in Waiting, which was nominated at the 2002 ACM Awards for Song Of The Year and Video Of The Year. Additional artists include Lauren Lucas, Rhean Boyer of Carolina Rain, and most recently, Luke Bryan. Stewart Harris has enjoyed a successful songwriting career, including 9 number one hits, 3 film awards and 10 prestigious “Million Air” awards from BMI for songs receiving over one million airplays. Both Alabama and South Carolina claim Harris as a son. The Alabama Music Hall Of Fame bestowed the Creator’s Award on him in early 1999 and later that year he was inducted into the South Carolina Entertainment Hall Of Fame. He’s had songs recorded by Patty Loveless, Montgomery Gentry, George Jones, Wynonna, Travis Tritt, B.J. Thomas, Tammy Wynette, Neil Diamond, Waylon Jennings, Reba McEntire, Marshall Tucker Band, John Michael Montgomery and many others.


Source: http://www.myspace.com/stewartharrismusic
Discography: http://www.keltaskavern.com/stewartharris.html

Listen: http://www.amazon.com/music-rock-classical-pop-jazz/b?ie=UTF8&node=5174