Canada's Crooner Signs Record Deal.

Entertainment Editors/Music Writers

LAS VEGAS--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--March 27, 2001

Most labels have artists who perform different categories of music.

Any given label could have a country division, a jazz division, and an alternative division.

How about a single artist with those same departments?

"I love music, and I have always liked listening to every genre, so why not record different styles," said Brian Evans.

Evans has recorded eight crooner styled albums that have likened him to a new young Sinatra, and separately he just completed a single he'll ship to country radio through his own label.

Next week, he meets up with Denis Boder, who has worked with Prince, to record an album in the alternative genre.

"It's another aspect of my personality that I cannot express in jazz or country music. I guess I have multiple personalities, but I don't know anyone without them in show biz," he said.

And he's had some clear success. In 1998 he recorded "Live at The Desert Inn," the only CD ever recorded in the venue's 50 year plus history when he was 27. The original Rat Pack played there, but it was Evans who recorded a record there during his close to 400 shows in a showroom at The Desert Inn in Las Vegas.

He's opened for Lou Rawls, Dionne Warwick, Rick Astley and a host of other national names, and has corporate clients such as Microsoft. He can't develop software with Bill Gates, but he'll sing for him.

Evans is signing a deal with Sin-Drome Records, the Ryko distributed company affiliated with Warner/Elektra/Atlantic (WEA).

The deal covers only the crooner albums at present as the other styles have yet to be heard by anyone.

Evans met Frank Sinatra in 1998 during a fundraiser.

"That was a dream come true, and it hooked me for good on this genre. Those songs told the same stories we hear in current music, which told me that it wasn't the problems that change through time, but just the style of music in which it is explained to new generations. I can sing these songs because I believe my own regrets and accomplishments, and those songs were for all whom have experienced both."

The country single ships in April, and as for the alternative record, that's being recorded in Las Vegas, where the singer lives.

"It keeps me busy. While I'm waiting to see how one record is going to do, I'm already onto the next one, which doesn't give me time to dwell, and gives me the chance to do something completely different while I wait," Evans said.

And he doesn't wait very long. Evans hired an advertising agency to handle billboards promoting his latest jazz album, "YOU."

His eight pop-jazz CDs are distributed throughout Asia, where Evans is booked as a headliner through Paris Entertainment in Taiwan. In Taiwan, Evans is performing in venues up to 4,000 seats all by his lonesome. His albums are distributed in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Germany. Evans signed those deals during MIDEM in Cannes, France.

Most people take their business associates. Evans took his mother.

"How could I go to France and not give her that experience. Isn't that why we we're in this business? Have you ever seen a hearse with a U-Haul behind it?"

His website is www.thecrooner.com. Evans next expects to perform in Vegas after doing several shows overseas.

Evans loves to sing. In his spare time, he sings "The Star-Spangled Banner" at major league baseball, hockey, and football games. His latest album "YOU," landed him a spot on The Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends," and his interview on The TV Guide Channel is slated to appear next month.

"There are so many manufactured bands out there. I have always done my own thing, no matter what anyone thought," he said. "Babe Ruth said it best, he said 'It's hard to beat someone who doesn't give up.'"

And Evans has no intention of doing that.

"I have gone from being at the bottom of the barrel to doing what I love to do. And that's to sing."

His website is www.thecrooner.com. He's recording a music video in Miami Beach in support of a single off the new CD.

His label, Crooner Records, pulled in close to $2 million in 2000 for sales and live performances.

Brian Evans was born in Haverhill, Mass. He moved to Hollywood at 16, and ended up in Vegas after a brief move to Canada that resulted in an independent release that gained national attention in the country, which brought him to the attention of a manager in Los Angeles, where Evans couldn't get a gig when he lived there.

He recently signed with theatrical representation to reenter the film & TV arena as an actor.

In Canada, he's appeared on "Open Mike with Mike Bullard," "Gabereau Live," "CBC Mid-Day," "Canada A.M." and was featured in Macleans Magazine profiling the young singer. He is distributed in Canada by IndieLand Distribution of Vancouver, where Evans began his crooning career at the venue, "Babalu's." Vancouver Magazine called the city "Evansville," when profiling him back in December 1997.

To top it off, he's written a book entitled "What was I thinking," due out this year through Rutledge Books of New York. His last book was 1993's "Dreamer," published by Helion/Random House, written when he was all of 22.

For more information contact Helen Bousquet at [e-mail] or fax inquiries to 702/871-3613.