Michael Blanton
Michael Blanton, of Brentwood, Tennessee, has had a celebrated career in the national and Nashville music industry. But today finds him in all kinds of artistic and entertainment development, not limited to just artist management.
A native of Amarillo, Texas, Blanton got his start in music as an A&R representative at Word Records in Waco, Texas, moving to Nashville in 1978 to open the company’s office on Music Row. He and business partner Dan Harrell launched Blanton/Harrell Production and Management in 1980 with Amy Grant as their first client. In 1981 with friend Brown Bannister (’75), they created Reunion Records and Reunion Publishing and soon launched the careers of artists including Michael W. Smith and Rich Mullins and Wayne Kirkpatrick.
Blanton served as executive producer for some of Grant’s biggest hits, including the albums Unguarded (1985), Lead Me On (1988), and the multi-platinum Heart in Motion (1992), which sold more than ten million copies and received five Grammy nominations, including Album of the Year. He also executive produced hits for Smith including his debut, Michael W. Smith Project (1983) featuring the song “Friends,” The Big Picture (1986), i 2 (EYE) (1988) and Change Your World (1992). Blanton and Harrell worked with authors including Frank Peretti, helping him release his multi- million selling This Present Darkness in 1986 and Piercing the Darkness in 1989.
Beginning in 1997, Blanton and Harrell served as co-presidents of Gaylord’s Idea Entertainment, but in 2009 the golden franchise ended between Blanton and Harrell and thus started the new chapter for Blanton in artist development and branding.
Currently, Blanton has partnered in the development with Songwriting University, to help support the songwriters of Nashville, and help develop new artistic talent. Also, Blanton is a partner with Vertigo Media, and a new management launch called Halogen-BNA. Vertigo and Halogen will work together to build and develop new artists and songwriters through technology and community. But not to be left out of the development lane, Blanton today is also working with new film projects, with Terry Benedict (producer of Hacksaw Ridge) and TV productions for a Texas non-profit, Heartlight and Parenting Today’s Teens. He has also joined with long-time friend Gary Glover to continue to consult on many projects in development thru a partnership called, Cyprus Creative Partners, a company to help advance all types of branding and development. Vision-casting and strategically planning whether for one-singer, or for an entire company is what we are built for.
Blanton is a member of the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Gospel Music Association, the Country Music Association, and the Americana Music Association, and he serves on the board of Lipscomb’s College of Entertainment and Arts. The team of Blanton & Harrell was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2017. And then in 2019 Blanton was named Outstanding Alumnus of the year for Abilene Christian University, his alma mater.
https://www.halogenentertainment.com