Tim DuBois
James Timothy DuBois is a Nashville-based songwriter and recording industry executive who has headed both Arista Records and Universal South Records. As a songwriter he wrote five No. 1 country hits. His most successful song was the world-wide hit "Love in the First Degree" recorded by the group Alabama.
DuBois' early career path had nothing to do with music. He received three academic scholarships to Oklahoma State University to study accounting; he earned two advanced degrees and became a senior financial analyst for the Texas Federal Reserve Bank. While living in Texas, he became interested in country music and began writing songs, eventually leading him to move to Nashville to pursue music. Writing successful songs led to his becoming a record producer, creating over 20 No. 1 and top five singles and more than a dozen gold, platinum, and double-platinum country albums. In 1984, he created the musical group Restless Heart. He was tapped by Clive Davis to create a Nashville office of Arista Records in 1989. He discovered and signed country artists Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley, Blackhawk, Pam Tillis and Diamond Rio, all within an 18 month period.
DuBois was recognized as the "most powerful person in the music industry" by Business Nashville in 1996, "Record Executive of the year" in 1992 by Pollstar, and was included in Entertainment Weekly’s list of the "101 Most Powerful People in Entertainment" in 1994 and 1995. He is a member of the Oklahoma State University's Hall of Fame and was the school's Accounting Alumnus of the year.
Early career
Born in Southwest City, Missouri, Dubois played guitar in rock bands as a youth. His senior year in high school a camp roommate wrote a song; DuBois was fascinated with song lyrics and felt he could write a song himself. His interest in songs continued for the rest of his life, but his academic studies were his immediate goal. He attended Oklahoma State University and studied accounting, winning three scholarships: an Arthur Andersen Scholarship, an Atlantic Richfield Scholarship and an Oklahoma State Regents Scholarship. He received a bachelor's in accounting in 1971 and a master's in 1972, and became a CPA. He married and had two children. He worked for the Arthur Andersen Firm for about a year then took a job in Dallas as a Financial Analyst for the Texas Federal Reserve Bank. During his time in Texas, he became interested in country music, and pursued songwriting in his spare time. Attending an accounting convention in Dallas he met up with some of his former professors who convinced him to return to Oklahoma State to enter the PhD program at OSU's Spears School of Business. While in the PhD program, music fascinated him and consumed his time. He said, "I'm a true left brain, right brain conflict but it has served me very well". He made trips to Nashville on weekends and he read every book he could find to learn about the business of songwriting. In 1975, he met Scott Hendricks, another Oklahoma State student. Dubois and Hendricks, along with DuBois' younger brother headed for Nashville.DuBois wrote letters to many Nashville music industry people and a few agreed to meet with him. Among those was John Ragsdale, brother of Ray Stevens, and they became friends. DuBois stayed at Ragsdale's house on many occasions. They co-wrote "A Good Old Fashioned Saturday Night Honky Tonk Barroom Brawl" recorded by Vernon Oxford and the song went to No. 55 on the Billboard country charts. Energized by this success, DuBois took a leave of absence from His PhD studies and secured a job in Nashville teaching accounting at the University of Tennessee.
He taught night school, leaving the daytime free to knock on doors of music producers and publishers. In 1979, he was given his first job as a publishing company staff songwriter by Bob Montgomery for $75 a week. From 1979 to 1985, DuBois worked as both a publishing company staff writer and as an accounting professor. Throughout that period, DuBois composed over 20 country singles. A pivotal year for him was 1980: that year he got a job teaching at Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management and he had three hit songs on the country charts. These were: "Midnight Hauler" ; "Love in the First Degree" ; and "She Got the Goldmine ";
DuBois opened the Nashville branch of Los Angeles-based artist management firm Fitzgerald-Hartley in 1986. Country artist Vince Gill soon joined the company's inaugural client, Restless Heart. DuBois and Gill collaborated on some songwriting projects including the Country Music Association's 1990 Song of the Year, "When I Call Your Name".
In 1989, Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records, appointed DuBois to open the Nashville division of the label. Arista Nashville sold 80 million albums in its first eleven years of business, breaking acts like Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Pam Tillis, Diamond Rio, Steve Wariner, and Brad Paisley. DuBois later joined producer Tony Brown to operate Universal South Records, launching the careers of Joe Nichols, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and Shooter Jennings.
In 1991, DuBois married Pamela Smith from Dallas, Texas, a friend he had known for fifteen years. Their daughter, Jamie Grace DuBois, was born in 1994.
Career today
In 2007, DuBois returned to the faculty of Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management, where he is developing courses related to the music business. He has also joined forces with Marc Dottore to form Dottore-DuBois Artist Management. DuBois resides in Nashville, Tennessee.In February 2010, ASCAP announced they would elevate their Nashville outlet to a Regional Office, led by DuBois. DuBois holds the position of Vice President and Managing Executive. After restructuring ASCAP, DuBois was asked to join London Broadcast Company in January 2012, based in Dallas, Texas. He started
a joint-venture called AMP which he is still managing.
Organizations
DuBois serves on the boards of the Country Music Association, Academy of Country Music, Americana Music Association, and SunTrust Bank, and as chairman of the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau. He is a past board member of Leadership Music, Country Music Foundation, National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Nashville Songwriters Foundation, and Nashville Songwriters Association International.Awards and recognition
Tim DuBois has been recognized as "Record Executive of the Year" by Pollstar, and as one of the entertainment industry's "101 Most Powerful People" by Entertainment Weekly. He was inducted into Oklahoma State University's Hall of Fame in 1996. Throughout his songwriting career, DuBois has earned five number-1 singles, 24 top-ten singles, six ASCAP Awards, nine BMI Country Awards, two BMI Pop Awards and a number of other songwriting accolades.Songwriting awards
| Organization | Award | Song | Date |
| Country Music Association | Song of the Year | "When I Call Your Name" | 1991 |
| Academy of Country Music | Song of the Year Nomination | "When I Call Your Name" | 1991 |
| Grammy Awards | Song of the Year Nomination | "When I Call Your Name" | 1991 |
| Music City News Awards | Single of the Year | "When I Call Your Name" | 1991 |
| Nashville Songwriters Association International | Award of Merit | "When I Call Your Name" | 1991 |
| Academy of Country Music | Song of the Year Nomination | "She Got the Goldmine " | 1982 |
| Grammy Awards | Song of the Year Nomination | "She Got the Goldmine " | 1982 |
| Nashville Songwriters Association International | Award of Merit | "She Got the Goldmine " | 1982 |
| Academy of Country Music | Song of the Year Nomination | "Love in the First Degree" | 1982 |
| Music City News Awards | Top Country Hits Awards | "Love in the First Degree" | 1982 |
| Nashville Songwriters Association International | Songwriter of the Year Finalist | 1982 |
Discography
| Title | Artist |
| A Good Nights Love | Tammy Wynette |
| A Good Old Fashioned Saturday Night Honky | Vernon Oxford |
| Tonk Barroom Brawl | Vernon Oxford |
| Back To The Heartbreak Kid | Kathy Mattea |
| Back To The Heartbreak Kid | Restless Heart |
| Big Dreams In A Small Town | Restless Heart |
| Blind Faith And The Naked Truth | Razzy Bailey |
| Blue Rendevouz | Lloyd David Foster |
| Crazy Blue | Billy Montana |
| Dancys Dream | Restless Heart |
| Don't Ask The Reason Why | Secret Of My Success |
| D-R-U-N-K | David Allen Coe |
| Few And Far Between | Restless Heart |
| Gone Away | Steve Ripley |
| Hard Times | Restless Heart |
| Have Your Memory Come Again | Kenny Dale |
| Heartbreak Kid | Juice Newton |
| Heaven Sent | Sylvia |
| Heaven Sent | Bryan White |
| Hummingbird | Ricky Skaggs |
| Hummingbird | Restless Heart |
| I Forgot How Bad My Good Woman Can Be | Razzy Bailey |
| I Love The Way She Keeps Me In The Dark | Conway Twitty |
| I Was Meant To Be With You | Diamond Rio |
| It's Been One Of Those Days | Bobby Vinton |
| It's Been One Of Those Days | Lang Scott |
| I've Never Been So Sure | Restless Heart |
| Jenny Come Back | Restless Heart |
| Jesse's Soul | Radney Foster |
| Julie Do I Ever Cross Your Mind | Wood Newton |
| Let The Heartache Ride | Restless Heart |
| Love In The First Degree | Alabama |
| Love The Hurt Away | Wood Newton |
| Love Will Get Your Through Time With No Money | The Girls Next Door |
| Midnight Hauler | Razzy Bailey |
| Oklahoma Swing | Vince Gill & Reba McEntire |
| Quittin' Time | Asleep At The Wheel |
| Restless Heart | Juice Newton |
| Restless Heart | Restless Heart |
| Say You'll Stay | Wayne Massey |
| She Got The Goldmine | Johnny Paycheck |
| She Got The Goldmine | Jerry Reed |
| She's Got A Drinkin' Problem | Gary Stewart |
| She's Got A Drinkin' Problem | Johnny Paycheck |
| Somewhere There's A Love Song | Charlie Rich |
| Southern Comfort | Joe Stampley |
| Straight For Your Love | Terri Heart |
| Sweet Temptation | The Kendalls |
| Sweet Red Wine | Gary Morris |
| Tell Your Dream To Me | Marty Robbins |
| The Bluest Eyes In Texas | Restless Heart |
| The Boys On A Roll | Restless Heart |
| The Truth Hurts | Restless Heart |
| This Road | Mike Reid |
| This Time | Restless Heart |
| Too Many Hearts In The Fire | Bobby Smith |
| Tryin To Get To New Orleans | The Tractors |
| Unconditional Love | Glen Campbell |
| Victim Of The Game | Restless Heart |
| We Owned This Town | Restless Heart |
| When I Call Your Name | Vince Gill |
| Who Better Than an Angel | Janie Frickie |
| Working Woman | Rob Crosby |
| You Seen One You Seen 'em All | Bettye Lovette |
| You Seen One You Seen 'em All | Ruth Ann |
| You've Got The Touch | Lloyd David Foster |
Record production credits
| Artist | Title | Record label | Date | Award or recognition |
| Blackhawk | Strong Enough | Arista Records | 1996 | Certified Gold |
| Diamond Rio | IV | Arista Records | 1995 | Certified Gold |
| Blackhawk | Blackhawk | Arista Records | 1994 | Certified Double Platinum |
| Diamond Rio | Love A Little Stronger | Arista Records | 1994 | Certified Platinum |
| Diamond Rio | Close to the Edge | Arista Records | 1993 | Certified Gold |
| Steve Wariner | Drive | Arista Records | 1993 | |
| Diamond Rio | Diamond Rio | Arista Records | 1991 | Certified Platinum |
| Exile | Justice | Arista Records | 1991 | |
| Steve Wariner | I Am Ready | Arista Records | 1991 | Certified Gold |
| Restless Heart | The Best of Restless Heart | RCA Records | 1991 | |
| Exile | Still Standing | Arista Records | 1990 | |
| Restless Heart | Fast Movin’ Train | RCA Records | 1990 | Certified Gold |
| Restless Heart | Big Dreams In A Small Town | RCA Records | 1988 | Certified Gold |
| Restless Heart | Wheels | RCA Records | 1986 | Certified Gold |
| Restless Heart | Restless Heart | RCA Records | 1985 |
Song production credits
| Title | Artist |
| Heartbreak Kid | |
| Big Dreams In A Small Town | |
| Gone Away | |
| Heaven Sent | |
| Hummingbird | Restless Heart |
| Hummingbird | Ricky Skaggs |
| I Was Meant To Be With You | |
| Jesse's Soul | |
| Love In the First Degree | |
| Midnight Hauler | |
| Oklahoma Swing | |
| Quittin’ Time | |
| She Got the Goldmine | |
| She's Got A Drinking Problem | |
| The Bluest Eyes In Texas |