By Scott Coner
Nashville Recording Artist, Songwriter, Performer, and Author
Carol Chase has had a pretty amazing career. She hasn’t had too many of the low points we so often read about. She has had success on the West Coast as well as Nashville. She has been the lead vocalist on countless commercials. She has rubbed shoulders with Hollywood royalty. She has penned a number one country song. She has worked with many of the Nashville legends including George Jones. And by the way, she sings in Lynyrd Skynyrd. I have talked with and worked alongside many artists that have had great success. But honestly, I don’t believe I know anyone as driven and as focused as Carol Chase. She understands the business of music itself. She understands the process of writing a song. And she knows what she wants to accomplish next.
Recently, I have talked about the concept of knowing what it is that defines us. We must qualify just what it is that we hope to accomplish. After beginning our journey, we may need to change course a bit. It is during these times that far too many of us lose all direction and simply give up. This is part of what makes Carol special. She realized early that she needed to change paths. She had graduated from the University of North Dakota, gotten married, and given birth to a perfect baby girl but adjustments needed to happen. The following is part of Carol’s story in Carol’s words:
Photo of Carol Chase downtown Nashville Tennessee
“When my husband, myself, and our year old baby moved to Reno, we did so because my friend from my home town was living there with a former bass player I'd worked with while in college. I'd wanted to go straight to L.A. but really didn't know anyone there. I loved living in Reno, and while I was out there, I entered a talent contest and won the chance to sing with an established singer from the area who played up in Lake Tahoe.
I sang back-up with him and did several solos within the show like, 'Since I Fell For You,' "The Games People Play,' to mention a few. I met a successful producer at the Sahara Tahoe, a casino that's not there anymore, and he said I should move to L.A. to pursue my career. About a year later, I did just that, packing my 2.5-year-old into my red, Super Beetle car, and headed to L.A.
I heard of a keyboard player that did a lot of gigs and went to a club to get up and sing a few songs with him. That turned into playing lots of weddings with the band, and the keyboardist told me that he was playing for an audition for a Disneyland gig at the Tomorrow Land stage, where they needed a girl to front a four piece band that would play all the current hits. I did the audition and got the gig over 50 other girls. I sang, 'My Way,' and 'Proud Mary,' if you can imagine! I moved down to Orange County and did 6, 30-minute shows, starting at 11 in the morning. That was a great gig for me, cause the musical director of Disneyland had me sing background on single shows with Olivia Newton John, Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Rickey Nelson...(am I dating myself)? ☺
Photo of Carol Chase downtown Nashville Tennessee
Anyway, I knew I had to get up to L.A. to really get in the game, so I finally got enough nerve to move and landed a gig on the weekends in a small supper club on Ventura Blvd. with a trio. I met tons of stunt men. Eastwood, D. Hoffman, Burt Reynolds and more that I now forget. I was kinda’ poor, but eventually met a commercial writer and producer who came into the club on Ventura and he hired me to sing some national commercials...McDonald's, Murantz, Hallmark, some car companies that I've forgotten...
I'd bring my daughter to the studio with me at night, cause I had no one in my family who lived in California or anywhere nearby. My daughter thought it was a pizza parlor and always asked, 'where's the pizza, Mama?' Cute..
I was home at nights with my daughter when I wasn't working and had a little Wurlitzer that I would write on. I was living in a small, cheap, apartment right of Van Nuys Blvd..(not a great place to say the least) and it was there that I wrote the song 'We Belong Together'. Susie Allanson and I were friends, and I played her the song one day. Her producer was her husband. He loved the song and recorded it on her. She had a #2 in Billboard and #1 in Cashbox.
From there, I was still singing in the club on Ventura. A guy starting the record label, Casablanca West, came in and started using me on Demos. He offered me a record deal after about six months on the new label they were starting. There was already Casablanca (Kiss, Donna Summer), and this was their country section. I sang a song that he wrote, which was used in 'Every Which Way But Loose' I also worked on the background vocals for the “Grease” soundtrack. My career was going well, but I had reservations about the L.A. school system. I finally decided to move to Nashville.
After arriving in Tennessee, I found work pretty quickly. I did backing vocals for classic artists such as Tanya Tucker, Lee Greenwood, Ronnie Millsap, Keith Whitley, Randy Travis, Moe Bandy, and George Jones. I was staying busy working in the studio, but no one would consider me as an artist because I wasn’t
25 anymore.
Scott Coner and Carol Chase cover of Procol Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale
I had been singing an awful lot and ended up with vocal problems that required four different surgeries. The four vocal operations were spread over about 15 years. (Two vocal hemorrhages where they cauterize the blood vessel on the vocal chords. One node removal operation, and a final 'big' operation here in Nashville to fix all the other problems caused by the first three operations.)
When I got the Skynyrd gig, I was getting hired all the time for back-up sessions and for demo sessions. (I'd sing the song for the songwriter.) I also had a publishing deal. I'd always wanted to be a solo artist; my record deal had fallen apart about 1.5 years after I got it. But that was now about 12 years in the past. So, when I got a call from Rickey Medlocke of Lynyrd Skynyrd, I just went for it. I had a vibrant life in the music biz here in Nashville, and things weren't slowing down at all. I just wanted to be on stage and see what that 'rush' would be like. This was an opportunity to try that out with an established, famous group. What an opportunity and learning experience, that was for me! I auditioned with the band down in Ft. Meyers, Florida and basically the rest is history...”
Album photo of Scott Coner & Carol Chase's cover Whiter Shade of Pale
Next week, I think I’ll stay on topic with Carol. (If you have questions you would like to ask her, just let me know.) As I have said many times, music has allowed me to meet and work with some amazing people. I am the father of two daughters. I don’t know for sure what career paths they will be taking, but I hope they are focused and driven like Carol Chase.
Keep in touch!
Scott Coner is a country singer-songwriter who has worked in the studio with legendary artists such as Tanya Tucker, T. Graham Brown and Charlie Daniels. You can learn more about him and hear his music at his music page.
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