How did your interest in music arise?
Bruce Allen: I was always a fan of music, but I was really catapulted forward in my awareness of music with the ascension of Elvis.

What interested you about the music business?
The phenomenon of music being able to excite an audience and allow people to release all of their emotions. To be able to develop artists who could elicit this type of response was very appealing.

Do you believe that you still have the same passion that drove you when you first started out?
My passion for a good song is the same. The business, however, is not as all-emcompassing as it once was.

What were some previous jobs that you held before this?
I was a sheet-metal worker, marine service attendant and a car jockey.

What personality traits must you have to be in this profession?
You must be agressive, compassionate and patient.

The music industry today is not about developing talent. It is about getting in and out quick.

As a manager, what are your duties comprised of?
There are so many duties. But it is really about guiding an artist’s career and making sure that he is able to develop his art in such a way that he feels a minimum amount of compromise so that he can be true to himself.

How does it make you feel to be acknowleded as a legendary manager?
When it comes from my peers, very satisfying.

How do you discover, or make the decision to manage an artist?
I like to hear their songs, listen to their voice and see if they can handle themselves on stage.

Are there any new clients to the company?
Econoline Crush is the newest act, but there will be more in the future.

How did the A&F company develop into what it is today?
It began as a booking agency only. However, when I was asked by Bachman Turner Overdrive to manage them, it became apparent that I needed a partner if I was going to hang onto the agency. I met Sam Feldman, who had a small agency in town, and I brought him in as a partner, while I concentrated on management almost entirely from that point on. Sam developed the agency into what it is today. The partnership is 30 years old.

Over the years, you’ve guided the careers of several successful artists such as Bachman Turner Overdrive, Loverboy, Bryan Adams, etc. Among the artists you represent, or have represented in the past, whose career are you most proud or most pleased with?
Bryan Adams, by far. Mainly due to the fact that he has achieved truly international success. He is one of the only artists in the world to really accomplish that. However, there were other reasons why I am also proud of what I did for others. BTO because they were first. And Loverboy because they proved it was no fluke.

Are there truly methods or stepping stones to success?
There are many ways to make it, but it all comes back to hard work.

Is there a genre of music you prefer over others?
I like traditional rock and roll, soul and rhythm and blues.

What are your top 5 albums?
They keep changing. Today they are: Astral Weeks - Van Morrison; Elvis - Elvis Presley; Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits; Live At the House of Blues - Solomon Burke; Soul Deep - Jimmy Barnes.
Top bands: Rolling Stones, Eagles, George Thorogood and The Destroyers, ZZ Top, Loverboy, Spinners, Isley Brothers, Drifters, Police and Aerosmith.
Top singers: Elvis, Van Morrison, Dwight Yoakam, Bryan Adams and Elton John.

Are you open to another person’s opinion about music? For example, I was listening to your Sound Off show on CFOX in Vancouver and it seemed like you would need a lot of patience to hear other people’s opinions on certain music issues [ie: Eminem's lyrics.]
I enjoy musical discussions more than anything. They are enlightening and really have no solution. You like what you like.

What is your definition of music?
Words and melody.

What is your definition of talent?
The ability to possess a gift and elevate that gift above what others with the same gift have done with theirs.

A lot of new artists emerging in the music industry do not write/compose their own songs or even play their own instruments. Do you think this could be taken as an advantage/disadvantage/both/ neither?
I believe they are not true musicians or artists in the traditiional sense. Technology has elevated some artists further than their talent could have ever taken them.

What are your thoughts about the music industry today?
The music industry today is not about developing talent. It is about getting in and out quick. Acts are not nurtured – just exploited then discarded. It is not a musical exercise anymore, just a marketing one.

What does someone need to possess in order to achieve your status?
The belief that they can do it. That this belief will carry them through and people will eventually buy into what they are trying to achieve. However, one must also have the ability to change horses in the middle of the stream if something is obviously not connecting. You have to be a populist and a bit of a futurist. Vison is critical. Have your finger on the pulse. Don’t get too far from the street.