#7 Ian Dench

It's very rare that you come across somebody who has been a significant artist & songwriter and spent time inside the music industry machine developing other careers.

Ian Dench is one of the very few to have that experience which makes his perspective on how the industry works and what you need to focus on to break into it extremely valuable.

And it's not been plain saling all the way. Ian's first professional band looked good for success but after 8 years of trying and 2 record deals later, they threw in the towel. At that point Ian was in his mid-twenties and could easily have given up, but he chose to adjust his focus and double down on his music.

This episode is worth listening to just to find out what he did to change his fortunes. His next band EMF went on to have incredibe "overnight" success, storming to the top of the US charts and becoming a global smash. He then pivoted into writing songs for other artists and had big hits with Beyonce, Shakir and The Prodigy among others, via a detour as Vice President of A&R at Epic Records in New York.

Ian contines to perform, write songs and develop other artists.

Listen to our interview to find out how he has built his successful career, what it is like to write for Beyonce and how it feels to pick to ride on the crest of the wave of major success as an artist.

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