Exciting Changes Ahead For Longtime CIMA Member Bumstead Productions!
A veteran of the music industry, longtime CIMA member and former member of our Board of Directors, Larry Wanagas has had an extraordinary 35-year run with his three-tiered management/publishing/record label company Bumstead Productions — a true feat in the ever-changing landscape of the industry. Now, Larry has decided to focus exclusively on artist management, with the recording division of Bumstead Productions forthwith owned and operated by Toronto-based music entrepreneur Khaled Verjee in partnership with Nettwerk Music Group, under the aegis of HOME Music Company.
“My focus has always been primarily on management. It’s what I enjoy most and do best and where I have had my biggest success,” says Wanagas, whose marquee clients past and present include Susan Aglukark, Big Sugar, the Blue Shadows (featuring Billy Cowsill), BOY, Colin James, k.d.lang, Madeleine Peyroux and The Trews.
“What I discovered in running the label side of things is that I wasn’t set up to take artists the distance internationally. When Khaled presented this deal with a respected company like Nettwerk as his partner, it was clear to me that the time was right to move on.”
Launched in 1979 out of his Homestead Recorders studios in Edmonton more than a decade before the independent recording scene exploded in Canada, Bumstead Productions immediately distinguished itself with trailblazing singles by cutting-edge artists like the Modern Minds, featuring Moe Berg. By 1983, Wanagas’ unique vision was confirmed when his newest client, so-called cow-punk singer/songwriter, k.d.lang, began her inexorably march to the top of the pop charts globally.
Wanagas and lang worked together for an astounding 15 years; just one of many notable achievements in Wanagas’ career which has flourished on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border with stops in Vancouver, Acme, Western Australia, New York and Toronto, where Wanagas currently resides. Over the decades, Bumstead and Wanagas have been synonymous with outstanding artists making superb music. Witness The Trews who, with Wanagas’ guidance, have racked up 13 Top-10 Canadian radio singles, including two #1 hits.
“I have had a tremendously successful run and I am very excited to see what the next chapter holds,” says Wanagas. “Khaled and Nettwerk have vision, commitment and will work hard to uphold the legacy of these important master recordings. I couldn’t be happier.”
We congratulate Larry and his team at Bumstead for their tremendous contributions to Canadian music and wish them nothing but best in their bright future, and look forward to hearing new music from Khaled and HOME Music Company!