He began his musical career soon after playing guitar for Charity Brown's backing band and signed with Infinity Records for a solo contract in 1979.
His self-titled debut album, Schwartz, followed in 1980, with A&M Records, as Infinity had gone bankrupt by then, and spawned his first Canadian hit, "Does a Fool Ever Learn".
His next album, No Refuge, came out in 1981, and did well in Canada, as well as the US, placing in the Billboard 200 and spawning a U.S. and Canadian hit single, "All Our Tomorrows," (#28 in the U.S.
Schwartz's third and last album for a major record label, Public Life, came out two years later and featured another Canadian hit with "Strike."
Since then he has produced artists of various genres including The Doobie Brothers, Paul Carrack, Rita Coolidge, Donna Summer, and Lawrence Gowan, and penned hits for Paul Carrack ("Don't Shed a Tear", "I Live By the Groove"), The Doobie Brothers ("The Doctor"), and Donna Summer ("Fascination").