Merrill Warner is president of Big Band Productions and Big Band Promotions doing studio and stage productions as well as national radio promotions. He works as an Image Consultant in the corporate world as well as the entertainment industry. He has served as press and artists consultant for various national entertainment events such as Country Radio Seminar (CRS) and the Nashville Film Festival (NaFF). His expertise has been a key element in thirty Country Music Association Awards shows and thirty-three International Fan Fairs/CMA Music Festivals, working with shows such as CBS This Morning, Access Hollywood, Good Morning America, and Entertainment Tonight, as well as People and Southern Living Magazines.

Merrill is the recipient of the Country Music Association’s highest honor, “The Founding Presidents Award,” and is a past president of the National Entertainment Journalists Association. Additionally, he has written and directed the Rhythm & Blues Cammy Awards Show , and over thirty musical productions including Fascinating Rhythm, Jukebox Saturday Night, Jump Jive and Wail, The Beat Goes On, American Hit Parade, and Jukebox Serenade.

As a performer, Merrill has appeared with The Drifters, The Platters, The Four Tops, Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Ray Stevens, Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Jerry Reed, Percy Sledge, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Danny Thomas, Marlo Thomas, and many others.

Merrill has promoted shows for Ray Charles, Boots Randolph, Carl Perkins, Brian Setzer and the Stray Cats, Crystal Gayle, The Drifters, The Platters, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, and The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.

She was a youth singing in church when Elvis Presley’s famed producer Felton Jarvis heard Suzanne Saxon belt out a song with power, authority and soul. After the program, Jarvis approached Suzanne and suggested she pursue a career in music. Instead of pursuing music at that time, Suzanne turned her attention to modeling and acting. She trained at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center to hone her skills in acting for stage and then the Performing Artists Workshop to study on-camera commercial acting. There she learned the vast differences between acting for stage productions and acting for film. She then began the audition process and began her show
business career working in commercials and videos. She had the opportunity to work with artists such as Hank Williams, Jr., Vince Gill, and Hal Ketchum on music videos. She has also appeared in several films by Home Box Office (HBO) Productions such as “Against the Wall,” featuring Kyle MacLachlan and Samuel L. Jackson and “The Conviction of Kitty Dodds” with Veronica Hamel and Kevin Dobson. She has done commercials for Trail West Clothing and several cosmetic and jewelry companies.

Turning her attention to music, Suzanne began singing demos for various Nashville songwriters and later performed as a regular in music theatre productions “Fascinating Rhythm” and “Jukebox Saturday Night”. She was special guest artist in “Home for the Holidays” at the Music Theatre of Williamsburg (Virginia). She also performed on the Rhythm and Blues Cammy Awards Show with legends Bill Pinkney and the Drifters, Sonny Turner of The Platters, Jimmy “Handyman” Jones, and famed performer/songwriter Maurice Williams. Suzanne is working in the recording studio with renowned producer Tim Smith on her latest big band CD.

Michael Allen, the designer/visualist, creates what does not exist. He can look at raw space and in his mind’s eye transform it into something that does not yet exist through his design, film and marketing talent.

Most of his clients’ entertainment-related projects begin with a “clean sheet of paper.” Allen may develop the marketing strategy, design the product and produce all the visual elements of the product: graphic design, film/videography and photography with his tools: the camera, computer and drawing pen.

His first job experience in television came many years ago when he received a call from television producer Ken Snyder asking Allen to work as an animator on ABC’s highest-rated Saturday morning animated series, “Hot Wheels,” named after the Mattel Toys product. Michael now produces music videos and develops their concepts. “It’s a natural progression for a designer. Every thing is designed; whether you make a sketch of that design,
photograph a recording artist for an album cover, or use a movie camera to tell a story. It’s solving a problem by design. That’s what designers do,” says Allen, “and I design visual products.”

After receiving his second college diploma, a B.S. degree in Industrial Design, from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, Michael was associated with many design businesses. While working in California, he was on the design team that developed the Paper-Mate Flair felt-tip pen and worked as a design consultant to the Southern California Rapid Transit District where new concepts in people movement and planning were explored through design and system analysis.

Michael also learned the art of selling as a student salesman for the Southwestern Company for five summers. This experience has proved invaluable in the selling of his talents and the marketing of his clients and their products.

In recent years much of his photojournalistic abilities were expressed in articles for four national automotive magazines and was contributing editor to three.

In a joint design venture with Design Discovery, East Rochester, New York, Allen performed consultant design services for:

Eastman Kodak —exterior design of Kodak ColorEdge copier
Fisher-Price Toys —redesign of high chair for children
The State of New York —fabrication of training models for police academies

In the early 1980s, Allen put all his creative entertainment-related business and management skills into “high gear” when he originated a career development program for former RCA recording artist, Sylvia. He was associated with Sylvia for over seven years from almost “day number one” to the height of her career in January, 1983. Over the last three years of this association with Sylvia he designed her business organization, created a strong visual business image and managed Sylvia’s business on a daily basis.

After leaving the Sylvia organization, he formed his latest business, Michael Allen Entertainment Development, which specializes in entertainment-related design projects, public relations, artist development, audio and video production. Some clients include: the Country Music Association, CBS Cable, Academy Of Country Music, Brenda Lee, Epic Records, Curb Records, and William Morris Agency

Other projects include:

Advertising photography for Wal-Mart, Sears and Target. Client: Springs Bath Fashions

Television commercials for Wal-Mart. Concepts, storyboards, still photography, and associate producer of 10 Wal-Mart “Photo Tips” national cable TV commercials. Client: Group W Satellite Communications

Book designer/publisher of “Recipes From Sweet Yesterday” books by Thelma Allen. Volume One has been sold on direct response television – QVC.

Co-owner of InCahoots Film Entertainment LLC – Several feature film projects are in various stages of financing and pre-production.

When you view his portfolio you will witness an “incomparable diversity.” What Michael Allen’s mind can believe and visualize is what this renaissance man can create.

Cathy Gurley is owner of Gurley & Co., a comprehensive music company serving the entertainment industry with media, marketing and management expertise since 1985. The company specializes in unique and diverse development plans and is widely known for well-timed implementation and follow-through whick produces a high success rate. Their puboicity and consulting roster include Carlene Carter, Kathy Mattea, Spirit of America Tour, and the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation.

Cathy's experience has encompassed radio, journalism and the music industry. Through her career, she has worked with both evolving and established artists. Entertainers of note include Garth Brooks, Tanya Tucker, Suzy Bogguss, Patty Loveless, K.T. Oslin, Tammy Wynette, Gary Morris, Marty Stuart, and Connie Smith. Cathy was former Vice President of Creative Services for Capital Records.