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LANA THRASHER, PRESIDENT, MAJOR BOB MUSIC CO.,
INC.
"I have always loved music," states Lana
Thrasher. A southern California native,
she grew up going to clubs with her parents,
where her mother pursued the dream of
being a singer. Thrasher majored in business and
minored in music at University of
California at Los Angeles (UCLA), with the
intent of becoming an attorney. While in
school, she took a part-time job at Kenny
Rogers Productions' Lion Share Publishing
Company, but it was the recording studio
upstairs that changed the direction of
Thrasher's life.
During the two years that she swept floors,
photocopied, typed, and did whatever
was needed, she got to peek into the studio and
watch Quincy Jones produce. "I was
attracted to the studio and I started ditching
school to be there. I worked and learned
and just watched Quincy Jones and absorbed
everything that was going on. That is
when I decided this is what I'm going to do
when I grow up." Through meeting Jones,
Thrasher earned an opportunity to work as a
runner at A&M Studios during the
making of the "We Are The World"
project.
At the invitation of a friend, she traveled to
Nashville in 1988, fell in love with the
city, and decided to relocate. The following
summer, she arrived with a Volkswagen
Bug and $68. "That was all I had. I was
pitiful." Soon after her arrival in Music City,
Charlie Monk offered Thrasher an internship at
Opryland Music Group. To supple-
ment her income, she worked as a roving
musician at Opryland and performed
aboard the General Jackson Showboat, where she
was able to eat for free. When
Monk's friend Bob Doyle was about to open a new
publishing company, he recog-
nized Thrasher would have more opportunity to
grow with the new firm and recom-
mended her for a job. "They were this little
company that had just signed Garth
Brooks, but he didn't even have a record deal
yet. Bob said, `I can't pay you anything,
but I'll give you a key.' I was so excited--I
had my own key! They bought my lunch
CASE STUDY:
THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT THIS
JOB:
"When you sign a truly good writer or truly
great artist, you put time and
money into working with them and you become
like family. When it
doesn't work, when you don't know how to make
money with them (can't
get their songs cut or secure a record deal)
and you have to let them go,
that's hard."
THE BEST THING ABOUT THIS JOB:
"I love taking somebody's lyrics and music into
the recording studio and
producing the song--hearing it come alive. That
is very exciting. Working
in the recording studio is my favorite part of
my job."
VOICES
OF
EXPERIENCE
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