Biography
Canadian musician Eddie Schwartz has built an extensive career spanning rock, pop, and country, functioning as a songwriter and producer while also issuing his own recordings. During the early 1980s the Toronto-born artist issued the solo albums Schwartz and No Refuge, both of which generated charting singles including “All Our Tomorrows” and “Does a Fool Ever Learn.” Following the release of 1984’s Public Life, he redirected his efforts toward writing for other performers, having already placed the major 1980 hit “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” with Pat Benatar and seen additional material covered by Joe Cocker and America. After supplying Paul Carrack with the 1987 success “Don’t Shed a Tear,” Schwartz was enlisted to co-produce the Doobie Brothers’ 1989 reunion set Cycles, which featured the minor-charting Schwartz co-write “The Doctor.” In subsequent decades he extended his writing and production work into country, collaborating with Martina McBride and Rascal Flatts among others. He returned briefly to his own catalog with the independent 1995 album Tour de Schwartz and, in the new century, emerged as an advocate for creators’ rights, leading the International Council of Music Creators and Music Creators North America.
Raised in Toronto, Schwartz began as a guitarist in Charity Brown’s band before securing a solo deal in 1979. His debut album Schwartz appeared the following year and immediately yielded a domestic hit with “Does a Fool Ever Learn,” the same year Pat Benatar achieved widespread success with the Schwartz composition “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” The subsequent LPs No Refuge (1981) and Public Life (1984) produced further modest chart entries such as “All Our Tomorrows” and “Special Girl.” Although he maintained a recording career, the strength of his material attracted numerous outside interpretations; No Refuge in particular supplied songs for Mickey Thomas, Honeymoon Suite, and Joe Cocker. By the late 1980s Schwartz had largely stepped away from performing to concentrate on writing and production, most notably guiding Carrack’s 1987 breakthrough “Don’t Shed a Tear” and co-producing the Doobie Brothers’ reunion album Cycles while co-authoring its single “The Doctor.”
Schwartz re-emerged as a solo artist in 1995 with Tour de Schwartz, an independent release that remained available only inside Canada. He sustained his behind-the-scenes activity, expanding into country circles with Martina McBride and Rascal Flatts, and simultaneously championed songwriters’ interests, serving as president of SOCAN, the Songwriters Association of Canada, the International Council of Music Creators, and Music Creators North America. In 2012 he was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Early in the 2020s, renewed attention to his earlier work prompted new recordings, beginning with the single “Outbound Train.”
Raised in Toronto, Schwartz began as a guitarist in Charity Brown’s band before securing a solo deal in 1979. His debut album Schwartz appeared the following year and immediately yielded a domestic hit with “Does a Fool Ever Learn,” the same year Pat Benatar achieved widespread success with the Schwartz composition “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” The subsequent LPs No Refuge (1981) and Public Life (1984) produced further modest chart entries such as “All Our Tomorrows” and “Special Girl.” Although he maintained a recording career, the strength of his material attracted numerous outside interpretations; No Refuge in particular supplied songs for Mickey Thomas, Honeymoon Suite, and Joe Cocker. By the late 1980s Schwartz had largely stepped away from performing to concentrate on writing and production, most notably guiding Carrack’s 1987 breakthrough “Don’t Shed a Tear” and co-producing the Doobie Brothers’ reunion album Cycles while co-authoring its single “The Doctor.”
Schwartz re-emerged as a solo artist in 1995 with Tour de Schwartz, an independent release that remained available only inside Canada. He sustained his behind-the-scenes activity, expanding into country circles with Martina McBride and Rascal Flatts, and simultaneously championed songwriters’ interests, serving as president of SOCAN, the Songwriters Association of Canada, the International Council of Music Creators, and Music Creators North America. In 2012 he was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. Early in the 2020s, renewed attention to his earlier work prompted new recordings, beginning with the single “Outbound Train.”