Alert Music History
In 1984, after a very successful run as Managing Director of Anthem Records, a label owned by RUSH and Ray Daniels and one he worked at and helped to create in 1976, Tom Berry decided it was time for a change. Starting in the business with RCA Records in the mid ‘70s, Berry went on to join the team at SRO/Anthem Records in 1976, where he succeeded in creating and implementing
North American marketing and promotion strategies for Rush’s biggest recordings including their most successful, Moving Pictures, as well as, All the World’s a Stage, 2112, A Farewell to Kings, Hemispheres, Permanent Waves, and Signals. Berry was also very proud to be an integral part of the successful marketing and promotion of Max Webster, a band that he states was “one of the hottest, most exciting live bands he ever saw!”. All five recordings, including Max Webster, High Class in Borrowed Shoes (Executive Producer), Mutiny up My Sleeve (Executive Producer), A Million Vacations (Executive Producer) and Live Magnetic Air were certified gold or platinum in Canada. One of his final North American marketing successes at Anthem was Bob and Doug McKenzie’s, Great White North (4 times platinum in Canada and Gold in the US). By 1983 he had formed a bond with Montrealer Marc Durand, who at the time was managing and producing a little Montreal band called Men Without Hats who just had a number one worldwide hit with their iconic single ‘Safety Dance’. Berry and Durand determined that it was time to marry the “two solitudes” and proceeded to put a partnership together, opening offices in both Montreal and Toronto (based on a small advance from Peter Erdmann, the president of Polygram Records). In 1984 Alert Music Inc. opened as a record/production/publishing and management company. Success came fast as they immediately signed Kim Mitchell in Toronto and a young, brand new band called The Box in Montreal. Both acts were very well received on their first Alert recordings and both went on to multi-platinum sales in Canada, while Mitchell, who also had a rock radio hit in the US with “Go for Soda” became one of Canada’s quintessential arena touring acts. As an iconic Canadian rock star with numerous Junos and hits including ‘Go For Soda’, ‘Patio Lanterns’, ‘All We Are’, ‘Easy to Tame’, ‘Rock n’ Roll Duty’, ‘Rocklandwonderland’, etc. Mitchell still records, tours and performs at festivals, casinos and performing arts centres nationally. In 2004, Mitchell joined the team at classic rock station Q107 to host his own radio show. Since then, he’s become the number one afternoon drive host in the Greater Toronto Area (Canada’s largest market) with males 25 to 54 making him the number one DJ with that demographic in the country. During the 1980s, Alert was one of Canada’s most successful indie labels and one of only a very few with a foot planted so deeply in both national languages. During that time they released records by artists from both Ontario and Quebec, including Andy Curran, The Box, Bundock, Blue Nile, Pagliaro, Michael Breen (Michel Pepin), Sylum, etc. By the end of the ‘80s the partnership dissolved with Durand leaving with The Box and the other French acts. At that point Berry was becoming less enamoured with rock, leading him to find and develop the Holly Cole Trio. Acting as her Executive Producer and manager, Berry also financed Ms. Cole’s recordings including Girl Talk, Blame It on My Youth, Don’t Smoke in Bed, Temptation, It Happened One Night, Dark Dear Heart and Romantically Helpless. He managed to succeed in leasing her second recording to Bruce Lundvall and Blue Note records for the world outside of Canada. That relationship developed into a wonderful friendship and bond that flowered over a half dozen recordings from 1990 to the mid 2000s into the sales of hundreds of thousands of recordings in the US, Japan, and Europe and significant touring on three continents. In Canada, Cole achieved numerous multiplatinum awards and remains a vital recording and touring artist to this day. Other fine acts that came from Alert in the 2000s included several releases by both singer-songwriter Roxanne Potvin and pianist Michael Kaeshammer. It’s been a very fine run that continues to this day with Alert’s recent releases including Holly Cole’s first DVD, Steal the Night: Live at the Glenn Gould Studio and Michael Kaeshammer’s fourth release for the company, his first DVD, KAESHAMMERLIVE!. Berry is not only very grateful for the privilege of having worked with all the wonderful artists, producers, musicians, engineers and road crews/technicians that he has worked with over the years but also the numerous young employees who learned through their time at Alert and who have moved on to be valued members of the industry. Berry also feels blessed by the countless relationships, the many associates, mentors and business friends he has had over 30 years in the business including, Kim and Holly, Vinny Cinquemani, Randy Lennox, Ray Daniels and Vic Wilson, Peter Erdmann, Bruce Lundvall, DJ McLachlan, Bob Farmer, Volker Steppat, André Ménard, Rubin Fogel, Marc Durand, Heather Ostertag, FACTOR and far too many others to mention. Thank you to every one of them … the story continues …
