A Google search reveals our guest, Adam H. Hurstfield“… as a music and film producer, songwriter, record executive, and artist manager. Adam is a Multi-Platinum Producer/Songwriter from Vancouver, Canada, and owner of XOXO Entertainment Corp., which spent the past 5 years as an imprint Label with Universal Music, and recently moved to eOne Entertainment…” You get the idea.

It Begins with Just One Record

But, what’s in a song? Adam H, also known as Adam Hurstfield is a homegrown success. Growing up in Vancouver, like so many of us, Adam scraped together the money to buy this favourite records. Unlike most of us though, he was driven to understand not only how his favourite songs were made, but how they were produced. 

The love of music is infectious. Adam began to write songs and perform. At the age of 17, he signed to a major label, had a hit and began to tour. He had worked artists as diverse as George Clinton and was performing with C + C Music Factory when fate intervened. Just as his career was taking off, Adam was hit by a truck causing substantial injury. It was during this time of recovery that he took advantage of the time to further develop his songwriting skills and deepen his understanding of  how to record and produce hit songs. To not only be skilled at songwriting, but to be skilled at writing hit songs. 

Adam H with George Clinton. New York City, age 17

Once Adam had recovered, he realized that both the public and his record label had short memories of his earlier work. It proved impossible to pick up where he had left off with his performing and recording career.

But the hunger doesn’t stop. Adam H persevered to become the owner of his own label and recording studio that produces artist from around the globe for most of the major labels. A self-described jack-of-all music-trades, Adam also happens to be the Dad of Chance Hurstfield, a brilliant young actor who’s been “in the business” since the age of 4. His most recent feature film called Fatman recently opened, co-starring Mel Gibson.

With an amazing career and brilliant story to tell, I had the opportunity to interview Adam recently. Here’s the story of someone who follows their dreams until one day, those dreams had come full circle.

And Now… Our Interview

VP: The people will want to know - What was the first record you purchased as a kid -The album that kicks off this crazy adventure?

Adam H: Well, that would be Loverboy, their first album, self-titled. You know that song, “The Kid is Hot Tonight”? I LOVED that song.  The album was amazing, but that song…I became curious about why I loved that particular song so much. Why it stood out for me. The in-your-face vocals. Learning why I loved certain songs drove me forward.

Loverboy's first album

VP: Sounds like The Force (of music) was strong with you.

Adam H: Yeah! I remember being 14, driving to down to Seattle with my best friend to Tower Records and sleeping on my car in the parking lot just so we could be there when it opened in the morning. The dream at that point was to be a DJ, so we’d go to Tower to find the best new songs…Working hard just to spend my whole paycheck on records…Huge love!

VP: How was your accident formative to your future direction? Sounds like a serious fork in the road.

Adam H: Yep… I knew how much work it had taken to get my first record deal. But my record company was not especially pleased with me, getting hit by a truck n’ all. But, I wanted to continue to create music, so my Dad came up with the idea to go to another country where I wasn’t under contract. And, that country turned out to be Mexico. I flew there with my brother, Bert Hurstfield; my Hype-Man, DJ Marquee; and one of my best friends, Andrew Urrea who was the only one of us who spoke Spanish. (He later became my first business partner)!

Together, we shopped my American songs and because of my record deal in the US, they signed me to RCA/BMG (now called Sony Music) which allowed my single to get added to the ALFA 91.3 rotation, which was one of the largest radio stations in the world at that time. That gave me credibility to shop other artists, so Andre and I signed our first singer from Argentina, Uschi, and we ended up signing a deal with Polygram (now called Universal Music).

VP: Brilliant. Sounds like a new lease on life. Now, how did you spend those fresh funds?

Adam H: I immediately went back to Vancouver, and bought a recording studio with Andre. We set it up in my Dad’s garage and dedicated myself entirely to learning. Long days, and even longer nights. It was thrilling and exhausting and it literally took years until I had the song I was comfortable to promote. In those days, I had to learn and do every job because we couldn't afford a staff.

VP: What happened next?

Adam H: Well, after being absent from the North American music industry for a handful of years, it was pretty much like starting over back home. I worked and worked to get that one song played on the radio. And, by a stroke of luck, a radio DJ finally took a liking to my song and decided to put it on his “Battle of the Beats” contest. Awesome right?! There was my song matched up against… Justin Timberlake. But, the DJ really told my story well on the air, and the listeners reacted. That song went on to win 5 nights in a row. It was retired a champion and added into regular rotation. Crazy, right?! That spurred on other Radio Program Directors and Music Directors to give it a listen and the momentum kinda grew from there… It was so exciting, but I had even bigger dreams…

VP: Pretty exciting! What was the next step for Adam H?

Adam H: At that time, I dreamed of working with the BananaToons guys… They were huge at the time, producing for 98 Degrees, Kelly Rowland, Jessica Simpson among others and had created this like, hit factory. I wanted to be part of that.

Remember that song from Battle of Beats? Well, the BananaToons guys heard it, called me up and were surprised to find out that I had written and produced the song myself. From there, we began a great working relationship and we wrote the song “Crushed” for Rosette together.

I learned so much from them and worked hard, taking our songs from the studio to the charts, basically as a one-stop shop. I got a label deal with Universal with the label I had partnered in, when the BananaToons guys began to wind down. At that time, I formed XOXO Entertainment… My own label! And, Universal Music gave me another label deal!!

Adam H producing at Armory Studios in Vancouver